The Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering (http://www.ntnu.edu/ime) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has a vacancy for one postdoctoral fellow position at the Department of Computer and Information Science (http://www.ntnu.edu/idi).

An appointment as postdoctoral fellow is for a term of three years of full-time research, with no teaching obligations. The position of postdoctoral fellow is a fixed-term position with the primary objective of qualifying for work in top academic posts.

Information about the department

Currently there are 24 professors and 14 associate professors at the department. In addition there are 16 adjunct associate professors, 15 postdoctoral researchers, approx. 70 active PhD students, and 18 technical/administrative staff. Five of the tenured scientific positions are held by women, and eight are from other countries than Norway. Research activities are organized into groups and strategic European and National projects as documented here http://www.ntnu.edu/idi/research. The candidate will be affiliated with the Information Systems and Software Engineering group.



Work description

UMI-Sci-Ed is a EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action targeted to 14-16 aged youngsters in European countries under the objectives of the work programme “Innovative ways to make science education and scientific careers attractive to young people” (H2020-SEAC-2015-1). Emphasis is put on the creation of knowledge based societies and social networks by the introduction and actual use of state of the art technologies (Ubiquitous Learning, Mobile Learning, Internet of Things). The orientation of UMI-Sci–Ed is entrepreneurial and multidisciplinary in an effort to raise young boys’ and girls’ motivation in science education and to increase their prospects in choosing a career in pervasive, mobile computing and IoT. For that purpose technological institutions (CTI, CIT, CUBIT) and academic organizations (University of Helsinki, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of Pisa) that have a broad expertise in the corresponding state-of-the-art technology and the educational use of the technology employed, are core participants and partners in the project. The Telecentre Europe network, on the other hand will be responsible for the dissemination of the project idea and results across all over Europe. NTNU’s Kodeløypa www.ntnu.no/kodeloypa is one of the main case studies.

UMI-Sci-Ed has the objectives of providing a) novel educational services; b) Career consultancy services; c) Supporting software tools: d) Supporting hardware tools d) Dissemination of the project ideas and results. A large-scale evaluation involving 600 students’ age 14-16 in 5 countries (Norway, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Greece) different countries will be undertaken to demonstrate skill development, user experience and most importantly attitudes, motivations and engagement with STEM concepts. This will be investigated taking into account the cross-cultural differences (e.g., different educational systems, mentalities) and will allow the generalizability of the results to support science and engineering skill development across different target user groups. The start of EU project is planned June 1, 2016. The candidate should be able to start full-time in this position preferably by the start of the project.

The candidate’s responsibility will include the following task:

Evaluation concept framework and piloting; Analysis of the needs, practices and values; Evaluation analysis of students’ skills and motivations development; Analysis of the empirical data.



Qualifications

PhD degree with documented experience in empirical investigations of ICT and learning intensive processes.
Pedagogical knowledge and skills – interaction with children of different nationalities
Expertise with quantitative and qualitative research methods
Creativity knowledge – Evaluating, designing and developing tools to support learning and creativity
Demonstrated research capability via a good publications record.
Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as collaboratively.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Experience with participation in EU projects

The applicant must enclose a research statement (up to 2000 words) describing his/her view of the main research challenges in innovative ways to make science education and scientific careers attractive to young people.

Emphasis will be put on personal qualities and potential as a researcher. High importance will also be attached to personal communication and cooperation skills.

The candidate shall contribute to the current strategy of strengthening the department’s research activities. A requirement is a Norwegian doctoral degree in a relevant research area or a corresponding doctoral degree from a country outside Norway, recognized as equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree, or competence at a corresponding level documented by academic work of the same scope and quality. The applicant must document his/her experience with research project participation. The candidate’s potential for strengthening the department’s research will be important when evaluating an application, in addition to the applicant’s education, publications, and qualifications for completing the project.

The position requires strong English oral and writing skills as the candidate will be interacting with a team of international researcher, including our main partners from Greece, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, and Finland. The job will include providing several progress reports in English.

If the applicant’s PhD is not from an English speaking country, the following tests can be used as documentation: TOEFL, IELTS and Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Minimum scores are:

TOEFL: 600 (paper-based test), 92 (Internet-based test)
IELTS: 6.5, with no section lower than 5.5 (only Academic IELTS test accepted)
CAE/CPE: grade B or A

In addition, potential successful candidate will be interviewed via Skype or other means.



Salary conditions

The position is in code 1352 Postdoktor / 1109 Forsker, salary grade range 57-77 in the Norwegian State salary scale, gross NOK 483,400 - 711,500 per year, depending on qualifications. A deduction of 2% is made as a statutory contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.



General information

We can offer

an informal and friendly workplace with dedicated colleagues
academic challenges
attractive schemes for housing loan, insurance and pensions in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund

The Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering want to attract outstanding and creative candidates who can contribute to our ongoing research activities. We believe that diversity is important to achieve a good, inclusive working environment. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of the gender, disability or cultural background.

The appointment is subject to the conditions in effect at any time for employees in the public sector.

As far as possible, the State workforce should reflect the diversity of the population. Goals of our personnel policy therefore include a balanced distribution in terms of age and gender as well as recruitment of people of immigrant background.

Under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act, information about the applicant may be made public even if the applicant has requested not to have his or her name entered on the list of applicants.

The application must contain

A cover letter including an explanation of how your research interests and background would fit the position.
Information about education and relevant experience (a CV).
Certified copies of academic diplomas and certificates.
Applicants from universities outside Norway are kindly requested to send a diploma supplement or a similar document, which describes in detail the study and grading system and the rights for further studies associated with the obtained degree.
A short research proposal (up to 2000 words) describing his/her view of the main challenges in innovative ways to make science education and scientific careers attractive to young people
The PhD thesis and other publications relevant to the research scope and any other work which the applicant wishes to be taken into account should clearly indicate the applicant’s contribution. If it is difficult to specify the input of the applicant in a joint work, a short summary should be attached outlining the applicant’s input.
Names and contact information of at least two references

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

The application must be sent electronically as one combined PDF file via this page (jobbnorge.no).

For further information, please contact Professor Letizia Jaccheri, Head of Department, e-mail: letizia.jaccheri@idi.ntnu.no, phone +47 918 97 028.

For information about processing of applications, please contact Senior Executive Officer Anne Kristin Bratseth, phone +47 73 59 67 15, e-mail: anne.kristin.bratseth@ime.ntnu.no.
Further Information

Application Deadline : 4 April 2016