About the job

The Department of Geography has a vacancy for a research fellow in human-environment geography.

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is to complete a doctoral education culminating in a doctoral degree.

The Department of Geography has an opening for a research fellow in human-environment geography as part of the project, Understanding the Mjøsa Social Ecological System (MjøsaSØS). It is affiliated with the Political Ecology and Landscape Governance research group and Mission Mjøsa. This is a four-year position with compulsory work.

Mission Mjøsa is a large-scale, interdisciplinary project co-led by NTNU and Innlandet county in partnership with municipalities around Lake Mjøsa and several government agencies. A team of researchers from a range of fields across technology, natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities are contributing to Mission Mjøsa.

Mjøsa is one of the most biologically diverse freshwater lakes in Norway, and a source of drinking water for 100,000 people. Today, the environmental conditions in Mjøsa are good, but in the face of overlapping global climate, biodiversity, and food crises, there is a need to more fully understand and plan for a sustainable future for the lake and the surrounding watershed. To realize this objective, several PhD candidates with partly overlapping themes will work closely together across six research tracks: water, humans, technology, history, environment/surroundings (omgivelsene in Norwegian), and a digital twin for modeling and future predictions.

This Ph.D. position is associated with the research track omgivelsene. The main initial goal for the position will be to delineate the Mjøsa social-ecological system (SES), to develop a systems-based understanding of the interactions among the physical and biological subsystems in association with the historical, social, political and cultural subsystems. Following this initial analysis, the candidate will have the opportunity to more fully develop a project related to one of the following themes:

• Value creation in adaptive social-ecological systems
• Place-based sustainability (further developing the emplacement framework for interdisciplinary sustainability research)
• Development of social indicators for watershed assessment

The project responds to the emerging need for social science-led research that integrates critical social analysis with the biophysical realities of climate, biodiversity, food, and public health crises.

Your immediate leader is Head of Department.

Duties of the position

• Develop and carry out a Ph.D. project on the theme ‘Understanding the Mjøsa Social Ecological System’
• Participate in research meetings connected to the project and the research groups at the geography department.
• Teaching and supervision in association with departmental needs

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant education in geography or equivalent social sciences or humanities background.
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education and the current position.
• Master's students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before the position commences.
•  You must meet the requirements for admission to the PhD program in social sciences, specialising in geography: Social Sciences - PhD programme - Trondheim - NTNU

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Ability to spend long periods of time in the field working on data collection
• Relevant experience in research, such as dissemination and/or participation in an interdisciplinary research project, or relevant work experience
• Demonstrated experience in qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed methods)
• Good written and oral skills in English and Norwegian

Personal characteristics

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities. Qualities such as those listed below are important characteristics for success:

• Willingness to learn and work independently and with others
• Good communication skills in a range of contexts
• Motivation to contribute to a positive working environment
• Ability to adapt to changing conditions and situations

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 501 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 4 years, with 25 % teaching duties.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Geography within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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.

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

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

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English, Norwegian or another Scandinavian language.

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.

The application must include:

• CV
• Complete final transcripts for bachelor's and master's degrees.
• Project proposal of maximum 2500 words
• Name and contact information of three references
• If you have publications or other relevant research work, please include them
• A copy of the master's thesis. If you recently have submitted your master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position.

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

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 at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

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.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Elizabeth Barron, email: Elizabeth.barron@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Renate Lillian Johansen, e-mail: renate.johansen@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: 05.06.2023

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 Geography

We conduct research and teach in subject areas related to the major societal challenges of our time: climate change, migration, urbanization, economic transition and environmental threats. We have a robust fieldwork tradition, and our teaching activities are closely linked to our research. The Department of Geography is one of seven departments at the Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences.

Deadline: 5th June 2023
Employer: NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Municipality: Trondheim
Scope: Fulltime
Duration: Project
Place of service Dragvoll