Job description

Position as PhD Research fellow is available at the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The fellowship will be for a period of 4-years with a 25% compulsory work within Computational Life Sciences.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.Starting date no later than 01.05.2022.

Project description

The PhD position is one of four PhD and post doc positions within the UiORealArt Convergence environment at the University of Oslo. Convergence environments are interdisciplinary research groups that will aim to solve grand challenges related to health and environment. They are funded by UiO's interdisciplinary strategic area UiO:Life Science www.uio.no/life-science.

The aim of this Convergence environment is to improve causal inference in perinatal pharmaco-epidemiology using machine learning approaches on real-world and artificial data” (UiORealArt, 2022-2026). The project unites expertise within natural sciences and medicine (pharmacology, machine learning, statistics, genetics, and epigenetics) with social/educational sciences (psychology, language development and educational attainment).

The PhD candidate will be working within a work package on perinatal pharmacoepidemiology. The aim of the PhD project will be to use causal inference methods to study associations between medication use during pregnancy and possible subsequent language, educational and psychological outcomes in childhood. The data consists of data from national health registries and the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort (MoBa) at the National Institute of Public Health. Several state-of-the art family designs and causal inference methods will be employed to enhance our ability to assess causation from observational data. The project will account for genetic confounding by using Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for childhood phenotypes. With PRSs made available, we will utilise them to assess to which extent the strength of the medication exposure- outcome associations can be explained by genetic factors. Triangulation of methods that address different bias and confounding structures, will help inference.

The candidate will become affiliated to the PharmacoEpidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group at the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, which is led by professor Hedvig Nordeng, who will be main supervisor. The doctorial project will be performed in close collaboration with co-supervisor Professor Janne Professor Janne von Torkildsen Dpt. of Special Needs Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, UiO, the UiORealArt members and international partners.

The candidate will also become member of iAPOGEE at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo.

Compulsory work: The compulsory work will include development of educational material, teaching, organization of environmental activities, supervision, dissemination and administrative tasks within the UiORealArt initiative and the UiOLifeScience initiative at UIO.

More about the position

About the UIOLifeScience initiative:

UiO:Life Science is the largest priority area at UiO. UiO:Life Science is an interdisciplinary strategic area that will strengthen quality and interaction in research; recruit, educate and develop talents; and promote innovation in the life sciences related to environment and health. Read more about it here.

About iAPOGEE:

The purpose of the “International Alliance for PharmacoGenetic Epidemiology Excellence” (iAPOGEE) consortium is to enhance collaboration within education and research in pharmaco- and genetic epidemiology between the partner universities and institutions. Read more about it here.

Qualification requirements

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition is 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.

• Master’s degree or equivalent in epidemiology, public health, or applied statistics.
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
• Experience within analysis of large-scale data sets, preferentially health care data
• Good computational and coding skills (STATA, SAS or R).

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 evt. and a Scandinavian language.

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

The following qualifications will count in the assessment of the applicants:

• Experience with causal inference methods
• Experience within perinatal pharmacoepidemiology
• High motivation for a research career, documented primarily via original publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

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

• Ability to work independently as well as in multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to give and receive constructive scientific criticism
• Resourceful, structured, and results-oriented

We offer

• Salary NOK 491 200 – 534 400 per annum depending on qualifications and seniority 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 culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records and letters of recommendation
• 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).

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on the documented, academic qualifications, as well as the candidate’s motivation and personal suitability.

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 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

• Professor Hedvig Nordeng, phone: +47 22856604, e-mail: h.m.e.nordeng@farmasi.uio.no

For technical questions regarding the application process, please contact HR Adviser Torunn Standal Guttormsen, phone: +47 22854272, email: t.s.guttormsen@mn.uio.no.

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