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PhD Research Fellow in Chemistry

Deadline: 22.09.2021

Job description

Universitetet i Oslo

The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.


Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology (SMN) is an interdisciplinary focus field for material and energy research at the University of Oslo. SMN has focused on basic research in renewable energy and environmentally friendly use of fossil energy sources. The center consists of research groups from the Department of Physics (Fi) and Chemistry (Ki), has about 100 employees from around the world and manages more than 80 projects funded by the EU, the RCN and others.

We seek a highly motivated student to join our growing battery team for a 3 year PhD position. You will be part of our new BaSSET project where you will develop methods and software for structural analysis of working batteries.

Your background is in scientific programing and materials science. Candidates with an interest in battery materials, X-ray based methods and structural inorganic chemistry will be favored. The successful candidate will join our active and dynamic battery research group at the Department of Chemistry/Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology (SMN) to work alongside around 15 PhD/MSc students and Post Doctoral researchers. You will also be working in close collaboration with the Swiss Norwegian Beamlines (SNBL) of the European Synchrotron (ESRF). The successful candidate should demonstrate the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo. The fellowship period is 3 years. Starting date between 01.01.2022 and 01.02.2022. The appointment is contingent upon formalization of the project contract with the Research Council of Norway.

More about the position

The successful candidate will develop a suite of methods and software that will make it significantly easier to study the chemical structure of batteries under working conditions. The work is part of the Battery Signal Selection and Enhancement Toolbox (BaSSET) project funded by the Research Council of Norway. The candidate will work alongside experienced experimentalists and software developers at UiO and SNBL to test and implement several new methods of extracting structural information quickly and efficiently from X-ray data collected from working batteries. The goal of the project is to produce user-friendly programs that will allow more people to take advantage of the new methods.

The project (subject to future travel restrictions) will involve significant time at the SNBL collecting data, processing it with the new methods and working alongside local staff to develop the software. In addition, we expect the project to have strong overlap with the battery characterization activities in the UiO battery group, with the candidate participating in both data collection and analysis.

Qualification requirements

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials

  • The applicant should hold a Masters degree or equivalent (meeting the faculty’s requirements for entry into a PhD program) in Materials, Chemistry, Physics or other relevant field, and have documented experience in programming. The candidate must have fluent oral and written communication skills in English.

Qualifications in the following areas will be given major weight in the evaluation.

  • Candidates should describe their experience of each in their covering letter:
  • Scientific programming (preferably C++, Python or Rust)
  • Collaborative software development and version control
  • Structure of materials
  • X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy and pair distribution function analysis
  • Chemistry of battery materials

Examples of the candidate’s code on a platform such as GitHub would be extremely beneficial to the application.

Grade and language requirements:

The norm is as follows:

  • the average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
  • the average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
  • the Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system
  • Fluent oral and written communication skills in English.

Please see the following link for more information regarding English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements.

An expert committee will evaluate the applications. The committee will putemphasis on scientific qualification with focus on documented skills within scientificprogramming. Information that should be considered in the evaluations must besubmitted within the deadline. The names of at least two reference persons shouldbe provided.

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successfulcompletion of a PhD degree.

The fellowship requires admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty ofMathematics and Natural Sciences. The application to the PhD programme must besubmitted to the department no later than two months after taking up the position.

For more information see this link.

We offer

  • salary NOK 491 200 – 534 400 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow, (position code 1017)
  • Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement
  • Vibrant international academic environment
  • Career development programmes
  • Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for cultureand outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include

  • Cover letter - statement of motivation and research interests
  • CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
  • Copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records and
  • Documentation of English proficiency
  • List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
  • Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system (please follow the link “Apply for this job”). Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Applicants may be called in for an interview.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. We also want to have employees with diverse expertise, combinations of subjects, life experience and perspectives. We will make adjustments for employees who require this.

If there are qualified applicants with special needs, gaps in their CVs or immigrant backgrounds, we will invite at least one applicant in each of these groups to an interview.

Contact information

For further information please contact:

For question regarding our recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Ørjan Pretorius, e-mail: orjan.pretorius@mn.uio.no.

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