Call for Expressions of Interest: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow in Professions, Expertise, Education, and Policy

Call for Expressions of Interest for a joint application under the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme – Call: MSCA-PF-2025

The position of professions in society is changing. Today, most professional work takes place in organizational settings of public services or private sector firms, and the increasing complexity of professional tasks requires problem-solving across disciplinary and professional boundaries, as well as stakeholder involvement and civic participation. Meanwhile, in many countries, there is an increasing distrust of experts and expertise. Technical developments such as AI are also profoundly changing professions, a process that will only accelerate in the years ahead. Professional education must adapt to these and other changes, and in a rapidly changing society, it must somehow prepare professionals for tasks and roles that are yet unknown. Arguably, innovative cross-disciplinary research on professions and professional education has never been more important.

With this as background, the Centre for the Study of Professions at OsloMet invites interested and eligible researchers of any nationality to submit a project idea for a potential application for an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (call HORIZON-MSCA-PF-2025) to conduct innovative research on professions at the Centre for a period of two years. Eligible candidates have a PhD successfully defended by the submission deadline (10 September 2025), a maximum of 8 years research experience after the PhD, are able to relocate to Norway for the fellowship, and have not resided in Norway for more than 12 months during the last three years.

The Centre for the Study of Professions

The Centre for the Study of Professions (SPS) is a leading Nordic multidisciplinary centre devoted to research and doctoral training in topics such as expertise, professions, education, work, and policy. It houses an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and political science. The Centre is currently home to 14 permanent academic staff, 3 postdocs, 20–30 doctoral fellows and a number of affiliated/visiting professors, supported by a dedicated team of administrative staff and research assistants. We are located on OsloMet’s main campus in central Oslo.

The study of professions is an intrinsically inter- and multidisciplinary field of research, characterised by theoretical and methodological diversity and comparative approaches. The Centre combines empirical research with investigations of theoretical and ethical issues in various professional domains. Topics for our research on professions include: career paths and the labour market, recruitment to education, professional education as a source of identity and qualifications, the role of professions in the design and implementation of policy, professional ethics, digitalization and AI, and the exercise of professional discretion. We study both features common to all professions and those specific to individual professional domains. The Centre has a particular ambition to disseminate policy-oriented research, which is often relevant to a broad range of actors, including professionals, public authorities, NGOs, and citizens.

The Centre has four research groups, each with its own specific areas of interest:

Professional knowledge and qualification

• Professional knowledge
• Qualifying for professions
• Coping with the tasks of professional life

Expertise, ethics and public policy

• Professions as normative arrangements
• Professions and societal governance
• The role of expertise in society

Professional practice and interaction

• Professions, discretion, and the implementation of public policies
• Professional work and workplaces
• Inter-professional interaction, cooperation and collaboration

Professional careers and labour markets

• The characteristics and development of professional education and labour markets
• Recruitment, careers, and motivation

Our research groups have extensive formal and informal links with researchers in other faculties and centres at OsloMet and at other institutions, both in Norway and internationally. The following are some of our recent and ongoing research projects:

Automating Technologies and the Future of Meaningful Work

Renewed Perspectives on Research Use in Education (REPOSE)

The Authority of Expertise in Professional Tax Law Practice (TAXLAW)

Organising for Outcomes: Links between service integration and transitions to employment for citizens with complex service needs

Persistent Passion for Professional Education: Consequences for student completion and dropout (PERSIST)

The Centre welcomes expressions of interest from researchers whose project ideas fit within one of the research areas indicated above (see links for further information). Professions that can be studied include, but are not limited to, teaching, medicine, law, engineering, nursing, social work, the police, and the military. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches would be relevant, and comparative approaches (cross-sector, cross-institutional, cross-national, or other) are welcome, but not required.

In developing your project idea, please keep in mind that MSCA evaluators will want to see why the proposed research project is solid, timely and innovative, why you are the best qualified person to carry it out, and also why SPS is the perfect place for you to carry it out. For the latter, the relevant expertise of the Centre and supervisor will be important. If you are also able to show that Norway would be a particularly good location for conducting (much of) your research, even better.

Supervisors

MSCA grantees will be supervised by one of the following experienced faculty members at the Centre:

Professor Wilfried Admiraal

• teachers, higher education, teaching, learning, technology

Professor Tone Alm Andreassen

• organizational reform, inter-organizational collaboration, activation, service user involvement

Associate Professor Ida Drange

• labour market, work-life, gender equality and diversity, inequality

Associate Professor Andreas Eriksen

• political philosophy, professional ethics, commitment, normativity, legitimacy

Professor Rachelle Esterhazy

• feedback and assessment, collaborative learning, learning analytics, simulation-based learning

Professor Håvard Helland

• inequalities, education, labour market

Professor Edmund Henden

• ethics, theory of science, theory of actions

Professor Hege Hermansen

• professional knowledge, epistemic communities, professional education, technology-enhanced teaching and learning in higher education

Associate Professor Lars E. F. Johannessen

• digitalization, sociology of knowledge, microsociology, cultural sociology, qualitative methods, discretion and standardization

Professor Anne Birgitte Leseth

• work inclusion, professional integration, knowledge and culture, body practices, ethnography

Professor Sølvi Mausethagen

• qualitative methods, education policy, the teaching profession, steering and reform

Research Professor Jan Messel

• history of professions, history of education, history of the labour movement, history of social work

Associate Professor Anders Strand

• philosophy of science, research ethics, causal knowledge

Professor Fredrik Thue

• history and theory of professions, history of higher education

Please follow the links above for further information about the Centre for the Study of Professions, our research groups, and individual staff members.

We are looking for applicants who

• hold a PhD in a relevant subject (e.g. sociology, education, history, philosophy, political science, social anthropology, economics, psychology) or in a relevant professional field (e.g. social work, nursing, medicine, law)
• have a good track record in research and publications and preferably some postdoctoral research experience.
• have an interest in the study of professions, a commitment to developing a competitive MSCA-PF application, and the necessary academic background to carry out the proposed project.
• are highly proficient in spoken and written English.
• fulfill the eligibility criteria for applying for an MSCA-PF at OsloMet for the 2025 call. Eligible candidates have a PhD successfully defended by the submission deadline (10 September 2025), a maximum of 8 years research experience after the PhD, and have not worked/studied in Norway for more than 12 months during the last three years.

Application and assessment process

Applicants who are successful in receiving EU funding must relocate to Oslo to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Professions for the duration of the project (c. 2026–2028).

Interested candidates must submit with their application the following documents:

• CV (including research track record and list of publications)
• A short description of the project idea for an MSCA-PF application (maximum 1–2 pages)

The one-page project description should indicate how the proposed project fits with the Centre’s areas of focus. Candidates are also encouraged to identify which member(s) of staff they would prefer to work with.

All documents that you submit to OsloMet, including your proposal idea, will be handled in full confidentiality and in strict compliance with GDPR regulations.

Evaluation will be based on the applicant’s qualifications and project idea, including its fit with the Centre’s research areas and (one of) our faculty members’ research profile. Some candidates will be invited for a virtual interview. Please note that we may assess applications continuously and send some interview invitations prior to the deadline, but all applications submitted by the deadline will be assessed on equal terms. Based on the applications and interviews, a number of candidates may be invited to develop a full MSCA-PF application in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Professions.

Candidates who are invited to develop a full application will be expected to do so under the supervision of one of the Centre’s faculty members and with the support of the professional research administration staff at OsloMet. For these candidates, participation in OsloMet’s virtual masterclass on MSCA-PF 28–29 April is obligatory. This will be a two-day workshop with detailed, tailored and necessary instruction concerning the application process and template. Further cooperation on the proposal development will be done remotely in the period from April until the deadline in mid-September 2025, with regular online communication via email and virtual meeting platforms.

Employment at OsloMet (if the MSCA-PF application is successful)

MSCA-PF-2025 decisions will be announced by the EU in February 2026. To successful applicants who are awarded the MSCA-PF grant, we will offer:

• a temporary position at OsloMet as a research fellow to implement the research project
• the possibility for the right candidate(s) to pursue his/her academic goals with guidance from an experienced supervisor
• a unique academic network at the Centre for the Study of Professions, and integration in the supervisor’s national and international networks
• membership in an active research group and joint academic seminars and discussion groups
• flexible working conditions
• an inclusive and friendly working environment
• attractive premises in downtown Oslo with a wide range of cultural activities
• free Norwegian language classes
• onboarding assistance for relocation and other services

We make active endeavours to further develop OsloMet as an inclusive workplace and to make adaptations to the workplace where required. You are welcome to apply even if you have had periods where you have not been in employment, education, or training. Any offer of employment is subject to the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology.

Remuneration:

MSCA-PF fellowships are 100 % funded and include living and mobility allowances.

• Type of employment: Temporary position
• Contract type: Full-time
• Gross Annual Salary: Approx. EUR 75,000–80,000
• Starting day of employment: Flexible between April–December 2026
• Number of positions: 1–10
• Working hours: 37.5 hours/week

OsloMet has implemented the Charter & Code for researchers and been granted the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4) by the EU Commission and is part of the EU network for mobility of Researchers EURAXESS. Practical information about relocation to OsloMet can be found on  Oslomet’s website and on the website of EURAXESS Norway.

Contact

Questions may be directed to the individual supervisors listed above (follow the links for contact info), or to:

• Research advisor Torbjørn Skinnemoen Ottersen, torbjor@oslomet.no
• Research advisor Jon Anstein Olsen, jonanste@oslomet.no

Application deadline: 3 March 2025

Reference number: 24/27975