General information

The appointment is made in accordance with State regulations and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants. A shorter period of appointment may be decided when the PhD Fellow has already completed parts of their research training programme or when the appointment is based on a previous qualifying position PhD Fellow, research assistant, or the like in such a way that the total time used for research training amounts to three years.

Remuneration for the position of PhD Fellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1017. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. A good work environment is characterized by diversity. We encourage qualified candidates to apply, regardless of their gender, functional capacity or cultural background. UiT will emphasize making the necessary adaptations to the working conditions for employees with reduced functional abilit

We process personal data given in an application or CV in accordance with the Personal Data Act (Offentleglova). According to Offentleglova information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure. You will receive advance notification in the event of such publication, if you have requested non-disclosure

The position

The Department of Arctic and Marine Biology at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics seeks a highly motivated PhD fellow in ecology. The position is affiliated with the research group Northern Populations and will be relevant for the Climate Ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra. COAT is a monitoring system based on the principles of adaptive management and monitoring.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time.

The position is for a period of four years. The nominal length of the PhD program is three years. The fourth year is distributed as 25 % each year and will consist of teaching and other duties.

The objective of the position is to complete research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to a PhD program is a prerequisite for employment, and the program period starts on commencement of the position. The PhD candidate shall participate in the faculty’s organized research training, and the PhD project shall be completed during the period of employment.

The position’s field of research

Arctic food webs are subject to many stressors and environmental change, including visible effects of climate change.  Needed is a combined theoretical and empirical understanding of how species interactions operate within food webs and will change in the near future with further environmental change.  The prospective candidate will work with other researchers at UiT to deliver cutting-edge tools for the management of ecosystems in the face of climate change.  The candidate will apply theory to better understand these ecosystems within the context of COAT. The candidate will have access to a large network of researchers with arctic and quantitative expertise.

COAT relies on conceptual models of different modules (subsets of the whole food webs).  The candidate will work in a four-step process within one or more existing or by creating new modules to:

  • 1) develop and use mathematical models to generate general theoretical predictions,
  • 2) assess critical assumptions and predictions of such models and if the relevant data is collected in COAT and if not, assess if they can be collected using short-term experiments/field studies,
  • 3) confront these models with data, parameterizing them using data from experiments, other data sets, or publications to make refined predictions, and
  • 4) test these predictions with data collected in COAT.

Thus, the candidate will use a combination of theory and field work to aid the data collection and analysis.  The candidate should possess and will further develop quantitative tools to contribute to a more thorough theoretical and empirical understanding.

The position will include duty work in the form of teaching assistance in bachelor courses in ecology and work with dissemination of results from COAT.

The applicants must present a description outlining the academic basis of the PhD project. The project description shall not exceed 2 pages, literature references included. It must include a description of the theme, research question(s) and a reasoning of the choices. It should also indicate the methodologies to be used. The final project description will be developed in cooperation with the supervisor.

Qualifications

A Master’s degree or equivalent in Biology or a relevant branch of biological/environmental sciences such as Ecology. We will prioritize candidates with training and/or experience in:

  • Theoretical/mathematical/quantitative modelling
  • Field and/or laboratory sampling, experiments, data analysis
  • Combining theoretical and empirical perspectives

Applicants with a foreign education will be evaluated on whether the educational background is equivalent to Norwegian higher education, following national guidelines. Applicants from some countries will have to document additional higher education in order to fulfil the requirements.

Qualification with a Master’s degree is required before commencement in the position. If you are near completion of your Master’s degree, you may still apply and submit a draft version of the thesis and a statement from your supervisor or institution indicating when the degree will be obtained. You must document completion of your degree before commencement in the position.

Documented knowledge of English as stated here is required, and knowledge of Norwegian or a Scandinavian language is desirable.

The position requires admission to the Faculty’s PhD programme. Information about requirements and the PhD programme is available here: PhD Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics

Emphasis will be put on the candidate’s potential for research, motivation and personal suitability for the position.

As many as possible should have the opportunity to undertake organized research training. If you already hold a PhD or have equivalent competence, we will not appoint you to this position.

Application

Your application must include:

  • Cover letter explaining your motivation and research interests
  • CV
  • Project idea proposal (max. 2 pages)
  • Diplomas, diploma supplements and transcripts (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees)
  • Explanation of the grading system for foreign education (Diploma Supplement if available)
  • Documentation of English language proficiency
  • Contact information to 1-3 references, reference letters
  • Master thesis, and any other academic works

All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. Diplomas and transcripts must also be submitted in the original language, if not in English or a Scandinavian language. We only accept applications and documentation sent via Jobbnorge within the application deadline.

Admission to the PhD programme

For employment in the PhD position, you must be qualified for admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics and participate in organized doctoral studies within the employment period. Admission normally requires:

  • A bachelor’s degree of 180 ECTS and a master’s degree of 120 ECTS, or an integrated master’s degree of 300 ECTS.
  • A master’s thesis with a scope corresponding to at least 30 ECTS for a master’s degree of 120 ECTS.
  • A master’s thesis with a scope corresponding to at least 20 ECTS for an integrated master’s degree of 300 ECTS.

All applicants should have a grade point average of B (or equivalent) on their master’s degree in order to be admitted to the PhD programme. The grade point average also applies to 300 ECTS points integrated five-year master’s degrees, in which all courses are to be included in the grade point average. A more detailed description of admission requirements can be found here.

Applicants with a foreign education will be subjected to an evaluation of whether the educational background is equal to Norwegian higher education, following national guidelines from NOKUT. Depending on which country the education is from, one or two additional years of university education may be required to fulfil admission requirements, e.g. a 4-year bachelor’s degree and a 2-year master’s degree.

If you are employed in the position, you will be provisionally admitted to the PhD programme. Application for final admission must be submitted no later than six weeks.

Contact

For further information about the position, please contact Associate Professor Jarad Mellard, jarad.p.mellard@uit.no. You can also visit this website.