Postdoctoral Research Fellow position in Ice sheet modelling

About the position

We invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position in Ice sheet modelling, available at the Njord Centre, Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo Norway.

Starting date no later than 01.01.2027.

The appointment is a full-time position and is for a period of three years (10% of which is devoted to other career-promoting work, usually in the form of teaching activities). 

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oslo.

Project description

A fully funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship position is offered in the frame-work of the ERC StG project DYNAMICE – Exploring the impact of aniso-tropic viscosity on the interplay between ice and mantle dynamics. The successful candidate will be part of an international team with collaborators both in the University of Oslo, and outside (https://www.mn.uio.no/geo/english/research/projects/dynamice/index.html ). 

About the DYNAMICE project: Ice and olivine, the main building crystals of ice sheets and the mantle, respectively, are two of the most anisotropic crystals on Earth. This means that individual crystals have preferred slip systems, along which it is easier to deform them. Depending on the deformation direction with respect to the mean orientation of crystals in both ice and mantle rock, the bulk viscosity can vary by a few orders of magnitude. Such variations in viscosity can greatly affect the flow of ice from ice divides to the sea, as well as the mantle’s viscous response to the unloading of deglaciated ice. As a result, spatial differences in ice texture can locally enhance or slow down ice flow, leading to some areas with faster than average ice loss and others where ice is stabilized. Moreover, in locations where ice loss is fast, and where mantle textures are favourably oriented, the viscous response of the mantle can be fast enough to uplift the ice and slow further ice loss, potentially stabilizing the ice sheet. Hence, anisotropic viscosity might play a critical role in the interplay between ice and mantle dynamics. In DYNAMICE, we will implement a framework to infer anisotropic viscosity from both ice and mantle textures in a numerical flow model. This will open new avenues for understanding solid earth and cryosphere dynamics, and their critical interactions that affect the future of Earth’s ice sheets. 

The Postdoctoral fellow will be responsible for implementing ice dynamics within regional ice sheet models to be developed using the geodynamic soft-ware ASPECT. Together with other members of the team, the postdoctoral fellow will test the role of ice texture evolution and related anisotropic viscosity in fast and slow flowing parts of the ice sheet. ASPECT has a flexible, modular design, and it is the fastest developing community code in geodynamics. It provides modern numerical methods built on libraries like PETSc and deal.ii, such as adaptive mesh refinement, solving Multiphysics, and has great power in parallelization. ASPECT has not been used previously for ice sheet modelling, but has the potential to provide us a new tool for full coupling of Solid Earth and ice dynamics.

The main purpose of a postdoctoral fellowship is to provide the candidates with enhanced skills to pursue a scientific top position within or beyond academia. To promote a strategic career path, all postdoctoral research fellows are required to submit a professional development plan no later than one month after commencement of the postdoctoral period.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Required qualifications:

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Glaciology, Geophysics, Physics, Computational Sciences, or related fields. Doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing date. Only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defence are eligible for appointment
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• Relevant experience in numerical modeling and high-performance computing

Desired qualifications:

• Demonstrated knowledge of fluid dynamics, specifically for ice sheet dynamics
• Experience with ISMIP
• Experience with observational data on ice sheets
• Experience with ice texture formation and anisotropic viscous flow
• Skills in advanced computational methods. Knowledge of c++ programming language is particularly desirable
• Experience with supervising Bachelor/Master/PhD students
• Strong track record relative to the career stage
• A good understanding on the numerical methods used in ice sheet dynamics, experience in code development and in benchmarking ice sheet models.

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

What are we looking for in you?

We are looking for a team member, who:

• Can work as part of a team, as well as conduct their work independently
• Is enthusiastic, and have personal drive to take initiative
• Has a positive attitude and good communication and collaboration skills

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal skills.

We can offer you

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development
• Committed colleagues in a good working environment
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.  
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities
• Postdoctoral development programmes.
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK 595 000 - 690 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. 

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• A 1-2 page project description, showing the candidate’s vision for this 3 years fellowship
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
• A complete list of publications and up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will be invited for interviews.

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

If an applicant has applied for and been granted funding for a fulltime research stay abroad while being employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the employment will be prolonged with the equivalent time as the research stay, but for no longer than of twelve months ( thus extending the employment to a maximum of four years)

No one can be appointed twice as a Postdoctoral fellow financed with funds from The Research Council of Norway (NFR).

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

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