Postdoctoral Position

Applicants are invited for a three to four-year position as a Postdoctoral Fellow emphasizing research on special needs education for students with neurodevelopmental disorders. The position is to be based at the Department of Special Needs Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo.

In 2024, Norway implemented a change to the Education Act, adjusting the criteria used to allocate extra resources for children with special needs. This project will evaluate the impact of this legislative change on children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), focusing specifically on their transition from kindergarten to formal schooling, and their subsequent academic outcomes.

To capture both pre- and post-reform conditions, the project will combine secondary and primary data. For the pre-reform period, the applicant will draw primarily on existing Norwegian data sources such as cohort studies and/or relevant national registries, which can be linked as appropriate to the research questions. The applicant will be responsible for identifying the most suitable data source(s) for the pre-reform period and applying for the necessary data access and approvals. The applicant will then collect new primary data to capture the post-reform period.

Within this structure, the applicant has flexibility in developing the proposal to include the specific data source(s) and academic outcomes to be examined, in line with their own research interests. The significance and rationale for the selected data source(s) and outcomes should be well detailed and justified within the project description. The applicant is expected to outline plans for data collection, as well as the methodological and analytical approaches envisioned. The fellow will also be expected to apply for relevant ethical approvals, collect primary data, conduct data analysis, plan the scientific publications that are part of the fellowship, as well as be first-author on the agreed upon publications.

More about the position:

The appointment is a full-time position for a period of three years, with 10 % of which is devoted to required duties. Other career-promoting work will consist of presentation of project data at national and international conferences, authorship on scientific publications, potential supervision of Master and PhD candidates, and the possibilities of completing certification in Higher Education Pedagogy. Given that the position includes own data collection, the candidate is expected to be located in Oslo.

Depending on the candidate’s competence and the teaching needs of the department, the fellowship period can be extended up to four years, with 25 % of which is devoted to required duties. Other career-promoting work will in this case for example consist of various teaching tasks and obligations.

The main purpose of the fellowship is to build a research profile and competence that qualifies the postdoctoral fellow to apply for a position as associate professor within their disciplines. The position may also provide other competence with relevance for the postdoctoral fellow’s further career.

If the Postdoctoral Fellow does not already have educational qualifications that meet the requirements for an associate professor position, UiO shall facilitate the acquisition of such competence during the employment period.

A career plan shall be developed for the Postdoctoral Fellow, specifying the competencies the Postdoctoral Fellow should acquire. UiO is responsible for following up on the career plan and ensuring that the Postdoctoral Fellow has access to career guidance throughout the postdoctoral term.