About the position / About the job

Position as PhD Research Fellow in Arctic-Boreal vegetation modeling available at the Department of Geosciences.

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

Starting date no later than October 1st, 2025. 

The fellowship period is 3 years. 

A fourth year may be considered with a workload of 25 % that may consist of teaching, supervision duties, and/or research assistance. This is dependent upon the qualification of the applicant and the current needs of the department.

Job description

The amplified warming of the Arctic is increasing the occurrence of extreme weather, such as rain-on-snow events, frost droughts, and false springs, which degrade the ability of plants to survive the winter. Since Arctic-Boreal ecosystems contain vast stores of carbon, in live biomass, peatlands and permafrost soils, this transformation of the cold season may strongly alter greenhouse gas exchange with the atmosphere, and therefore affect climate. Nonetheless, Earth system models remain incapable of simulating this damaging impact of winter warming on ecosystems, and subsequent feedbacks to the atmosphere. Therefore, this PhD position will focus on the physiological response of vegetation to extreme winter weather, and how to represent this in a model. 

We are looking for a motivated candidate who will work as part of an interdisciplinary team to improve the demographic vegetation model FATES, coupled to the land surface model CLM – part of the Norwegian Earth system model (NorESM) framework. The successful candidate will collaborate with worldleading experts on the Arctic-boreal carbon cycle, vegetation modeling, and plant physiology. The candidate will improve a cold hardening scheme and the plant hydraulics in FATES using plant physiological data from a controlled climate experiment and field experiments, in collaboration with project partners in Norway, Greenland and the USA.  

The PhD candidate will be part of the “SnowLess” project funded by the Research Council of Norway. This project is based at the Centre for Biogeochemistry of the Anthropocene (CBA), which is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Departments of Geosciences, Biosciences and Chemistry at the University of Oslo. The center provides the opportunity for the candidate to collaborate with a larger group of PhD students and researchers that study the carbon cycle in cold environments. 

Qualifications requirements

• Master’s degree or equivalent in physical geography, hydrology, meteorology, ecology or another subject of relevance to the appointment.
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system.
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system.
• All PhD candidates must demonstrate fluent English language skills. 

• The following is a list of skills that are desired, but not required, for the position.
• Experience with Python and/or Fortran is advantageous.
•  Advanced knowledge of quantitative or numerical methods in the context of environmental research is highly advantageous. 
• Experience with the interpretation of field data is advantageous.

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. 
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English. 
• English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements: https://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html#toc8

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. 

The fellowship requires admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. 

The application to the PhD programme must be submitted to the department no later than two months after taking up the position. For more information see: http://www.uio.no/english/research/phd/ http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/

Personal skills

• We seek a candidate with enthusiasm, excellent communication skills, and the ability to take initiative
• We expect the candidate to have good problem-solving skills, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a larger team. 
• Given that this position is highly interdisciplinary, we expect the candidate to be motivated to explore topics outside of their current field.

We offer / We can offer you / Why should you choose us?

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• Committed colleagues in a good working environment. A pleasant and stimulating work 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 from 536 200 to 579 700 depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.
Career development programmes

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

Inclusive worklife and diversity at UiO

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.

We hope that you will apply for the position. 

More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

Application

Your application should include:

• Cover letter - statement of motivation and research interests 
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications) 
• Copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records and
• Documentation of English proficiency 
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone 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. 

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.

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

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 can't, 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 (Norwegian) 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.