PhD Research Fellow in Social Sciences

Job description Applicants are invited for a four-year full-time position as PhD Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE), University of Oslo, Norway. CREATE is an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway with the objective of generating novel knowledge about how to reduce social inequality. The interdisciplinary center integrates researchers with substantive expertise from education, psychology, sociology, economics, and genetics, and methodological expertise from educational measurement, psychometrics, econometrics, statistics, and biostatistics. The PhD fellowship is affiliated with CREATE’s research strand 1 «Identifying the barriers to equality in education», aiming to disentangle the causal mechanisms that hinder equality and to understand for whom, how, and why these mechanisms operate over time and across the life course. The PhD fellow will be part of the interdisciplinary Convergence Environment “NeuroPathways: A Multidisciplinary Convergence Approach to Understanding and Supporting Neurodevelopmental Variability” , funded through the University of Oslo. The project integrates economics, sociology, genetics, psychology, pharmacology, and educational sciences to advance our understanding of neurodevelopmental variability and improve evidence-based and inclusive support strategies across the life course. We are looking for a motivated and engaged PhD fellow with strong potential for high-quality research. The position includes 25% career-promoting work, which may consist of teaching, dissemination, and contributions to NeuroPathways interdisciplinary and convergence activities. The career-promoting work will depend on the candidate’s qualifications and CREATE's needs. More about the position Convergence Environments are interdisciplinary research groups that aim to solve grand challenges related to health and the environment. They are funded by UiO's interdisciplinary strategic area UiO:Life Science . Neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and autism are being diagnosed more than ever — but why, and with what consequences? NeuroPathways is an interdisciplinary Convergence Environment that brings together sociology, economics, psychology, genetics, pharmacology, education, and clinical research to address questions about neurodevelopmental variability that cannot be answered within disciplinary silos. The NeuroPathways research environment bridges biomedical and social science perspectives to examine how genetic predispositions and environments — from clinics to classrooms — jointly shape developmental outcomes, using Norway’s exceptional registry and cohort data to study why diagnoses are rising, who receives assessment and support, which interventions work best for whom, and how support systems can become more equitable and inclusive. This PhD position has an education and society-oriented focus. The PhD fellow will work with large-scale register and cohort data to investigate how social structures interact with individual and family-level risk factors to influence life-course trajectories. Within this framework, the successful candidate will focus on key areas such as examining fairness in support across educational institutions and groups, describing life-course trajectories by taking an intersectional approach incorporating genetics, gender, and socioeconomic background, and identifying specific school characteristics that foster inclusive environments and mitigate the effects of genetic predispositions. This work will integrate descriptive and causal approaches to map outcomes across education, the labor market, and health from childhood through early adulthood. The PhD fellow will be embedded in the interdisciplinary NeuroPathways Convergence Environment. Professor Astrid Sandsør or Associate Professor Nicolai Borgen, both at the Center for Research on Equality in Education – CREATE, will serve as primary supervisors with overall responsibility for the PhD project. Professor Hedvig Nordeng (Department of Pharmacy) will serve as secondary supervisor. The PhD fellow will collaborate closely with researchers across the NeuroPathways Team, including experts in psychology and genetics, education and inequality, pharmacoepidemiology, and clinical psychology. The PhD fellow will work with advanced quantitative methods, contribute to joint publications within NeuroPathways, and participate in interdisciplinary seminars and training activities. The PhD fellow will take part in the approved PhD program at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period. The main purpose of the PhD fellowship is to qualify the candidate for a research career within or beyond academia. To support a strategic and well-structured PhD trajectory, the PhD fellow will be required to develop a career and competence development plan in dialogue with the supervisory team early in the appointment period. The successful candidate will receive close supervision and is encouraged to develop a strong international research profile through collaboration, conference participation, and research stays abroad. For more information, please see our web site . Qualification requirements Applicants must satisfy the requirements for admission to the faculty´s PhD program. This normally includes: - Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Sociology, Education, Psychology or other relevant fields - A Master’s degree (120 ECTS) with a minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent. The master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS, with a minimum grade B - A Bachelor’s degree with a minimum grade C (ECTS grading scale) - For 5-year studies, the average grade must be C or better for the first three years, and B or better for the last two years (ECTS grading scale). The Master thesis must have been graded with a minimum grade B - Advanc