Exciting PhD position bordering genetics, Social & Cognitive sciences 

A three year-position PhD research fellowship (100 %) at the Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University hospital, is available. The position starts August 15 / September 1, 2025 (or at the latest October 1). The position is funded for three years and can be potentially be a 50 % position over six years. 

The Phd position is part of a larger grant from Helse-Sør-Øst “TRICXY-MINDS: Clinical insight into sex TRIsomies for enhanced psychiatric Care in individuals with X and Y chromosomal aneuploidies”. The project seeks to improve our understanding of individuals with sex chromosome aneuploidies, i.e. individuals born with an additional sex chromosome (or women with one less chromosome), in particular from a neuropsychiatric perspective. 

About the project: 1 in 400 is born with an atypical number of sex chromosomes (sex chromosome aneuplodies (SCAs)) – conditions where only ~25 % are genetically detected. When detected, this is mostly due to somatic symptoms. Many experience behavioral and cognitive challenges also in social interactions, reflected in an odds ratio for several mental disorders of >2. This indicates a substantial subgroup in the psychiatric services (1-2 in 200 patients) that may have specific characteristics with potential for precision medicine. However, the lack of data and huge heterogeneity has hindered the development of tailored guidelines for care and specific interventions. TRICXY_MINDS will map disease & longitudinal health trajectories, and genetic architecture of >500 Norwegian SCA carriers representing an estimated 3-4% of Norway's SCA population. Using well-established Norwegian population and clinical samples including the longitudinal Norwegian mother, father and child cohort, MoBa, we will establish detailed young and adult health profiles of SCA carriers. Further, we will adapt a piloted social management training (SMT) for SCAs designed to target improvement of cognitive functions to enhance mental health. We will conduct a multiple baseline controlled clinical trial of SMT. 

The Department of Medical Genetics (DMG) at Oslo University Hospital is Norway’s largest medical genetics department with over 200 employees. The department is responsible for diagnostics of rare and inherited diseases, and runs a national research infrastructure for high-throughput DNA sequencing at the Norwegian Consortium for Sequencing and Personalized Medicine (www.norseq.org). The research section in the department has 7 research groups (www.ous-research.no/meg/) working in various fields of medical genetics, including genetics, epigenetics, bioinformatics and functional genetics of breast cancer, autoimmune diseases, neurological, cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders. 

Oslo University Hospital is a workplace with great diversity. We believe this is crucial for solving our tasks in the best possible way. We want this diversity to be reflected among the applicants for our positions, and we encourage all qualified candidates, regardless of background, to apply!

Working tasks

Depending on the qualifications and interest of the candidate, a combination of these assignments may be relevant:

• Analyse the data collected on neurocognitive data of individuals with sex chromosome aneuplodies.
• Support the clinical trial both in recruitment, data collection and delivering intervention.
• Analyse the results of the trial
• Perform the analysis of the large-level genetic and registry data including identification of sex aneuploidies in population datasets and longitudinal analyses.
  

The candidate will benefit from a well-established and interdisciplinary collaboration with the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Frambu competence centre for rare disorders (https://frambu.no/) and the Centre of Precision Psychiatry https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/about/organization/divisions/mental-health-addiction/centre-precision-psychiatry/index.html, which is part of the research network – the
Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (http://www.med.uio.no/norment/english).

Short stays at the research institution of collaborating partners, many of which are international and including Denmark, the Netherlands and USA, are encouraged and will equip the candidate for an international career in science. The candidate will be admitted to the PhD program at the Faculty of Medicine (https://www.med.uio.no/english/research/phd/)

Qualifications

Experience in the following topics is required:

• Master degree (approved when the position starts) in neuroscience (computational or cognitive), medicine, psychology, genetics, or similar with a strong interest in interdisciplinarity.
• Excellent written and spoken English. 

Experience in the following topics will be considered an advantage:

• Demonstrated proficiency or alternatively strong motivation for learning shell scripting, Matlab, R, or similar.
• Analysis of large scale data.
• Planning of collection of data from participants also in the context of a clinical trial.
• Neurocognitive interviews or clinical work.
• Research projects.
• Statistical methods.
• Strong interest in neurogenetics, biological psychiatry, and/or quantitative analysis.
• Scandinavian language oral and writen would be beneficial for clinical data collection.

Grade requirements, the norm is as follows:

• The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system.
• The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system.
• The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system.

Personal skills

• Ability to work independently, organized and focused.
• A strong analytical and problem solving skills with an interest in exploring new ways to examine data.

• Personal skills and motivation will be emphasized.

We offer

• An ambitious and exciting research environment with a strong multidisciplinary profile and excellent opportunities for academic and transferable skills development.
• Salary depending on qualifications and experience. Favorable pension arrangements.
Attractive welfare arrangements.
• Supervision and support for the PhD project.
• Possibility to attend conferences and visit collaborating partners for short (up to 12 months) research exchange stays. 
• Possibility for extension, depending on the availability of funding.

How to apply:

The application must include:

• Applications only through "Webcruiter" are accepted.
• Cover letter stating motivation, research interests and relevant work experience
• CV, including a list of previous publications if available
• Copies of certificates and grades

• Contact details for 2-3 reference persons.

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).

Kontaktinformasjon

Krister Westlye Fjermestad, Researcher, k.w.fjermestad@psykologi.uio.no
Ida E. Sønderby, Researcher, i.e.sonderby@medisin.uio.no

Arbeidssted

Kirkeveien 166
0455 Oslo

Nøkkelinformasjon:

Arbeidsgiver: Oslo universitetssykehus HF

Referansenr.: 4967741152
Stillingsprosent: 100%
Temp
Startdato: 15.08.2025
Sluttdato: 14.08.2028
Søknadsfrist: 04.06.2025