Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

UiT The Arctic University of Norway is a multi-campus research university and the northernmost university of the world. Our central location in the High North, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio, and our interdisciplinary qualities make us uniquely suited to meet the challenges of the future. At UiT you can explore global issues from a close-up perspective.

Credibility, academic freedom, closeness, creativity and commitment shall be hallmarks of the relationship between our employees, between our employees and our students and between UiT and our partners.

The Faculty of Health Sciences at UiT The Arctic University of Norway represents a newly created entity gathering almost all possible health study programs. This facilitates an unique interdisciplinarity and innovation in health education and research. We work closely with the services in the North to solve tomorrow's challenges. Read more about us at uit.no/helsefak

Faculty of Health Sciences

The position

A Postdoctoral Research Fellow position is available at the Department of Psychology (IPS), Faculty of Health Sciences with the Research Group for Cognitive Neuroscience.

The position is a fixed term position for a duration of 3 years. Appointment to the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow is mainly intended to provide qualification for work in top academic positions. It is a prerequisite that the applicant can carry out the project over the full course of the employment period. No person may hold more than one fixed term position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the same institution.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time after receiving the offer.

Unless special circumstances indicate otherwise, postdoctoral projects shall be planned with stays abroad. The duration should be at least 6 months.

The project/position's field of research

The position is associated with the project «Neural mechanisms of off-focus cognition» conducted within the Research Group of Cognitive Neuroscience. The goal of that project is to quantify the neural activity patterns underlying self-initiated, spontaneous cognition and mind wandering. For that purpose, we use a model-based neuroscience approach to integrate neural data from different modalities, functional and structural (high-resolution) magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), pupillometry and eye-tracking with behaviour and introspection through the lens of a generative model. We employ methods from machine-learning and cognitive modeling to achieve this integration and we have a specific focus on subcortical brain structures.

The successful applicant must possess comprehensive experience in the acquisition and analysis of (functional) MRI data (ideally at ultra-high field strengths, e.g., 7 Tesla), must be fluent in the Python and R programming languages for scientific data-analysis and be competent in integrating data from multiple modalities (both neural and behavioural) through machine-learning and computational modeling. It is expected that the applicant has published on these topics in peer-reviewed, international, scientific journals.

Contact

For further information about the position, please contact:

• Prof. Matthias Mittner, phone: +47 77646371, email: matthias.mittner@uit.no

Qualifications

This position requires a Norwegian doctoral degree (PhD) in the subject area or an equivalent foreign doctoral degree. Qualification with a PhD is required before commencement in the position.

Fluency in English is required and working knowledge of Norwegian or a Scandinavian language is desirable. Nordic applicants can document their capabilities by attaching their high school diploma.

In the assessment the main emphasis will be attached to the submitted works and the project proposal for the qualifying work. Emphasis shall also be attached to experience from popularization/dissemination and academic policy and administrative activity.

In order to tackle the complexity of the project that the candidate will join, we require expertise (documented, ideally through peer-reviewed publications) in the follow fields and methods:

· (f)MRI imaging, especially Ultra-high field MR imaging (7 Tesla)

· Imaging of subcortical structures

· Programming using the Python and R languages

· Application of Machine-learning methods to the analysis of neural data

· Familiarity with formal cognitive models of behaviour (e.g., drift-diffusion models, …)

During the assessment emphasis will be put on the candidate’s motivation, potential for research, and personal suitability for the position. 

We are looking for candidates who:

• Have good collaboration skills
• Have good communication and interaction with colleagues and students
• Wants to contribute to a good working environment

At UiT we put emphasis on the quality, relevance and significance of the research work and not on where the work is published, in accordance with the principles of The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

Inclusion and diversity

UiT The Arctic University i Norway is working actively to promote equality, gender balance and diversity among employees and students, and to create an inclusive and safe working environment. We believe that inclusion and diversity is a strength, and we want employees with different competencies, professional experience, life experience and perspectives.

If you have a disability, a gap in your CV or immigrant background, we encourage you to tick the box for this in your application. If there are qualified applicants, we invite least one in each group for an interview. If you get the job, we will adapt the working conditions if you need it. Apart from selecting the right candidates, we will only use the information for anonymous statistics. 

We offer

• Involvement in an interesting research project using cutting-edge methods
• Good career opportunities
• A good academic environment with dedicated colleagues 
• Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement 
• Pension scheme through the state pension fund 

Norwegian health policy aims to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their personal finances and where they live, has access to good health and care services of equal standard. As an employee you will become member of the National Insurance Scheme which also include health care services.

More practical information for working and living in Norway can be found here.

Application

Your application must include:

•  Application letter
•  CV
•  Diplomas and transcripts (all degrees)
•  Contact information to 2-3 references
•  A list of your academic production
•  Description of your academic production, stating which works you consider most important
•  Academic works, up to ten. The doctoral thesis is regarded as one work.

In order to achieve a targeted use of the postdoctoral position, and to strengthen the employee’s career development, a development plan must be available no later than three months after the appointment contract is signed. The development plan must be approved by the immediate leader with personnel responsibility.

All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. We only accept applications and documentation sent via Jobbnorge within the application deadline.

Assessment

The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. The committee's mandate is to undertake an assessment of the applicants' qualifications based on the written material presented by the applicants, and the detailed description draw up for the position.

The applicants who are assessed as best qualified will be called to an interview. The interview should among other things, aim to clarify the applicant’s motivation and personal suitability for the position. A trial lecture may also be held.

General information

The appointment is made in accordance with State regulations and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants. 

The remuneration for Postdoctoral research fellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1352. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. You will become a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, which gives you many benefits in addition to a lifelong pension: You may be entitled to financial support if you become ill or disabled, your family may be entitled to financial support when you die, you become insured against occupational injury or occupational disease, and you can get good terms on a mortgage. Read more about your employee benefits at: spk.no.

The successful candidate must be willing to get involved in the ongoing development of their department and the university as a whole.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and 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. 

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