PhD position in Load Management in Team Sport Athletes

About the Department

The Department of Physical Performance contributes through education, research, and dissemination, to an understanding of what determines physical performance with a focus on exercise physiology, biomechanics and technology.

The department is responsible for teaching and conducting research within areas of how physical performance is influenced by optimal training and technique in both a sport and health perspective as well as in rehabilitation of patients. 

The department's activities take place in "state of the art" laboratories, equipped for studying human motions.

The department's target groups incorporate various populations; youth, elite athletes, the elderly population and patients. 

We carry specific responsibility for research within the sports of cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, swimming, orienteering, and track and field.

The position

The Department of Physical Performance at NIH offers a three-year PhD fellowship from August 2026. The fellowship is offered within Load Management in Team Sport Athletes. The PhD project will focus on “Complexity in Training Load and Athlete Response”, with particular emphasis on understanding the dynamic and non-linear relationships between training load and individual responses. The project will involve the collection and analysis of longitudinal training and performance data from team sport athletes, including external load (e.g., tracking data), internal load (e.g., rating of perceived exertion), and performance and/or injury-related outcomes (e.g. performance tests). 

This PhD project will be conducted at NIH within a collaborative and multidisciplinary research environment. The aim of the project is to advance our understanding of the complex interactions between training load and subsequent physiological, psychological, and performance-related responses in athletes. The exact research questions will be further refined in collaboration with the successful candidate.

The PhD candidate will play an active role in all aspects of the project, including planning and study design, participant recruitment, data collection (e.g., internal and external load measures, as well as subjective and objective markers of response), data analysis, and dissemination of findings. 

The candidate will work closely with researchers at NIH and external collaborators.

There will be opportunities for international collaboration, and research exchange stays at international institutions are encouraged, although not mandatory.

The project will be under the supervision of Associate Professor Live S. Luteberget. 

The successful candidate will be requested to formally apply for enrolment as a PhD student at NIH. Employment as a PhD fellow will be conditional on successful enrolment in the PhD program.

Job description

Your main tasks as a PhD fellow at NIH are to:

• Complete an independent research project under supervision.
• Complete PhD courses or other equivalent educational activities corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Actively participate in research environments, including collaboration with fellow researchers.
• Dissemination of results from your PhD project, both at international conferences and in scientific journals.
• Write a PhD thesis based on your project.
• Optional: The candidate may gain teaching experience, depending on the department's teaching needs and the candidate's competencies.

Qualification requirements and Selection process

The applicant must be eligible for admission to the doctoral program at NIH: PhD program - Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Applicants should hold a two-year master’s degree in Sport Sciences or equivalent with the grade B or better. It is the candidate responsibility to document and eventually transform the grade.

Selection Criteria

• Experience in human studies and experience in scientific writing, i.e. publications in scientific peer reviewed journals, are considered an advantage.
• Demonstrated competence/experience and motivation to conduct independent research using advanced methods to investigate training load and load management in team sports; experience with performance/physical testing is considered an asset.
• Familiarity with handling and interpreting complex datasets is an advantage.
• Programming experience is advantageous but not required; willingness to learn will be considered a strength
• Quality of the master's thesis and the relevance of the master's thesis to the planned project, both academically and methodologically.
• Good collaboration skills, and ability to independently find innovative solutions.
• Good written and oral presentation skills in English.
• Structured, reliable, and motivated to contribute to all phases of a research project.

The purpose of the recruitment position is for the candidate to achieve a doctoral degree during the fellowship period. Admission to the doctoral program is therefore a condition for employment as a research fellow. The candidate must be able to complete the project during the fellowship period. 

The employment period is three years. The fellow will have their workplace at the Department of Physical Performance, NIH, Oslo, Norway.

The candidate is required to submit an admission to the PhD program no later than six weeks after employment. A complete project description, including a proposal for the plan for the doctoral education/progress plan, will be developed in consultation with supervisors with the aim of formal admission to the doctoral program at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. The application will be processed in accordance with applicable guidelines for employment in fellowship positions, and employment is contingent upon admission to the PhD program. The study plan for all required coursework must be approved no later than three months after commencement.

NIH offer

• Salary as a PhD research fellow in position code 1017 (starting salary gross annual salary NOK 550 800)
• A good and active working environment at the Department of Physical Performance at NIH
• Good arrangements for pension, loans, and insurance in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Excellent training facilities, corporate sports teams, and opportunities for exercise during working hours
• Immediate proximity to the metro and locked bicycle parking

How to apply

The application should be written in English; all attachments must be written in a Scandinavian language or English. The application with attachments must be submitted via our electronic recruitment system, and comprise:

• A cover letter, stating your motivation and background for applying for the specific PhD project (max. one page)
• Full CV 
• Diploma and transcripts of records (BSc and MSc including grade transcripts)
• Other information to consider: Publications, if any and relevant references and recommendations

When assessing applicants, emphasis will be placed on the applicant's academic and personal qualifications to complete the project. Suitable candidates will be invited for an interview.

For education outside Scandinavia, we request an explanation of the grading system. Applicants with a international master's degree are encouraged to apply to  the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills for recognition of foreign education: Apply for recognition of your foreign higher education | HK-dir.

Formal regulations

For more information about the PhD program at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, please refer to the following website: PhD program - Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

Employment is subject to the conditions applicable to state employees. NIH has mandatory membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

According to the Freedom of Information Act § 25, second paragraph, information about the applicant may be disclosed even if the applicant has requested not to be included on the applicant list.

Inclusion and diversity are strengths, and NIH has a personnel policy goal of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, NIH seeks employees with diverse skills, subject combinations, life experiences, and perspectives.

If you are a qualified applicant with a disability, a gap in your CV, or an immigrant background, we encourage you to tick the box in the job applicant portal for this. NIH will invite at least one applicant for an interview if they are qualified, and if you get the job, we will accommodate any needs you may have. The ticking is used solely for anonymized statistics, apart from selecting the right candidate.

The Further Process

After the expiry of the deadline for applications May 30th 2026, an expert committee is appointed in order to make an assessment of the selected applicants. Selected applicants will be contacted for an interview, and a final decision is expected in end of June.

Please note that applicants will be contacted if the assessment committee requires further documentation.

Contact information

Interested applicants are advised to contact the academic community in preparing the application. 

Further details can be obtained by contacting: 

• Supervisor, Associate Professor Live S. Luteberget, livesl@nih.no 
• Head of Department, Truls Raastad, trulsr@nih.no 

Contact administration: 

• HR Department, Senior Advisor Bente Johansen-Aarbostad; email: bentejoh@nih.no 
• PhD Program/Department of Academic Affairs, Senior Advisor, Mari Corell; email: maric@nih.no