UiO Postdoctoral Research Fellowship on the MEDRA-project

A Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Sociology of Law or similar discipline is available as part of the project “The Medicalisation of Democratic Rights in the Debate about Abortion (MEDRA)”.

MEDRA is funded by the interdisciplinary strategic research programme UiO:Democracy. The project is headed by Eivind Engebretsen, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo (UiO). The person hired will be part of, and hold a key position in, a larger group of researchers at the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities at UiO. The person hired will have the Faculty of Law as their place of work and will work closely with Professor May-Len Skilbrei at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law. The main project description for MEDRA can be accessed on request from prof. May-Len Skilbrei.

The Post-Doctoral research fellowship will run for three or four years. The position is preferably for a fixed-term period of four years with 25% compulsory teaching duties. During a four-year appointment, the candidate will be required to acquire basic university pedagogical competence as part of the compulsory 25 %. Alternatively, the fellowship can run for three years with 10 % teaching duties.

See this list for examples of courses that may be relevant for teaching duties.

More about the position

The aim of MEDRA is to explore tensions between knowledge production and democratic governance in debates about abortion. The project will analyze recent and ongoing debates about the curtailing or expansion of rights to abortion, with a focus on Ireland, the US, and Argentina. The group of researchers that are involved in MEDRA will study how medical knowledge is utilized in such debates. Controversies over abortion and medical knowledge thereof, and over key democratic concepts such as rights, autonomy, privacy and freedom, are central to the project.

The person to be hired at the Faculty of Law will contribute to MEDRA with an understanding of legal decision making and an interest in the interaction between legal and medical knowledge claims and processes. More concretely, the person hired will be expected to take responsibility for mapping and analyzing relevant preparatory work, law and legal scholarship in Ireland, the US, and Argentine. The material will be included in a larger textual corpus that will be used by the whole research team for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the dynamics of how medical knowledge is enlisted in debates about the legal regulation of abortion. The person hired will also be expected to contribute to the development and management of this corpus. The candidate will be expected to develop high quality publications as part of the project, which should both be single authored articles on the legal material and multidisciplinary articles co-authored with other members of the research team.

The person hired will also be expected to contribute to dissemination activities. The hired candidate will be included in the academic staff of the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law and is expected to be an active part of the activities and work environment there, as well as in the MEDRA team.

Qualification requirements and personal skills

• A Norwegian PhD or the equivalent in Sociology of Law or a comparative discipline. The doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation at the time of application, and approved by the time of appointment
• Documented qualifications in social science methods
• Experience from empirical research
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• High level of competence in Spanish
• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured way. Applicants must have good collaboration skills and the potential to contribute to the development of a good research environment

In addition, the following will be emphasized

• Personal suitability and motivation for the position
• Excellent communication and team working skills
• Oral and written communication skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language
• Experience with multidisciplinary research and collaboration
• Organizational skills
• Willingness to learn about and take responsibility for the development of textual corpus analysis

We offer

• Salary 573 900 to 636 700 NOK per annum depending on qualifications (position code 1352)
• Academically stimulating working environment
• Pension arrangements in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Welfare arrangements

The application must include

• Cover letter describing the applicant’s qualifications and motivation for the position
• Curriculum Vitae with grades listed (with a list of education, positions, teaching experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activities)
• Complete list of publications
• Up to five previous academic works (maximum one monograph) that the applicant wishes to have considered as part of the assessment process. If work is written by several authors, the division of work between them must be documented with the co-author's declaration
• Project description of 3-5 pages. The topic and materials for the research are in this case already decided upon, but the project description should convey reflections about how the candidate suggests developing their work within this framework, especially methodology and theoretical and ethical reflections. The proposal must clearly demonstrate how the research will contribute towards the aims of MEDRA. The applicant should present a publication strategy for the research done within the project. The final plan for the research will be developed jointly by the candidate in dialogue with the rest of the MEDRA project group
• Copies of educational certificates/diplomas (PhD and MA). Foreign diplomas must be provided in the original language as well as in an English translation. Applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their university grading system
• Names and contact details for at least two reference persons (e-mail address, phone number and relation to applicant)

Please note that all documents must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “Apply for this job”.

Evaluation of the applicant

In the evaluation of candidates, emphasis will be placed on the candidate’s academic achievements, previous relevant publications, the project description, and the applicant’s professional and personal qualifications, particularly in relation to their ability to perform the proposed project within the allotted time.

The candidates are evaluated by a Selection Board, which ranks the candidates based on the criteria indicated above and conducts interviews with short-listed candidates, which will be conducted in-person or digitally. In a few cases, a dedicated interview committee will be formed.

The Appointments Committee of the Faculty of Law will take a final decision about the hiring of the candidate.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Fellow period at the University of Oslo.

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results.

Inclusion and diversity are goals in the Faculty's strategy. 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.

Contact information

For questions concerning the project: Professor May-Len Skilbrei

For administrative questions: HR Adviser Andreas Mobråthen