PhD position in Health Economics and Precision Cancer

Job description

Applications are invited for a 3-year position in a Research Fellowship as a PhD Candidate in Health Economics to be based at the Department of Health Management and Health Economics, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo. 

Are you passionate about economics, health, and public policy? Do you want to be part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary, and international research community tackling some of Europe’s most pressing health and social challenges? Join HEPARD, a European doctoral training network that combines rigorous academic training with real-world policy engagement.

More about the position

About the Programme

HEPARD is an interdisciplinary doctoral training network that equips early-career researchers with solid theoretical foundations, advanced empirical methods, and the ability to engage across disciplines. We welcome candidates with strong academic backgrounds in economics or related fields who are motivated to explore complex questions at the intersection of health, economics, and policy

What Makes HEPARD Unique?

• International and Interdisciplinary Training: Benefit from a unique opportunity to study and collaborate across multiple European institutions, gaining exposure to diverse academic environments and policy contexts. The programme includes institutional visits, secondments, and a rich curriculum that integrates economics, epidemiology, public health, and data science. HEPARD graduates obtain a strong international research network.
• Tailored and Flexible Curriculum: HEPARD’s training is carefully structured to provide core competencies essential for rigorous, policy-relevant research while offering flexibility to tailor your training to specific needs and interests through elective courses and secondments.
• Blended Learning Approach: Our training combines intensive in-person workshops at partner institutions with regular interactive 
  online seminars, journal clubs, and research discussions, ensuring continuous learning and vibrant scholarly exchange.
  Comprehensive Skill Development: Alongside academic training, you will acquire transferable skills essential for professional 
  success, including leadership, communication, policy engagement, grant writing, and networking, supported by practitioners and 
  end users of real-world data.
• High-Quality Supervision: Join a network led by a highly qualified consortium of experts in health economics, econometrics, public health, and epidemiology. You will receive mentorship from supervisors with extensive track records in doctoral training, interdisciplinary research, career development, and high-quality research.
   

Training Highlights

• Core courses in health economics, causal inference, microeconometrics, health inequalities, medical epidemiology, and healthcare decision-making
• Electives covering data science, public health, implementation science, and empirical microeconomics.
  Two secondments: one academic, fostering research collaboration and methodological expertise, and one non-academic, providing real-world policy and practice experience.
• Network-wide workshops and conferences fostering interdisciplinary exchange and policy engagement.
• Regular online meetings featuring research seminars and journal clubs.
• Career development sessions including leadership, team building, and grant writing

The research fellow must take part in the Medical Faculty’s approved PhD program and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period of 3 years. The main purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. The applicant must, in collaboration with her/his supervisor, within 3 months after employment, have worked out a complete project description to be attached to the application for admission to the doctoral program. 

For more information, please see our web site Doctoral degree: PhD in medicine and health sciences - Faculty of Medicine.

You will work with

In this sub-project we aim to develop and apply simulation models to assess the impact of precision diagnostics and health interventions on health outcomes and economic performance, specifically addressing challenges such as overdiagnosis in cancer care. 

We will utilize economic theory, simulation, economic evaluation and machine learning to quantify the benefits of advanced diagnostic technologies in reducing overdiagnosis.

 Competence 

You must have

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in Health Economics and Health Policy, or equivalent degrees.  A Master’s degree (120 ECTS) minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS  
• Documented skills in economic evaluation and decision analytic modelling 
• Experience in developing decision analytic model (such as decision tree, Markov model and microsimulation model) 
• Experience in programming language such as Excel, Stata or R or similar 
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• Intellectual curiosity, analytical rigour, and a keen interest in policy-relevant research. 
• Eligibility in accordance with the MSCA mobility rule: candidates must not have lived or carried out their main activity (work or studies) in Norway for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date Exceptions apply only for compulsory national service (for example mandatory military or civilian service) or recognised refugee status under the Geneva Convention

In addition, the following qualifications are beneficial

• Experience with individual-level data analyses
• Knowledge of obesity treatment with diagnostics and treatment in cancer 
• Experience with research dissemination, .e.g., conferences, publications

Personal skills 

• Excellent social, networking, and presentation skills, enabling effective collaboration across disciplines and engagement with diverse stakeholders

• Intellectual curiosity, a problem-solving mindset, and the ability to work independently and in teams

  Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

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 

• Committed colleagues in a good working environment. 
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities. 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position as Doctoral Research Fellow, position code 1017 in salary range NOK 550 800- 610 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fun

Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.

Application

Your application must include:

• Cover letter statement of motivation and research interests
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work)
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• Documentation of english proficiency (if degrees were in non-English-speaking programs)
•  A complete list of publications and academic works
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews. 

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, 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.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian),  Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO and Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo.

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.