13 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

A variety of weather systems brings precipitation to Scandinavia. Model predictions of precipitation along the complex topography are partially in disagreement with observations. Within the ISLAS project, a unique suite of high-resolution measurements stable water isotopes, that among other reflect cloud efficiency, has been collected along the coast of Norway on the ground, and from ships and aircraft. Integrating these new observations with advanced model diagnostics can help to identify error compensation between different parameterised processes in prediction models. The ISOSCAN project takes this approach to a larger scale. Working together with hydrologists and tourists as citizen scientists, we expand the observational database into Sweden and Finland, and study the driving factors of hydrometeorological extremes. Within the stimulating, interdisciplinary environment of these projects, one PostDoc position is available at the Geophysical Institute at University of Bergen.

As a PostDoc at the Geophysical Institute, you will be affiliated with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR). BCCR is the largest climate research centre in the Nordic countries and among the leading centres in Europe. The working environment is highly international with around 200 scientists from 37 countries.

The position as a postdoctoral research fellow is a fixed-term appointment for three years, with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. The successful applicant shall prepare a plan for qualifying for top academic positions in cooperation with the Head of Department. It is a requirement that the postdoctoral project is completed during the period of employment.

Candidates cannot be employed as a postdoctoral fellow for more than one fixed term period at the same institution. The successful applicant will be expected to conform to the regulations that apply to the position and must accept that their primary residence will be in Bergen for the full term of the appointment.

The successful applicant’s research project will synthesise and integrate SapienCE archaeological data with those from our climate and cognition research groups to construct a publishable data-driven and theoretically grounded narrative on the development of modern human behaviour. One of the most important tasks of the postdoctoral researcher will be to compare and contextualise the SapienCE data within similar developments elsewhere in Africa and the world. To achieve this task, the successful candidate will collaborate with SapienCE scientists from all relevant fields and will have access to SapienCE archaeological data and materials, most of which are stored in South Africa (Cape Town). Although the ideal applicant will have a technical specialisation of their own, the ability to step outside subject-specific debates and generate a broader, more synthetic narrative of changes during the MSA is critical. Field research or other primary data collection will be possible where necessary, but this position is intended to focus on utilizing SapienCE’s existing data and collections in combination with published datasets.

Despite large improvements in climate modelling during the last decades, predictions of climate from monthly to decadal time scales remain challenging. I4C and Climate Futures aims to improve the quality, accessibility and usability of near-term climate information and services at local to regional scales to strengthen and support end-user adaptation and planning.

This position will focus on the use of machine learning to develop computationally fast and efficient emulators of high-resolution state-of-the art regional climate models. The goal of the emulators is to learn the relationship between large-scale predictions made by global or regional coarse resolution dynamical climate prediction systems and local surface variable of interest for end-users (such as near surface temperature, precipitation, wind speeds) by training the emulators to mimic the results of computationally very expensive high resolution regional climate models. The end result being computationally lightweight emulators capable of running large ensembles that can translate real-time coarse resolution operational climate predictions (seasonal to decadal) into usable regional and local information.

• Reprogramming of patient fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
• Directed differentiation of iPSCs towards endocrine cell lineages and organoids
• Gene editing and characterization of iPSC-based models with various techniques
• Participation in obtaining clinical information and biobank material

• The postdoctoral research fellow will, together with PhD candidates, perform data collection and quantitative data analysis using traditional statistical techniques, but also will have the opportunity to learn advanced analysis such as signal processing, modelling, dynamic systems, and/or artificial intelligence.
• The postdoctoral research fellow will actively participate during the supervision process of PhD candidates as main or co-supervisor.
• The postdoctoral research fellow will be part of an interdisciplinary team to design new outcome measures for pain and behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia.
• The postdoctoral research fellow will contribute to the conduction of the trial together with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers, engineers, PhD candidates, statisticians, and user-representatives.
• The postdoctoral research fellow will be actively included in SEFAS’ national and international collaboration.

The project will focus on basin bounding faults in East Greenland that juxtapose syn-rift clastics against crystalline Caledonian basement, or against older Paleozoic intervals. The main aim of this project will be to create a regional fault diagenetic synthesis for the North Atlantic Mesozoic rift basins, and to contribute to a better fundamental understanding of how faults and basinal clastics are affected by alteration, cementation and mineralization caused by fault-controlled fluid circulation and diagenesis. This main aim will be addressed through a series of objectives grounded in the analysis of outcrop data and samples: i) characterize the fault and damage zone structure of basin-bounding faults; ii) collect samples of fault rocks, veins and cements within basin-bounding fault zones and adjacent basinal deposits to constrain the structural and diagenetic history through state-of-the-art laboratory analysis; iii) elucidate the interaction of stratigraphic architecture, deformation and diagenesis along basin-bounding faults. This will involve field work in remote locations in East Greenland for 2 consecutive field seasons

We are seeking proposals for artistic development work where design practice is central to investigating our complex connections with the surrounding world. We are looking for candidates who are skilled practitioners in the design fields of furniture design, object design, or interior architecture, and who can conduct research through design.

The Department of Design prioritizes research projects that can contribute to sustainable development, human and environmentally friendly structures and materials, and humanistic and ethical communication, linked to one of three priority research areas at the department:

• Social Innovation
• Ecological Agency
• Technology and Materiality

• The project encompasses multiple laborative methods; cloning, gene editing, transfections, recombinant protein production, cell culture, western blotting, ELISA, Luminex, flow cytometry and RNA seq.
• The successful candidate is expected to participate in research-related activities such as group meetings, seminars, Journal clubs, in addition to contributing to the common activities of the group and the research laboratory.
• The employee may be assigned required duties in the form of teaching and similar work at the department.

The project combines political theory, constitutional law, and comparative politics to understand competition – usually between Indigenous peoples and settlers/states – to (re)constitute frontier jurisdictions, especially in the North American Arctic, Fennoscandic north, U.S. Pacific, and Australian tropics. ConFront consists of five team members led by the department’s associate professor of Arctic governance, Aaron Spitzer.

The successful candidate will be based in Bergen, ideally beginning autumn 2024. They will actively collaborate with other team members, will help conduct fieldwork and research dissemination in frontier regions, and will  participate in the department’s Indigenous Peoples and Governance in the Arctic research group.

Candidates are expected to propose and execute a research plan contributing to ConFront’s objectives. A general overview of ConFront can be found here. More specific project details are available from the project leader.

The successful candidate will further be expected to teach and supervise at the bachelor and master levels, and to engage in other tasks at the Department.

ASYKNOW will develop new conceptual tools for understanding the role of expert knowledge in asylum governance by investigating the ways in which knowledge about asylum seekers and migration is mobilized, contested, and constituted through asylum litigation. The project combines an ethnography of legal processes with legal archaeology.

The postdoc is expected to work closely with the project leader to conduct a legal archaeology study of selected court cases in the Scandinavian context. Legal archaeology focuses on the legal journey of a case and examines it in its socio-historical context. As the task involves analyzing legal case documents from different Scandinavian countries, the position require proficiency in a Scandinavian language. The candidate is also expected to contribute to the development of the overall project in terms of comparison, integration and dissemination of knowledge. Applicants are strongly advised to familiarize themselves with the project description of ASYKNOW. This can be obtained by contacting the project leader Marry-Anne Karlsen, Associate Professor in social anthropology, University of Bergen, at [email protected]