The Onsager fellowship programme

The Onsager Fellowship programme at NTNU is designed to attract talented early-career scholars with documented excellent supervised work, ready to work independently and with the potential to become a research leader. 

The tenure-track Associate Professor’s duties will primarily include research, but also supervision, teaching, and other duties necessary to qualify for a permanent Professor position within 6-7 years.  

In the NTNU tenure-track programme, Associate Professors are subject to two types of review during the tenure-track period: 

• a mid-career assessment after 3-4 years  
• a final tenure assessment at the end of the tenure track period. 

If the ‘final tenure assessment” is positive, s/he will be employed as a full-time Professor. 

The overall purpose of the review system is to ensure and maintain the high academic standards of the university’s senior faculty staff. To help meet these standards, the Associate Professor is offered an international mentor and favourable terms.  

NTNU is now announcing 16 tenure-track positions.  

This is NTNU

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus on professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 42,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

About the position

A tenure-track Associate Professor position in computational porous media physics will be allocated to the Porous Media Laboratory (PoreLab), which was established as a Norwegian Center of Excellence in 2017 under the auspices of the Research Council of Norway. PoreLab is situated at NTNU and at the University of Oslo. At NTNU, PoreLab is run by the Department of Physics in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Geosciences and Petroleum.

PoreLab is an interdisciplinary center with joint efforts in theory, computation, and experiments, both in fundamental and applied directions. The center works to advance the understanding of porous media by developing theories, principles, tools, and methods to replace ad hoc approaches to porous media with a fundamental understanding of porous media with relevance in biology, chemistry, geology, and geophysics based on fluid mechanics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. See the webpage for more information about PoreLab and its activities.

The tenure-track Associate Professor is aimed at complementing PoreLab’s ongoing experimental and theoretical activity on fundamental aspects of porous media. The Associate Professor will play a key role in this endeavor by ensuring that the approach to porous media is complete. It is also expected the Associate Professor will be central in maintaining and exploiting the strong collaboration with industrial partners that contributes towards solving societal challenges related to climate, renewable energy and sustainability.

The Associate Professor will also be member of a larger team, the Section for Porous Media Physics at the Department of Physics, NTNU, which consists of the X-ray group in addition to PoreLab.

The Associate Professor will receive a start-up package consisting of funding for two PhD students and 200.000 NOK/year for 4 years.

The leader of the Associate Professor will be the head of Department of Physics, NTNU.

Duties of the position

Within the first six years, the successful applicant is expected to:

• Initiate and lead a strong research activity in computational porous media physics in collaboration with the members of PoreLab
• Participate actively in national and international scientific and industrial networks and collaborate scientifically with other faculty staff in PoreLab, Department of Physics and NTNU
• Develop and submit one or more competitive applications to the European Research Council
• Develop and submit project applications to the Research Council of Norway and similar funding sources
• Teach physics courses in NTNU’s International MSc programme in Physics, our 5-year Master’s Degree in Applied Physics and Mathematics and the PhD programme in physics
• Supervise master students and PhD students in your discipline
• Fulfil the requirements for formal pedagogical competence at the university level
• Contribute to the development of innovative teaching and supervision resources
• Participate in public outreach activities
• Collaborate with other academic staff in the department to administrate, manage and develop the department

Required qualifications 

The Onsager Fellowship programme is designed to attract talented early-career scholars, with documented excellent supervised work, with ambitious research plans to work independently and with the potential for scientific breakthrough. 

The position as Associate Professor requires that you meet the criteria in the regulations concerning appointment and promotion to teaching and research posts 

• Your PhD in physics should have been awarded no more than 5 years prior to the application deadline, excluding law entitled leave.
• You must have a background in computational statistical physics and/or computational soft matter physics
• You must have a strong background in developing computational methods relevant for porous media physics
• You must have demonstrated high-quality scientific production in terms of scientific publications. Contributions to open science, e.g., in terms of codes or datasets, are also relevant
• Your research activity, output and plans must demonstrate an independent research profile and the ability to take up new research issues.
• Your research plans must demonstrate how you intend to make effective use of collaborative research opportunities inside and outside the center as well as with relevant industry, including funding opportunities aimed at both fundamental and applied aspects of your research.
• You must have a documented background, required skillset, network and plans to initiate and lead research in the field
• You must document relevant basic competence in teaching and supervision at a university/higher education-level, as referenced in the Norwegian national Regulations. If this cannot be documented, you will be required to complete an approved course in university pedagogy within two years of commencement. NTNU offers qualifying courses. 

New employees who do not speak a Scandinavian language by appointment is required, within three years, to demonstrate skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language equivalent to level three of the course for Norwegian for speakers of other languages at the Department of Language and Literature at NTNU.  

Preferred qualifications

• An established network and collaborations with recognized research groups in the field that are relevant for building new activity at NTNU
• Teaching experience from higher education
• Documented collaboration with experimentalists and theorists in physics
• Documented collaboration with scientists from other disciplines
• A track-record of external funding of research activity as principal investigator

Personal qualities

• You have a strong commitment to high-quality and ground-breaking research
• You have a strong motivation for fulfilling and developing the roles of research, education and innovation at the university
• You are independent and team-oriented, and genuinely interested in working in an inter-disciplinary environment
• You are able to think strategically and work systematically to reach goals
• You have excellent communication and teaching skills

Strong emphasis will be placed on the quality of your scientific production within the subject area. Emphasis will also be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities. 

We offer 

• exciting and challenging tasks in a dynamic and international academic environment 
• an open and inclusive work environment with enthusiastic colleagues 
• the possibility to join one of the major departments within physics in Norway, hosting the premier physics educational programmes in Norway
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund 
• employee benefits 

Salary and conditions

The position as Associate Professor (code 1011) comes with a starting package for new research staff, opportunities for mentoring and is remunerated according to the Norwegian State salary scale. As required by law, 2% of this salary will be deducted and paid into the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU.   

The tenure-track position will have a duration of 6-7 years. Leave to which the candidate is entitled by law or collective agreement will be deducted.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution on a daily basis. 

Application Process

You can find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the application

Your application and supporting documentation must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

If, for any reason, you have taken a career break or have had an atypical career and wish to disclose this in your application, the selection committee will take this into account, recognizing that the quantity of your research may be reduced as a result. Leave to which the candidate is entitled by law or collective agreement shall be excluded when calculating the time since finishing the PhD. 

Your application must include:

• CV, diplomas, and certificates
• A teaching portfolio, in which your teaching competence is compiled and presented systematically,   (See guidelines for applicants: Documentation of teaching qualifications in applications and appointments to academic positions at NTNU)
• Academic works – published or unpublished – that you wish to be considered during assessment of your application (up to 10 items)
• A list of your previous works, with details on where they have been published
• A research plan (maximum 10 pages including references):
  • Maximum three sentences describing your research field/goal
  • Maximum two pages outlining your background within the field and your contribution to state of the art
  • Maximum three pages outlining your long-term (10 year) research goals with funding scenarios for reaching them
  • Maximum five pages outlining your short-term plan (3-5 years) given you have two PhD students and 200.000 NOK/year in 4 years available as basic funding resource
• Details of projects for which you have served as project manager, including information on financing, duration, and scope
• Names and contact information for three relevant referees

Joint work will also be considered. If it is difficult to identify your specific input to a joint project, you must include evidence of your contributions.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on teaching and research experience, and on personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. Our assessment of the pedagogical skills will be based on documented pedagogical material, forms of presentation in your academic works, teaching experience, Ph.D., and Master student supervision, and any other relevant pedagogical background. Both quality and scope will be taken into consideration.

NTNU is obliged by the evaluation criteria for research quality in accordance with The San Fransisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA. This means that we will pay particular attention to the quality and academic range demonstrated by your scientific work to date. We will also pay attention to research leadership and participation in research projects. Your scientific work from the last five years will be given the most weight.

Your application will be considered by an expert committee. Candidates of interest will be invited to an interview, and to deliver a trial teaching session.

General information

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is a strength. We want our faculty and staff to reflect Norway’s culturally diverse population and we continuously seek to hire the best minds. This enables NTNU to increase productivity and innovation, improve decision making processes, raise employee satisfaction, compete academically with global top-ranking institutions and carry out our social responsibilities within education and research. NTNU emphasizes accessibility and encourages qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender identity, ability status, periods of unemployment or ethnic and cultural background.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality.

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must continually maintain and improve your professional development and be flexible regarding any organizational changes.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

For the sake of transparency, candidates will be given the expert evaluation of their own and other candidates. As an applicant you are considered part of the process and is stipulated to rules of confidentiality.

If you have any questions regarding the position, please contact Head of Department, Professor Erik Wahlström, tel. +47 47343567, e-mail erik.wahlstrom@ntnu.no, or Centre Director for PoreLab, Professor Alex Hansen, tel. +47 73593649/ +47 92411965, e-mail alex.hansen@ntnu.no.

If you have questions regarding the recruitment process, please contact HR adviser Ranveig Nerhoel, e-mail ranveig.nerhoel@ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation. 

Application deadline: 01.02.2023

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Physics

Our research and teaching are both experimental and theoretical, covering a wide range of disciplines. Our activities contribute to development of new medical technology and to finding solutions for the next generation’s communication technology, energy utilization and development of materials. The Department of Physics is one of eight departments in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Deadline 1st February 2023
Employer NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Municipality Trondheim
Scope Fulltime
Duration Fixed Term
Place of service