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PhD Research Fellow in Signal Processing and Acoustical Beamforming

Deadline: 15.08.2022

About the position

Universitetet i Oslo

The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7500 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.


The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for general education and research in Computer Science and related topics.


The Department has more than 1800 students on bachelor level, 600 master students, and over 240 PhDs and postdocs. The overall staff of the Department is close to 370 employees, about 280 of these in full time positions. The full time tenured academic staff is 75, mostly Full/Associate Professors.

Position as PhD Research Fellow in signal processing and acoustic beamforming available at Digital Signal Processing and Image Analysis group (DSB), Section for Machine Learning, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo.

The DSB research group has six full-time and seven adjunct positions. We perform research over a wide range of applications in image analysis and deep learning, as well as in digital signal processing/acoustic imaging. There are about 20 Postdocs and PhD students in the group with financing from a variety of national and international funding agencies, as well as from industry.

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

The fellowship period is three (3) years. Candidates may be offered one additional year by the Department of Informatics; the four (4) year position then entails a compulsory workload of 25% that may consist of teaching, supervision duties, and research as-sistance. This will be decided at the time of appointment.

Job description

The research focus of the position is signal processing / beamforming in medical ultrasound imaging, targeted towards detection of cardiac fibrosis (CF) in ultrasound images. The gold standard for CF detection is MRI imaging, with the drawback of being an expensive imaging modality compared to ultrasound. We want to explore adaptive ultrasound beamforming techniques and optimal detection strategies. These will be applied in CF characterization and other ultrasound datasets. The work will build on previous work done in the research group on beamforming and point scatter detection.

The DSB group is partner in the CIUS project. Through CIUS, a larger dataset containing both MRI and ultrasound data of patients with CF is available. The data will be processed using USTB - The UltraSound ToolBox, and the PhD student is expected to take part in further developments of this SW package. The project will collaborate closely with clinicians in CIUS.

The candidate is expected to publish research results in international peer-reviewed journals in collaboration with the DSB group and its research partners.

A detailed research plan for the PhD period will be elaborated based on both the project objectives and the candidate’s background.

This position is funded by the Department of Informatics and is placed with the DSB group who has its offices in the Ole-Johan Dahl Building, close to the Forskningsparken metro and tramway station in Oslo.

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.

Required qualifications:

  • Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in signal processing, physics, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, cybernetics, data science, computational science, or related fields. Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system.
  • Proficiency in scientific programming (like Python, Matlab, Julia, R, or bash)
  • Experience in signal processing
  • Willingness to be part of a team and to share knowledge and skills
  • Ability to communicate science
  • Strong writing skills
  • Spoken and written fluency in the English language

Candidates without a Master’s degree have until 30 June, 2022 to complete the final exam.

The following are also desirable:

  • Experience from ultrasound imaging systems
  • Additional acoustic and/or array-based imaging modalities (sonar, seismics, radar, array seismology, etc.)
  • Experience with signal processing and adaptive beamforming, wave propagation simulation, filter design, numerical methods, mathematical modelling, linear algebra, statistics
  • Acoustical theory knowledge
  • Laboratory work experience

Grade 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
  • English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements

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

The fellowship requires admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The application to the PhD programme must be submitted to the department no later than two months after taking up the position. For more information see:

http://www.uio.no/english/research/phd/

http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/

Personal skills

We look for an enthusiastic self-motivated candidate who can work efficiently both in group and individually. We expect:

  • A passion for signal processing, scientific programming, problem solving, data science, and visualization.
  • Ability to carry out and complete major tasks.
  • Collaborative skills and willingness to share knowledge, information and to support others in the pursuit of team goals

We offer

  • Salary NOK 501 200 – 544 400 per year depending on qualifications and seniority as PhD Research Fellow (position code 1017)
  • Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement
  • A highly dynamic and motivated team of international researchers
  • Career development programmes, professional courses and workshops
  • Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include:

  • Cover letter, including a statement of motivation and research interests, as well as a description of the relevance of your MSc in relation to this project, signal processing and acoustical beamforming
  • CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work)
  • 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)
  • Copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records
  • Documentation of English proficiency

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

The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.

Contact information

For further information please contact Associate Professor Sven Peter Näsholm, phone: +47 22840068 / +47 93834349, e-mail: svenpn@ifi.uio.no or Professor Andreas Austeng, phone: +47 22852741, e-mail: andreas.austeng@ifi.uio.no

For questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Therese Ringvold, e-mail: therese.ringvold@mn.uio.no

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