PhD Research Fellow in Special Needs Education, Educational Psychology, Education and Psychology

Job description

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

The position has 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 Research Fellowship is 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 PhD Fellow is 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 position is tied to one of 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 PhD candidate is 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 PhD candidate is expected to work with the interdisciplinary team in 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 appointment is 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 position may be extended to four years, 25 percent of which will be devoted to teaching, supervision, and research assistance.

The Research Fellow must take part in the faculty’s approved PhD program, and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period. The main purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

For more information, please see our web site. 

Qualification requirements

Applicants must satisfy the requirements for admission to the faculty´s PhD programme. This normally includes:

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in a field relevant for the research project, for example special needs education, education, psychology, cognitive science, language sciences or another related field
• A Master’s degree (120 ECTS) with a minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent. The master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS, with a minimum grade B
• A bachelor’s degree with a minimum grade C (ECTS grading scale) 
• For 5-year studies, the average grade must be C or better for the first three years, and B or better for the last two years (ECTS grading scale). The Master thesis must have been graded with a minimum grade B
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in both Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language) and English 
• 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

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
• Willingness to learn (for example acquire knowledge of advanced statistical methods and tools, data management, open science procedures, and experimental methods) 

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 550 800 - 594 000 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research Fellow, (position code 1017). From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
• An interdisciplinary and international working environment, nationally recognized as a Centre of Excellence
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities

How to apply and what to include in your application

The application must include:

• Cover letter (1 page), including statement of motivation
• A project description, including progress plan (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 for the PhD. 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 PhD period. Please see our guidelines. 
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, publications, and other relevant qualifying activity)
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only). Foreign applicants must attach an explanation of their grading system
• A copy of the Master thesis
• A complete list of publications and academic works
• 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 Jobbnorge. 

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 documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language). 

When evaluating the application, emphasis will be given to the project description and the applicant’s academic and personal prerequisites to carry out the project. Applicants may be called in for an interview. 

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships, Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

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.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

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