Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology

Principal Engineer - Center for Lifespan changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC)

About the position

A temporary position as a Principal Engineer (position code - SKO 1085) is available at the Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC) at the Department of Psychology (PSI), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo. This is an externally funded full time position for 1 year, with a starting date as soon as possible.

Work tasks

• The position is suited for a person with an interest in and experience with signal and image processing. Imaging of the human brain by MRI and PET is central to LCBC research, and the candidate will contribute by:
• Developing and maintaining existing data pipelines and infrastructure (MRI, PET and EEG data)
• Maintaining collection of behavioral and questionnaire data
• Taking responsibility for quality control of collected data

We rely heavily on FreeSurfer (https://freesurfer.net (https://freesurfer.net)) and FSL (https://fsl.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/fslwiki/ (https://fsl.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/fslwiki/)) for brain imaging analyses, and the center cooperates with the developers of these software packages. Our analysis pipelines use a combination of Python, R, and run on Linux/HPC.

The candidate is expected to work closely with other researchers at LCBC as well as with our international collaborators.

Qualification requirements

Requirements:

• The successful candidate must have a bachelor`s degree or similar in a relevant field, such as psychology, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, informatics, physics, or mathematics, although documented long and relevant work experience can be considered to compensate for the education requirement.
• Experience with processing medical imaging data is a requirement
• Experience with the use of FreeSurfer and BIDS is a requirement
• Excellent command of English, orally and in writing is a requirement

Experience and competence within the following topics will be considered as an advantage:

• Experience with PET and EEG data processing
• Experience with managing large datasets
• Experience with processing longitudinal medical data

Personal skills

In the evaluation of applicants, emphasis will be placed on the following personal skills:

• Candidate's good co-operative skills, and the ability to successfully join in academic collaboration
• Candidate's personal ability to work independently

The research center

LCBC is an active, international multi-disciplinary research center, initiated by Professors Kristine B. Walhovd and Anders M Fjell, with a staff of 25 full time positions, including researchers, several post docs and PhD candidates, engineers and full-time RAs, extensive supporting personnel and several affiliated international researchers. We have staff from seven different countries, and English is the language of the lab. The center has an interdisciplinary approach, with researchers from different fields such as psychology, genetics, neuroscience, physics, informatics, statistics and engineering. LCBC was in 2015, as one of five, appointed status as a “world leading" research group at the University of Oslo. We encourage the interested applicant to visit www.oslobrains.no (https://www.oslobrains.no/) for more details about LCBC and our research.

LCBC constitutes an extremely active and stimulating learning environment for the skilled and interested candidate.

The research

Cognition - the ability to attend, remember and reason - is pivotal to all aspects of human life. Yet cognitive functioning varies considerably among and within human beings across the lifespan. The goal of LCBC is to understand brain and cognitive changes and how to optimize them through the entire lifespan. In addition to studies of development and aging, we also research diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and biomedical risks such as prenatal drug exposure.

Cognitive measures, imaging of brain activity and structure, genetics, molecular biology and registry information are systematically applied across large samples of participants from 4 to 90+ years. Neuroimaging is central to all LCBC projects, and we thus devote large resources to infrastructure and manpower dedicated to imaging of the brain. We have a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI scanner, situated at the department of radiology of the Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet.

We offer

• Salary 524 700 - 575 400 per annum depending on qualifications in position as a principal engineer (SKO 1085)
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement
• Professional development in a stimulating and friendly work environment
• Oslo is a family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include:

• Letter of application, 1-2 pages, explaining the motivation for applying
• Curriculum Vitae summarizing education, positions and work experience
• Copies of educational certificates
• Names and contact details of at least two references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number).

International applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. All documents should be in English. The application with attachments must be delivered in our recruiting system.

Formal regulations

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged where the applicant's personal prerequisites and cooperative skills will be also assessed.

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

Contact information

Head Engineer: Inge Amlien, e-mail: inge.amlien@psykologi.uio.no

Administrative Manager: Barbara Bodorkos Friedman, e-mail: b.b.friedman@psykologi.uio.no

For questions regarding the electronic recruitment system, pleace contact HR Officer Ine Røsok Sagelv: i.r.sagelv@psykologi.uio.no