Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology

The position

A full time, permanent engineering position (SKO1087 Head engineer/lab engineer) is available in the Research Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC) at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. The position will be depending on external funding.

Work tasks

The position is suited for a person with strong programming competence and interest in signal and image processing. Imaging of the human brain by MRI and PET is central to LCBC research, and the main tasks will include:

• Data preprocessing and higher-level analyses
• Automated and manual quality control of data
• Implementation and maintenance of the LCBC processing pipeline
• Participate in development and maintenance of the LCBC neuroimaging database
• Contributions to implementation and testing of new processing procedures

Main programs used for analyses are FreeSurfer (http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/) and FSL (http://fsl.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/fslwiki/) in addition to custom made procedures, and the center cooperates with the developers of these programs. Custom-made procedures are run in Matlab or R, and the lab environment is Linux.

The candidate is expected to work closely with other researchers at LCBC as well as with our international collaborators.

The candidate

The successful candidate has a master’s degree or similar in a relevant field, such as biomedical engineering, informatics, physics, mathematics or neuroscience, although other backgrounds, such as psychology or medicine, may be acceptable given extraordinary skills and interests. Further

• high competence in scripting in Linux and programming in Matlab or similar is necessary
• excellent command of English, orally and in writing

It is necessary to have extensive experience with FreeSurfer and FSL software packages for processing of neuroimaging data, in addition to application of BIDS (Brain Imaging Data Structure

In assessing applications, the qualifications stated above will guide the process. After the initial screening process, interviews with selected candidates may be arranged where the applicants’ personal prerequisites and cooperative skills will be emphasized.

The research center

LCBC is an active, international multi-disciplinary research center, led by Professors Kristine B. Walhovd, Anders M Fjell and René Westerhausen, with a staff of 30 full time positions, including seven faculty professors/ researchers, several Post Docs and PhD candidates, several programmers/engineers and full-time RAs, extensive supporting personnel and several affiliated international researchers. We have staff from eight different countries, and English is the language of the lab. The center has an interdisciplinary approach, with researchers from different fields such as psychology, medicine, neuroscience, physics, informatics, mathematics and engineering. LCBC was in 2015, as one of five, appointed status as a “world leading” research group at the University of Oslo. We encourage the interested applicant to visit www.oslobrains.no for more details about LCBC and our research.

LCBC constitutes an extremely active and stimulating learning environment for the skilled and interested candidate.

The research

Cognition – the ability to attend, remember and reason - is pivotal to all aspects of human life. Yet cognitive functioning varies considerably among and within human beings across the lifespan. The main aim of LCBC research is to explain, predict and promote cognitive function from birth to old age, in health and disease. In addition to studies of development and aging, we also research diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and biomedical risks such as prenatal drug exposure.

Cognitive measures, imaging of brain activity and structure, genetics, molecular biology and registry information are systematically applied across large samples of participants from 4 to 90+ years. Neuroimaging is central to all LCBC projects, and we thus devote large resources to infrastructure and manpower dedicated to imaging of the brain. Last year we got our own 3T Siemens Prisma MRI scanner, situated at the department of radiology of the Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet.

We offer

• Salary NOK 488 000 – 532 300 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as Head engineer, position code 1087 (Overingeniør SKO 1087)
• 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

The application must include

The application must include:

• Letter of application, 1-2 pages, explaining the motivation for applying
• Curriculum Vitae summarizing education, positions and academic work
• Copies of educational certificates, complete list of publications and, if applicable, 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 English.

The application (evt.) with attachments must be delivered in our recruiting system.

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

Formal regulations

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.

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 aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds. For more information about Oslo, please see http://www.visitnorway.com/en/oslo

Contact information

Head of Administration: Joakim Dyrnes: joakim.dyrnes@psykologi.uio.no

Project leader: Professor Anders M Fjell: andersmf@psykologi.uio.no