Ledig stilling på Universitetet i Oslo

Blindern og Urbygningen (Foto: Wikimedia og Colourbox)

1-2 postdoctoral fellowships - PROMENTA Research Center

Deadline: 23.02.2021

Faculty of Social Sciences,

Universitetet i Oslo

The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution, with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. With its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally recognised research communities, UiO is an important contributor to society.


The Department of Psychology is one of seven units of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and has 75 permanent and 70 temporary members of scientific staff. Degrees are offered at bachelor and master level, plus a clinical training programme, and the PhD programme has 140 students.

Department of Psychology,

Section for Health-, Developmental- and Personality Psychology

About the positions

1-2 postdoctoral fellowships are available at the PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. PROMENTA is a newly established interdisciplinary research center at the Department of Psychology aiming to provide answers to three central questions in mental health, well-being, and drug use research: What processes lead to poor and good mental health, and how? How do social and geographic inequalities in mental health arise? How can we develop, tailor, and evaluate effective interventions in communities to promote good mental health? To address these questions, we examine sources of mental health on a variety of levels, such as genetic risk, neurocognitive development, the psychosocial environment, and the socio-cultural and political context. For more information about PROMENTA, please visit www.promenta.no.

The 1-2 postdoctoral positions are funded through two grants from the Research Council of Norway for the projects:

  • «Motherhood and Quality of Life: The causal processes of caregiving burden, illness coping, work-life, genetics and social relations", and
  • «Homo sociabilis and genomics of the good life. Rethinking wellbeing and social relations – the role of genetic and environmental processes”.

More about the projects

The fellowship is for a period of three years. A fourth year can be considered with the addition of a 25 % teaching requirement, depending on the competence of the applicant and the needs of the department.

Project 1 - Motherhood and Quality of Life

The postdoctoral fellow will collaborate with colleagues at PROMENTA to generate vital knowledge about causal factors and processes contributing to maternal quality of life and good mental health. The project will focus on the sources and trajectories of mothers’ wellbeing and resilience through the childrearing stage, examine the unique and joint risks of care demands, illness and work-related challenges - and seek to identify protective factors, particularly in the web of social relations.

Specific objectives:

1) Examine the nature of dynamic relations between maternal wellbeing and the adversities of caregiving burden, illness exposure and work-life challenges over time, 2) Determine the role of maternal social relations in generating resilience, and thereby counteracting and moderating negative effects of adversities, 3) Examine the role of genetic and environmental factors in the associations between maternal wellbeing, social relations and adversities, and 4) Examine gender gaps in risk profiles, and gendered pathways from adversities to wellbeing

The project will use longitudinal data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (Moba), including genetic and questionnaire data.

Project 2 – Homo Sociabilis and Genomics of the Good Life

The postdoctoral fellow will work with PROMENTA colleagues to generate knowledge about the nature and development of human wellbeing. In particular, the project aims to expand our understanding of the social ingredients, and the role of genetics and environments during childhood and adolescence.

To further our understanding of the complex and interconnected causal processes unfolding through development, the project will:

1) examine patterns of multi-wellbeing and delineate the genetic and environmental architecture involved, 2) determine to what extent genetic influences on wellbeing are mediated by social relations, that is, the ways genetic factors create environments that generate wellbeing, 3) determine to what extent and how social relations are causally related to wellbeing while controlling for shared genetics, and reveal processes of intergenerational transmission of wellbeing, and , 4) examine the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the complex associations between wellbeing and our social world.

The project will use longitudinal data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (Moba), including genetic and questionnaire data. Focus will be on wellbeing among adolescents, and the developmental processes evolving from birth.

Both projects are led by Professor Espen Røysamb (PI) and Senior researcher Ragnhild Bang Nes (co-PI). We encourage candidates to contact the project leaders for more information about the positions and projects prior to submitting an application. The projects involve collaborations between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and international researchers.

Qualification requirements

  • Applicants must hold a PhD degree or equivalent in relevant fields such as psychology, social science, epidemiology, medicine, or related. The doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing date for applications.
  • Excellent skills in quantitative analysis
  • Long-term potential for high-quality research
  • Excellent English skills, orally and in writing
  • Ambitions for high-quality research within the project, as evidenced by the required letter of application, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced position. Please specify which project you are most interested in, or if you do not have a preference.The following are considered advantageous
  • Experience with longitudinal data analysis, genetically informed studies, structural equation modelling
  • Competence in software such as R, Mplus, Stata.
  • Excellent writing skills
  • Experience in the research fields of wellbeing, quality of life, mental health, genetics, health, developmental or personality psychology.Personal skills
  • Creative thinking and analytic abilities
  • High motivation and efficient work structure
  • Ability to work in collaborative groups and independently

In assessing applications, particular emphasis will be placed upon the quality of the candidate’s academic qualifications. Interviews with selected candidates will be arranged where the applicants personal suitability, motivation and cooperative skills will be emphasized.

We offer

  • Salary grade NOK 555 800 - 643 000 per year, depending on qualifications, position code 1352
  • A professionally stimulating work environment in a newly established research center at the Department of Psychology
  • Enthusiastic colleagues with high expertise in relevant fields
  • Opportunities for extensive collaboration with national and international collaborators
  • Favorable pension and social welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include

  • Letter of application, 1-2 pages, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced postdoc position.
  • Curriculum vitae summarizing education and positions, including a publication list.
  • Copies of educational certificates and up to five publications/academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee.
  • Names and contact details of at least two references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and telephone number).

International applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system. All documents should be in Scandinavian or English.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Fellow period at the University of Oslo.

This is a project funded by the research council of Norway and applicants with a previous postdoctoral fellowship funded by the research council cannot be appointed for this position.

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

Contact information

Apply for position

Powered by Labrador CMS