Job description

3-5 PhD Research Fellow positions (SKO 1017) for the PhD programme are available at the Department of Economics.

The appointments are for a period of 4 years with 25% teaching and administrative duties. PhD Research Fellows will automatically be admitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences' PhD programme and benefit from the Faculty’s organized research training.

Open positions

One-three positions are not linked to specific topics or research projects. Applications from candidates in all fields of economics are encouraged and in particular in fields where the Department has a strong research base and supervision capacity.

Positions with external funding

One position is associated with the NIMICAR project on International Cooperation on Climate Change and the Avoidance of Global Risks, headed by Professor Christian Traeger.

The research project requires background and interest in a subset of the following topics:

• Climate Change Economics
• Dynamic Modeling
• Risk and Uncertainty Modeling
• Game Theory
• Programming, e.g., Matlab, Python, or Julia

The project will also relate to International Macroeconomics and Macrofinance and a strong background in mathematics or Applied Econometrics will be useful. For this fellowship, please provide your application material in English. Please contact Christian Traeger for further questions.

One position will be associated with the project “Labour market institutions, technological change and inequality”, funded by the Research Council of Norway and led by principal investigator, Assistant Professor Ragnhild Schreiner.

The project aims to assess whether changes in labour market institutions accelerate or slow down innovation and technological change at the firm level. Furthermore, project aims to better understand how innovations and technology adoptions at the firm-level contribute to exacerbating labour market inequality. The project will study inequality both within and across groups of workers of similar levels of education (skills), as well as across workers of different gender.

There is a long tradition at the University of Oslo of studying key aspects of the Nordic institutions, including unions, wage distributions, inequality and firm behaviour. Armed with unusually rich administrative data, this project aims to forge the advances in understanding from this tradition, with the new focus in the field of economics on careful modelling of firm-level decisions, empirical methods and identification of causal effects. For this position we are looking for a candidate with a strong analytical background and econometric skills, and a sincere interest in the topic of the project.

Qualification requirements

• Proven academic record: The PhD candidate must hold a 2-year Master's degree (including master’s dissertation) or an equivalent qualification in economics. Candidates completing their Master's degrees (or equivalent) in the spring semester 2023 before August 1, 2023, may apply.
• Candidates who have already completed economics courses at the postgraduate level in econometrics, microeconomics and/or macroeconomics will have a distinct advantage in the ranking of candidates, but strong candidates who lack this background can also be accepted and will be required to take such courses as part of the PhD programme. Candidates with a degree from another institution than the University of Oslo will need to document qualifications based on detailed course descriptions and syllabuses.
• Candidates who have completed a PhD program in Economics, will not be accepted.
• Candidates who have already been accepted to a PhD program in Economics must inform about this.
• GRE test: For candidates with education from an institution outside the European Economic Area/the European Union or Switzerland a recent score from the general GRE test is required as part of the documentation of qualifications. Please add UiO as a recipient of your GRE test using our institutional code 0756. In addition, you must scan and upload a copy of your test result to the application portal. The Department of Economics does not accept the GMAT tests to substitute the GRE.
• Proof of proficiency in English: A good command of English is required of all applicants. International students must document their proficiency in English by taking either TOEFL- or IELTS-test. For information about score requirements, see Requirements for admission to the PhD programme in Economics.

For further information, please visit the Faculty of Social Sciences’ homepage for the PhD programme: Applying for a PhD fellowship at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The fellowship is scheduled to start in August of 2023.

We offer

• Salary NOK 501 200 - 544 400 per annum depending on qualifications.
• A comprehensive course curriculum.
• Supervision by one or two academic supervisors.
• Academically stimulating working environment.
• Attractive employee benefits (e.g., parental leave).
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities.
• Fellows will be provided with their own office space and will have access to all the facilities of the department.

Evaluation of the application

We seek highly motivated candidates with an excellent background in economics. When evaluating the application, emphasis will be given to the applicant's proven academic record, the project proposal and the applicant’s academic and personal prerequisites to carry out the project.

Emphasis will moreover be placed on how the project fits the research strategy of the Department of Economics and supervision capacity. For further information, please see detailed guidelines for the project proposal. Applicants may be invited to an interview.

How to apply

The application must include

• Application letter (please indicate which position(s) you apply for)
• Project proposal of 5-10 pages
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work)
• Copies of (both) transcripts and diplomas, and letters of recommendation (if any)
• List of relevant publications and other academic work
• Research papers, including master's dissertation. Where research work is co-authored, the contribution of the candidate should be indicated.
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone 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).

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. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

Contact information

• Principal investigator NIMICAR, Professor Christian Traeger
• Principal investigator, Assistant Professor Ragnhild Camilla Schreiner
• Head of Administration, Brita Langeid
• Adviser, Tone Enger

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