PhD Research Fellowship

VID Specialized University announces until two scholarships for a PhD project in the History of World Christianity connected to The Mission and Diakonia Archives (MDA) located at VID Stavanger and VID Oslo (https://www.vid.no/en/historical-archive/)  

In addition to being in possession of a rich archive, VID has an outstanding research environment on World Christianity.  The PhD research fellow will be part of the VID research group Mission and Diakonia Historical Research (MiDiHi). MiDiHi works across disciplines, faculties, and institutions, and is international in its focus and membership. MiDiHi's main research project is called ?Connected Histories - Contested Values. World Lutheranism and Decolonisation: Processes of Transloyalties, 1919-1970" (CHCV), and is one of VID's ongoing ?excellence in research" projects.

For this PhD fellowship, we invite innovative projects using the MDA archives, which covers both the diakonia archives (Oslo) and the mission archives (Stavanger). Projects might also consider including oral history methodology and collection of oral sources. Possible foci might be:

• Diakonia as Christian movement and as part of the Third Sector in welfare and health services
• History of Health Services and Health Professions in one or more of the countries covered by the MDA archives
• History of Education in one or more of the countries covered by the MDA archives
• Intercultural History of Christianity in one or more of the countries covered by the MDA archives
• History of higher education focusing on VID institutions' history
• Innovative historical projects using the MDA archives.

The position as research fellow aims at achieving a PhD Degree after completed research training at one of the University's PhD programmes. An achieved PhD degree is a relevant qualification for positions within and outside academia.

The stipulated length of the PhD position is 3 years.

The position will be within the PhD-programme in Theology and Religion.

More information about the PhD programmes at VID can be found on our website:
https://www.vid.no/en/research/research-education-1/ (https://www.vid.no/en/research/research-education-1/)

Applicants are requested to specify the connection between their own project proposal and the PhD programme (see bullet point number 7 under ?Template for project description").

General criteria for appointment as a research fellow are stipulated in the Regulations concerning terms and conditions of employment for the posts of post-doctoral research fellow, research fellow, research assistant and resident. (https://www.uhr.no/_f/p1/i83a1e613-4f72-4e3a-9852-5289d556871b/regulations_post_doctoral_and_research_fellow.pdf)

The positions will organizationally be located at the Center for Mission and Global Studies in Stavanger. The workplace can be located in Oslo, Bergen or Stavanger.

The PhD research fellow will be part of the VID research group Mission and Diakonia Historical Research (MiDiHi).

Requirements for the position:

• Master's degree (120 ECTS) in theology, religion, history or other field of study relevant to the call. Grades on the master's thesis and relevant average grades on the master's program must both normally correspond to B or better in order to be considered
• Ability to work targeted and independently
• Good written and oral presentation skills in English.

The following are also desirable:

• Experience with relevant research and development work
• Competency in Norwegian or other Scandinavian language
• Ability to collaborate with others
• Ability to carry out and complete major tasks.

In an overall assessment of the applicants, emphasis is put on personal qualifications, relevant competence and research experience.

Diversity is one of the characteristics of a good working environment. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of gender, functional abilities and cultural background. VID would like to have more people with a minority background in academic positions and people with a minority background are therefore encouraged to apply.

The persons appointed must be loyal to the aims and values of VID Specialized University.

All applicants must write a project description. The project description must use the follwing template:

Title: (which precisely indicates the focus of the project)

1.     Introduction
Theme and background for the project, own motivation, societal relevance, etc.

2.     Previous research/contribution to the field
What is the most important research in the field, and how does the project position itself in relation to this? What is the project's contribution to existing research?

3.     Research questions
Overall research questions and subsidiary research questions

4.     Theoretical perspectives
Which theoretical perspectives are to be used in the project?

5.     Method(s)
How will the material be established? What analytical methods will be used?

6.     Research ethics assessments
- What approvals are needed? (When relevant, explain the need for filling in the notification form of Norwegian center for research data (NSD), Regionale komiteer for medisinsk og helsefaglig forskning (REK), other bodies.)

7.     Relevance to the PhD program
Possible relevance for the call

8.     Thesis type
Will the thesis be article based or written as a monograph? For article based theses, when will the different parts of the project be published? In which journals?

9.     Progress plan (including stay abroad)
The progress plan must be detailed and realistic

10.   References

It is important that all the above-mentioned points are covered in the project description. The project description can be written in English or a Scandinavian language. The lenght of the project description should be of minimum 3500 words and maximum 4500 words (references, tables and all other text included).

A digital seminar on how to write a PhD proposal will be held on Zoom Tuesday February 16th, from 12:00 to 13:00. The seminar will be held in English. Please sign up using here:  Registration form (https://nettskjema.no/a/180247)

Deadline for signing up is February 14th 2021.

• Opportunities of academic development with highly qualified and committed colleagues
• A value-based and church based specialized university with high academic teaching and research ambitions relevant to society and the church
• Membership in the State Pension Plan with beneficial loan- and pension terms
• VID conforms to the main agreement between the Enterprise Federation of Norway (VIRKE) and Employees Union. The position is placed in code 1017 Stipendiat of the collective agreement, salary table 20, alternative 10, salary grade 54 (NOK 482 200).

Please upload the application, CV, diplomas, transcripts, diploma supplements and project description through the Apply here link above. It is the full responsibility of the applicant to submit a complete application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Diploma supplements for non-Norwegian diplomas must be included when relevant. Documents in other languages than English or Norwegian, must include an official translation as well. For applicants with an education that cannot be documented with Diploma Supplements, confirmation of education, its content and grade must be produced.

A sorting committee will select the applications that are to be assessed by the expert committee. Please note that applicants not selected for expert assessment will not receive a written evaluation of the project description. The decision of the sorting committee will not be distributed.

Applicants will be assessed by an expert committee based on applicant competence, relevance to the call and the quality of the project description.

Emphasis will also be placed on the interview conducted with relevant applicants. References will be obtained for relevant applicants, and it is requested that 2-3 references are identified in the application.
Applicants invited to the interview must be able to submit certified copies of diplomas and certificates.

If you have documents that cannot be sent electronically, please contact HR-department, HR-Advisor Astrid Nøss Olsen on tel +47 22963888 or email astrid.nossolsen@vid.no

Application deadline:  February 28th 2021.

Employment Commencement Date:  September 1st 2021, or by agreement.

For further information about the position or guidance related to the project draft, please contact Associate Professor Ellen Vea Rosnes, email: ellen.vea.rosnes@vid.no or tel. +4751516223, or Professor and Director of Center for Mission and Global studies Anna Rebecca Solevåg, email: anna.rebecca.solevag@vid.no or tel. +4751516244.