Job description

The Department of Ethnography, Numismatics, Classical Archaeology and University History holds responsibility for the Ethnographic collection and aims to keep the collection alive by engaging it through research, exhibitions, and digital initiatives, as well as a variety of dissemination activities. The department is seeking a qualified and highly motivated researcher for a 3-year PhD Fellowship (SKO 1017) within the field of Social Anthropology. The applicant should engage one of the museum’s research strategies; Meaningful Materialities, The entrepreneur; between tradition and structure; and Landscape and Rapid Changes.

A number of our research activities are also associated with our work on Global Cultural Heritage. This initiative includes activities such as: dialogical engagement of collections through exhibitions; shared digital platforms; collaborative ventures aiming to acquire new artefacts, or even, in some cases, acts of repatriation, all of which are forms of joint knowledge production.The call is open for candidates with an interest in any of these fields.

Eligible project descriptions should be focused on material culture, and emphasise long-term fieldwork. We are open to many kinds of approaches to materialities; theoretically, analytically, and empirically. The successful candidate should aspire to methodological and theoretical sophistication.

More about the position

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

The doctoral research fellow will follow the PhD programme of the Institute of Social Anthropology. The applicant must fulfill the requirements for admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, and is responsible for applying for admission within the given deadlines.

All PhD candidates who submit their doctoral dissertation for assessment, along with a written recommendation from their supervisor, within 3 years after the start of their PhD position will be offered a 12 months completion grant.

Qualification requirements

• applicants must hold a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology that includes previous fieldwork experience.
• fluent oral and written communication skills in English and a Scandinavian language

The assessment of the application will emphasize the quality of the project description, including:

• the general approach and overall structure of the project
• scientific audacity and scientific innovativeness
• relevance for the museum's research profile and priorities
• feasibility, progress plan and research allocation
• plans for dissemination of results
• national and international collaboration
• network resources
• ethical implications

Personal skills

The applicant's academic and personal qualifications for undertaking the project will be taken into account

We offer

• salary NOK 449 400,- to NOK 505 800,- per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow, (position code 1017)
• operating grant
• a professionally stimulating working environment
• excellent retirement agreements with the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employment in an Inclusive Working Life corporation
• attractive welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include

• cover letter statement of motivation and research interests
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work)
• an outline of an independet PhD project that responds to one or more of the areas of the Musuem om Cultural History's research strategy (maximum 14 000 characters exkluding spaces or approx. 5 pages, exluding literature list). The project outline must include:
  • statement of the general research problem and how it will be investigated through more specific research questions.
  • explanation of the general significance of the study
  • discussion of the analytical framework of the research problem in the light of relevant theory
  • description of the geographical and socio-cultural context of the study
  • presentation of the research design and the methods that will be employed to generate the data
  • practial and ethical considerations
  • time plan for the three-year study programme and budget for fieldwork-expenses
• copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• a complete list of publications and academic works of relevance for the application
• transcript of records of your Master's degree.
• a minimum of 2 letters of recommendation including contact details of the referees (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

Master's theses and the like are not to be submitted with the application, but applicants may be asked to submit such works or further information later.

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 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.

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.

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.

Contact information

• Section Bjørn Vidar Johansen, phone nunmber: + 47 22857945, e-mail: b.v.johansen@khm.uio.no
• Associate professor Gro Birgit Ween, phone number: + 47 22845919, e-mail: g.b.ween@khm.uio.no

For questions regarding the recruitment system please contact HR-adviser Anita Marie Hansen, e-mail: a.m.hansen@khm.uio.no

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