Postdoctoral Fellows in Special Needs Education, Education, Educational Psychology and Psychology

Job description

Applicants are invited for two to three positions as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE), University of Oslo, Norway. The positions are a three to four-year full-time position. 

The positions have a double affiliation with the Centre for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE) and the Department of Special Needs Education. The main workplace will be CREATEs premises at the University of Oslo.

CREATE is an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway (2023-2033) with the objective to generate novel knowledge about how to reduce inequalities in education. The interdisciplinary centre integrates researchers with substantive expertise from education, special education, psychology, sociology, economics, and genetics, and methodological expertise from educational measurement, psychometrics, econometrics, statistics, and biostatistics. The postdoctoral fellowships are associated with CREATE’s research strand 2: “Intervening on the barriers to equality in education”.  

The Department of Special Needs Education offers a Bachelor’s degree in special needs education and five special education majors (speech and language therapy, hearing, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, psycho-social difficulties, and neurodevelopmental disorders) at the Master’s level, in addition to an international Master’s program (Master in Special Needs Education). The department’s lab, Oslo Special Education and Learning Lab (Oslo SpeLL) offers an excellent possibility to incorporate research, innovation and student activities into a clinical context.

More about the position

The Postdoctoral Fellows are expected to pursue quantitative research in line with the aims of CREATE’s research strand 2: 1) to develop and examine effects from reliable, durable, and educationally meaningful interventions addressing the barriers to equality in skill development, and 2) to design theoretically oriented experiments to examine the causal mechanisms that operate in interventions. CREATE focuses on oral language, literacy (reading and writing), and mathematics as fundamental skills critical to educational success. The current positions are tied to two planned randomized controlled trials that will test the effects of interventions for upper primary school children (5th -7th grade). The first intervention concerns argumentative writing skills and will be delivered in a whole classroom setting. The writing intervention will focus on skills such as audience design, arguments and counterarguments, connectors, and text revision. The second intervention concerns mathematical skills and targets students who struggle with basic arithmetic. The mathematics intervention will focus on strengthening whole-number skills and developing fraction understanding, which are essential for later mathematical learning.

As part of the work on these intervention studies, the Postdoctoral Fellows are expected to contribute to the administration and implementation, including the development of intervention materials, assessment tools, the coordination of research assistants, and data collection. 

The Postdoctoral Fellows are expected to work with the interdisciplinary team CREATE’s strand 2 and will have the opportunity to define and pursue their own research interests within the scope of CREATE’s research aims and the planned intervention studies. 

The appointments are a full-time position for a period of three years. If there is a good match between the candidate’s competence and the teaching needs at the Department of Special Needs Education, the positions may be extended to four years, 25 percent of which will be devoted to teaching, supervision, and research assistance.

The main purpose of the fellowship is to build a research profile and competence that qualifies the postdoctoral fellow to apply for a position as associate professor within their disciplines. The position may also provide other competence with relevance for the postdoctoral fellow's further career.

If the Postdoctoral Fellow does not already have educational qualifications that meet the requirements for an associate professor position, UiO shall facilitate the acquisition of such competence during the employment period.

A career plan shall be developed for the Postdoctoral Fellow, specifying the competencies the Postdoctoral Fellow should acquire. UiO is responsible for following up on the career plan and ensuring that the Postdoctoral Fellow has access to career guidance throughout the postdoctoral term.

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in special needs education, psychology, education, cognitive science, speech-language therapy, language sciences or another relevant field. The doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the application deadline. Appointment is dependent on the public defense of the doctoral thesis being approved
• Experience with quantitative data and assessment of children’s language, literacy and/or mathematical skills
• A strong interest in the fields of literacy development and/or mathematical development
• Quantitative research skills and eagerness to develop such skills further
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in both Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language) and English 

Personal skills

• A collaborative, friendly, and team-oriented work style 
• Ability to join interdisciplinary academic communities
• Ability to focus and work independently 
• Ability to work with children and educators

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues—could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. 

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

We offer

• Salary NOK 595 000 - 670 000 per annum depending on qualifications in position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow (position code 1352). From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund
• An interdisciplinary and international working environment, nationally recognized as a Centre of Excellence
• Attractive welfare benefits 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (1 page, incl. a statement of motivation) and a description of your experience working with children and educators and experience with quantitative methods
• Project description (5-7 pages, including a short summary of research gaps, research questions the candidate regards relevant to pursue, theoretical and methodological approaches, and a progress plan). As the candidate will carry out research in CREATE’s planned intervention studies, the project description is regarded more as a proof of the candidate’s ability to develop research ideas and scientific writing skills than a concrete plan for the research that will be carried out during the postdoctoral period
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copy of PhD Diploma or documentation of thesis submission. Applicants who have not yet defended their PhD dissertation need to include an advisor's letter confirming specific expectations about when the degree will be received
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• A complete list of publications
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system Jobbnorge. 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).

Incomplete applications will not be assessed. 

In assessing the applicants, special emphasis will be placed on the documented, academic qualifications, the project description (whenever this is required in the call for applicants), and the quality of the project as well as the candidates motivation and personal suitability. Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

It is expected that the successful candidate will be able to complete the project in the course of the period of employment.

Formal regulations

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and 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.

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we cannot, you will hear from us.

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