Postdoctoral position in multilingual children's language acquisition - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Early Childhood Education at the Faculty of Education and International Studies has one vacant position as a postdoctoral fellow in multilingual children's language acquisition. The postdoctoral position is funded as a 100% position for two years, without compulsory teaching. The position is vacant from 1 August 2021.

The Department of Early Childhood Education has approximately 2000 students and 115 academic staff members and is located at the Oslo Metropolitan University campus in the centre of Oslo. The department offers a Bachelor Programme in Early Childhood Education and Care, a M. Phil. Programme in Early Childhood Education, courses taught in English, as well as further and continuing education programmes. The faculty offers a Ph.D. in Education. The department collaborates extensively with kindergartens and other institutions relevant to our work.

Read more about the faculty and the department here

Read more about our research groups here

The postdoctoral fellow will be part of the PolkaNorski project, which is a Polish-Norwegian collaborative project funded by Norway Grants https://eeagrants.org/. In the project, we investigate Polish-Norwegian children's language acquisition using methods such as parental reporting, tests on tablets and an EEG experiment. A description of the project can be found here: https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/research-projects/polkanorski-polish-norwegian-language-world-knowledge-development-mono-multilingual-children.

The project group in PolkaNorski works together in all parts of the project: with collection and analysis of data and in co-writing of publications. The postdoctoral fellow will participate in all parts of the main project and will be included in PolkaNorski's collaborative environment. The postdoctoral fellow will work at OsloMet and be part of the research group Samba – Continuity and Coherence in Early Years – ECEC to Primary School, along with the other partners at OsloMet.

Work area

PolkaNorski consists of four subprojects. The postdoctoral fellow will work within the third subproject (WP3), which deals with linguistic, cultural and pedagogical factors that affect children's language development. Applicants must prepare a project description that is connected to this subproject and attach the description to the application according to the template that can be found here. The description must be written in English or a Scandinavian language. The project description must contain ideas for how to analyse the data that are to be collected, and present two ideas for research publications within the relevant subproject. The project description should make clear how the applicant's professional background can strengthen the PolkaNorski project.

The project group will organize a meeting for interested applicants in order to give additional information about the development of project descriptions. The meeting will be held online. Interested applicants are asked to contact the principal investigator in Norway for additional information about the project and to receive input on the project description. 

Required qualifications

• Ph.D. degree in linguistics, education, psychology, special education or other relevant fields. (If relevent, the applicant may document that a relevant Ph.D. degree will be obtained before the time of appointment.)
• knowledge of either multilingualism, children's language acquisition, or the development and use of assessment tools for language skills
• knowledge of relevant empirical research methods
• proficiency in oral and written English and either a Scandinavian language or Polish

In the assessment and ranking of qualified applicants, emphasis will be placed on:

• the scientific quality of the project description, including originality and potential
• the relevance of the project description for the overall project
• attached scientific publications
• knowledge of or experience from the Norwegian education system
• experience with data collection, and preferably digital data collection methods
• interest in and knowledge of statistics
• other relevant publications
• experience from previous research activities and project participation
• personal qualities

Desired personal qualities:

• motivation and potential for research within the field
• personal qualities that, among other things, show ability to implement plans
• ability to work both independently and in collaboration with other researchers, as well as be innovative and creative
• ability to work in a structured way

Oslo Metropolitan University strives to ensure that our employees reflect the diversity of the population of the region. We work continuously to further develop Oslo Metropolitan University as an inclusive workplace, and to adapt the workplace if required. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, also those who have experienced periods without work, education or training.

We offer:

• an exciting job opportunity at Norway's third largest university
• access to professional development in a creative research environment
• loan and loan and pension arrangements with the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• pension terms in the Government Pension Fund
• beneficial welfare schemes and a wide range of activities within culture and sports
• free Norwegian language classes to employees

Further information:

For further information about the position, please contact:

• Head of Department Torgeir Alvestad, mobile: +47 415 65 546 / e-mail Torgeir.Alvestad@oslomet.no
• Head of program Inger Marie Lindboe, mobile +47 954 75 435/ e-mail
• IngerMarie.Lindboe@oslomet.no
• Professor and principal investigator Nina Gram Garmann, mobile +47 993 13 193 / e-mail Nina.Garmann@oslomet.no

The salary for the position is in accordance with the pay scale for state employees:

The annual salary range for a postdoctoral fellow in code 1352 is NOK 535 200 – NOK 694 400. A contribution of 2% to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund is deducted from the salary

Application process:

The following documents must be uploaded before the deadline:

• application letter
• CV
• all pages of certificates and diplomas
• project description of 5-10 pages (The description must be written in English or a Scandinavian language.)
• complete list of publications
• up to ten scholarly works and an overview of them, including your Ph.D. thesis
• two references with contact information

All documents must be uploaded in order for your application to be processed. The documents must be in a Scandinavian language or English. Translations must be government authorised, and originals must be presented in connection with interviews. Oslo Metropolitan University checks documents in order to ensure a proper evaluation of all candidates and ensure fair competition. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. All applications will be reviewed by the faculty before the application papers are forwarded to the expert committee. Applications from applicants who are not qualified, will not be forwarded for assessment.

If you have documents that cannot be uploaded electronically, please contact Ingrid Andvin Tsolakis: iats@oslomet.no

Please apply electronically for the position by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.