Ledig stilling på UiT Norges arktiske universitet
Assosiate Professor in Microalgae
Deadline 31.03.2019
About the position
The Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE), UiT The Arctic University of Norway has a position vacant as Associate professor in Microalgae. The position is attached to the Microalgae Science Group at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS).
Are you the candidate we need for the position, which is ambitious and can communicate and cooperate well, read on.
About us
The Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) is a multidisciplinary unit for marine research and education. NCFS have established research environments for resource management, resource utilization and biotechnology. NCFS teaching obligation stretches trough three study programs at Bachelor and Master level; Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Biotechnology/Marine biotechnology and Aquamedicine.
In addition, NCFS offers an international master program, International Fisheries Management (IFM). All programs of are growing popularity as they are attracting more qualified students than available opportunities. Read more about us here.
For further information
- Professor Hans Chr. Eilertsen hans.c.eilertsen@uit.no or
- Head of department Terje E. Martinussen, terje.martinussen@uit.no
The position’s field of research/field of work
The position is part of the Microalgae research group at The Norwegian College of Fisheries Science department at The Arctic University of Norway. The group currently consists of two fixed scientific and technical, two temporary technicians, two post doc. and five PhD positions. The successful candidate will interact with a diverse group of experts who work on different aspects of biotechnology, oceanography, fisheries and marine ecology. The driving force behind the UiT’s Microalgae group has been to understand and harness design principles from Arctic phytoplankton to develop new engineering solutions to promote sustainability.
The team builds multi-disciplinary projects around the idea that Arctic phytoplankton underpin large-scale ecosystem functions and biogeochemical cycles and that genome encoded functions – once mechanistically understood – can be exploited to develop new technologies such as advanced carbon capture and utilization. Our research group embraces the pursuit of fundamental scientific knowledge while actively striving to innovate new technological and economic opportunities in Arctic regions of northern Norway and the world at large.
Hence, along with taxonomy, physiology and modern, genome-informed investigations, microalgae mass cultivation techniques is important to our current project portfolio. The group has also been historically involved in bioprospecting and alternative use of algal biomass products.
Qualification
Relevant applicants are well established within their fields of expertise, with scientific qualifications beyond the doctoral degree level within one or more of the relevant disciplines, as well as experience with research collaboration nationally and internationally. Experience with student counseling is beneficial.
Emphasis will be placed on the ability of project acquisition, experience from popularization / dissemination to society and working life, professional policy and administrative work, as well as good collaboration skills. Experience with international scientific collaboration is an advantage.
Applicant must have a good command of English, both written and verbal. Due to teaching obligations, proficiency in a Scandinavian language will be regarded as advantageous. Applicants who do not master Norwegian or other Scandinavian languages can be employed on qualifikastion terms (two years) to learn Norwegian.
How to document languages proficiency.
We expect you to have
- Documented and published experience in modern, genome-informed biology as it relates to algae and/or other microorganisms and/or marine microbiomes.
- Experience with the taxonomic identification of microalgae with established experience in using both modern molecular approaches such as Illumina-based tag sequencing and traditional morphological techniques.
- Documented and published experience in the cultivation of photosynthetic microorganisms.
- A clear track record of excellence in in communication as demonstrated by scientific publishing, including international journals and conference proceedings.
- Documented proficiency with modern data analysis tools such as programming languages R, Python and/or Matlab
It is an advantage if you can demonstrate:
- Mass cultivation of algae and scaled up bioprocess engineering.
- Transcriptomics, metabolomics, lipidomics and/or proteomics as its applied to the study of algae or other microeukaryotic organisms.
- Next generation sequencing which could include RNA-seq and/or metagenomics.
- Mass spectrometry which could include MS-imaging or stable isotope analyses.
- Experience and/or desire to integrate bioengineering principles with microbial ecology as it applies to promoting sustainability in the Arctic.
- Experience in studying marine microbiomes and phytoplankton communities.
- Experience in genetics, synthetic biology and/or metabolic engineering as it applies to non-model organisms (specifically diatoms or other microalgae).
- Microalgae cultivation/mass cultivation competence inclusive of process regulation, controls and/or engineering control theory
The candidate is also expected to focus on research that can promote sustainable biotechnology and/or microbial ecology as it relates to microalgae and next generation industrial scale bioprocesses – specifically, carbon capture and utilization. This demands interdisciplinary approaches, and good organizational and logistic abilities are therefore important.
Teaching qualifications
The applicants must be able to document teaching qualifications in the form of university-level teaching seminars, other teaching education or through having developed a teaching portfolio. Alternatively, after carrying out an assessment of the applicant’s practical teaching skills, the committee may determine that this may be regarded as of equal value to formal teaching qualifications
We are searching candidates who are ambitious, who communicates and cooperates well. Personal qualifications based on personal suitability, productivity and inclusiveness will be emphasized.
Pursuant to the Regulations concerning appointment and promotion to teaching and research posts, the requirements for teaching competence are as follows: Documented competence in relevant educational theory and practice based on training or on teaching and supervision.
You can read mor about teaching competence here.
How to apply
The application must include:
- CV (containing a complete overview of education, supervised professional training and professional work)
- diplomas and reference letter
- form for documentation of teaching qualifications
- list of works and description of these
- Documentation of language proficiency
- A 1-page document describing the applicants teaching and mentorship philosophy.
- A 1-page research strategy document that describes the candidates core technical skills as they relate to future innovation within UiT’s Microalgae group.
- The list of works shall contain the following information:
- author(s), the work’s title
- for articles: the journal’s name and volume, the first and last page of the article, year of publication
- for publications: publisher, printer, year of publication, number of pages
Works - The applicant have to submit up to 10 works that are central to his/her production. Doctoral thesis is in this context regarded as one work.
In addition, the applicant shall provide a description of his/her scientific production stating which works he/she considers the most important and shall therefore be the main emphasis of the assessment. A brief description of the other listed works shall also be included to demonstrate depth of production. These descriptions shall be an attachment to the application.
Assessment
An expert committee will assess the applicants. The applicants, who assessed as the best qualified, will be called to an interview. The interview shall among other things aim to clarify the applicant’s personal suitability for the position. A trial lecture may also be held.
To be assessed by the Committee it is important that documentation is attaches within the expiration of the application deadline. Documents to considered have to be translate and certified to Scandinavian or English.
Working conditions
At UiT The Arctic University of Norway the allocation of working hours shall be flexible and allocated ona case by case basis.
As a general principle, a Professor, Associate Professor, Docent shall spend an equal amount of time on teaching and research and development work, after time spent on other duties has been deducted. As a norm the time resources spent on administrative duties constitutes 5 % for academic staff in this category of position.
Employees in permanent positions as Associate Professor have the right to apply for a paid sabbatical (research and development). cf. Guidelines for the allocation of R&D sabbatical.
The successful applicant must be willing to engage himself/herself in the ongoing development of his/her discipline and the university as a whole.
Salary for Associate professors are in accordance with the State scale code 1011. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted.
Interim appointment
Interim appointment In the event that there are no suitably qualified applicants for the position, an interim appointment for a period of no more than three years may be made, of the regulations appurtenant to the Civil Service Act and the Act relating to universities and university colleges.
In the event of an interim appointment on the basis of lacking teaching qualifications, the applicant must document teaching qualifications through developing a teaching portfolio before the three-year period elapses. The appointment will become permanent in the event that the applicant is found to be suitably qualified.
Gender balance
UiT The Arctic University of Norway wishes to increase the proportion of females in senior research positions. In the event that two or more applicants are found to be approximately equally qualified, female applicants will be given priority.
Information
More information and guidelines referenced in our announcement are available here.
Questions concerning the organization of the working environment, such as the physical state of the place of employment, health service, possibility for flexible working hours, part time, etc. may be directed to the telephone reference in this announcement.
UiT The Arctic University of Norway has HR policy objectives that emphasize diversity, and therefore encourages qualified applicants to apply regardless of gender, functional ability and national or ethnic background.
UiT The Arctic University of Norway is an IW (Inclusive Workplace) enterprise, and will therefore emphasize making the necessary adaptations to the working conditions for employees with reduced functional ability.
Personal data given in an application or CV will be processed in accordance with the Act relating to the processing of personal data (the Personal Data Act). In accordance with Section 25 subsection 2 of the Freedom of Information Act, the applicant may request not to be registered on the public list of applicants. However, the University may nevertheless decide that the name of the applicant will be made public. The applicant will receive advance notification in the event of such publication.
In case of discrepancies between the Norwegian and the English version of this description, the Norwegian version takes precedence.