Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychometrics

Job description

Applicants are invited for a three- to four-year position as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Educational Measurement (CEMO) at the University of Oslo. CEMO is primarily a research unit at the Faculty of Educational Sciences but also offers its own Master’s program in Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation. The Centre comprises about 15 employees from different backgrounds and a variety of nationalities, thus providing ample opportunities to develop joint research projects on an international scale.

The Postdoctoral fellow would work on the project Screening Early and Adaptively for Language Skills (SEALS) funded by the Research Council of Norway. The project’s main objective is to develop a solid methodological toolkit to systematically design and validate Guttman-like progressive tests (a.k.a. cumulative homogeneous tests), tackling issues such as basal & ceiling rules, or invariant item ordering. The Postdoctoral fellow would be directly working together with the project team towards this objective.

The project is co-housed with the centre of excellence Centre for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE), providing extra opportunities for collaborations and working with data from relevant application areas. The Postdoctoral fellow would also become part of the faculty’s research group FREMO which provides yet another platform for interaction and support.

More about the position

The appointment is a fulltime position and is made for a period of 3 years, 10% of which is devoted to required duties, usually in the form of teaching activities. If there is a good match between the candidate’s competence and the teaching needs at the Centre, the position may be extended to 4 years, 25% of which is devoted to required duties, usually in the form of teaching activities and supervision.
For this position, the teaching activities will primarily be part of the aforementioned master’s program.

Postdoctoral fellows who are appointed for a period of four years are expected to acquire educational competence during their fellowship period, and within the duty component, if such competence is not already acquired. The main purpose of the fellowship is to qualify researchers for work in higher academic positions within their disciplines.

Qualification requirements

• PhD in one of the social and behavioural sciences using and/or developing advanced quantitative psychometric methods. The doctoral thesis must be submitted for evaluation by the application closing date; an appointment is dependent on the defence of the doctoral thesis being approved.
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Proficiency in IRT, including explanatory item response models, as evidenced in relevant publication(s)
• Proficiency in programming and data wrangling in the statistical software environment R as evidenced in relevant publication(s)
• Proficiency in random effects meta-analysis aggregation and visualization techniques as evidenced in relevant publication(s)

Personal skills

• Self-motivated, eager to learn and ready to tackle and deal with challenges
• Able to collaborate with others in a polite fashion yet being straightforward in communication and with a critical eye for quality

We offer

• Salary NOK 584 500 - 657 300 per annum depending on qualificatinos in position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow (position code 1352).
• A professionally stimulating work environment.
• Attractive welfare arrangements and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities.

How to apply

The application must include

• Cover letter including an outline of the motivation for the application
• CV (summarizing education, positions, research, teaching, and technical skills & software)
• 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)
• List of publications
• Up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and phone number)

Incomplete applications will not be assessed.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link: “Apply for this job”. 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).

In assessing the applicants, special emphasis will be placed on the documented, academic qualifications, 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 see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral Fellowships at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one Postfoctoral Fellow period at the University of Oslo.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

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

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.