MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2025 - NOW WHAT? Rethinking long term sick-leave in Europe

Call for Expression of Interest to develop a joint application to the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action European Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme

OsloMet invites interested researchers of any nationality, fulfilling the eligibility requirements for the fellowship, to express their interest in developing an application for a two-year project at OsloMet, funded by the Marie Skłodowska Curie European Postdoctoral Fellowship 2025 (Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF-01-01).

Eligibility requirements:

• The applicant should have a PhD degree at the time of the deadline for applications, 10. September 2025
• The applicant must have a maximum of eight years experience in research, from the date of the award of their PhD degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks will not count towards the above maximum, nor will years of experience in research in third countries for nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries who wish to reintegrate to Europe.
• The applicant should comply with mobility rules: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Norway for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline, 10. September 2025.
• Candidates must be able to relocate to Norway. Teleworking will not be allowed. Applicants who are successful in getting their proposals funded by the EU, must relocate to work in Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Technology.

JUSTIN School & Work at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Technology

JUSTIN is a research group at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Technology, in the faculty of Health Sciences. Our faculty offers Norway’s most comprehensive portfolio of study programs within health and social sciences and has around 600 employees. Our institute employ around 120 scholars, and run the Occupational Therapy-, Physiotherapy-, and Orthopaedic Engineering programs. Our research profile is closely connected with the ambition of the whole university: Delivering knowledge to solve societal challenges. In JUSTIN our main ambition is to contribute to increase participation in school & work. By our research, we want to commit to reduce the number of adults with participation problems being on sick leave or other benefits, the number of pupils dropping out from school, NEETs (Neither in Education, Employment or Training), and young people on disability pension.

Area of research for the project proposals

In this call, our largest research project NOW WHAT is the arena for the post doc fellowship. This project’s team constitute of 25 researchers, from four different countries: Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, and Belgium. The project is funded by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) and Norwegian Research Council. See: www.nowwhat.no. In this project we have been rethinking how people of long-term sick leave are met, and we ask the question “now what?” to both the system and services, but also to the individual that has been off work for a longer time. Based on evidence and 13 identified gaps between research and practice, we have developed the add-on digital OBS-program. In the OBS-program, we explore a wider understanding of the participation problem the sick listed worker experiences – the return-to-work barriers at the workplace and at home. Now we are testing the feasibility of the program, and a new education to become an OBS-therapist (a master-level course for health professionals as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, and medical doctors).

The candidates are invited to address the need for better and more evidence-based assessments and understanding of people of long-term sick leave, which extend the perspectives of diseases and symptoms – to a biopsychosocial service. We want a perspective on knowledge translation and implementation of the new OBS-program in settings as: the workplace, towards GPs sickness certification process, and the social insurance offices follow-up towards a person on sick leave. Proposals may choose one of these settings. Knowledge Translation and Implementation Science will be central theoretical frameworks, and the proposal might examine the implementation of the OBS-program, developed in Norway - into other European countries. In the NOW WHAT project we use RE-AIM to understand implementation, and thus it might be wise to examine one or more of these aspects of implementation more in depth.

Successful candidates will be supervised by Professor Randi W. Aas, Associate Professor Lisebet S. Skarpaas and Associate Professor Mikkel M. Thørrisen. Aas is a professor of occupational health and has 20 years’ experience studying participation problems in society – with a focus on biopsychosocial assessments and interventions. For more information on Aas, see her profile at Research Gate.

With this call for Expression of Interest, we invite researchers to submit:

1. Application letter stating your motivation. The letter should state concisely why the proposed research project is solid, timely and innovative, why you are the best qualified person to carry it out, and also why our department is the perfect place for you to carry it out.
2. CV (including publication list)
3. A one-page project description (excluding references), that will be the basis for candidates with whom we will collaborate for developing competitive MSCA-PF proposals.

Starting Date of the fellowship

Evaluation results for the MSCA-PF-2025 applications are expected to be communicated by the EU Commission in February 2026. Successful applicants may start the fellowship at the earliest in April 2026, given that they can move to Norway at that time, and are expected to start no later than the end of 2026.

Expected qualification of applicants

Candidates must have a Health Science PhD relevant within Occupational Therapy, Medicine, Physiotherapy, or Psychology. We are primarily looking for experienced researchers who wish to use this period as an opportunity to further develop their research, and to develop longer term research collaborations with OsloMet and other organisations conducting research in the field.

We are looking for applicants who have

• Knowledge within Public Health/ Occupational Health, assessments, interventions – and digital programs/Ehealth and/or competence within Knowledge translation and Implementation Science
• A good track record in research and publications
• Commitment to develop a competitive MSCA-PF grant application
• An open and cooperation-oriented nature, with strong abilities for independent academic work
• Excellent command/highly proficient spoken and written English

Assessment and selection of candidates

Evaluation will be based on the qualification and project idea.

Short-listed candidates will be invited for a virtual interview to select candidates who will be invited to develop the full MSCA-PF application with deadline 10.09.2025, under the supervision of Dr. Aas, Dr. Skarpaas and Dr. Thørrisen and with the support of the professional research administration staff at OsloMet.

Candidates will be informed of the results of the internal pre-selection and invitation to apply no later than 01.04.2025.

Original documents about your qualification must be presented if you are invited for an interview. OsloMet performs document inspections in order to give you as a candidate a proper evaluation and to ensure a fair competition. All documents that you hand in to OsloMet, including your proposal idea, will be handled in full confidentiality and in strict compliance with GDPR regulations.

Selected candidates must participate in a virtual masterclass on MSCA-PF, a two-day workshop organised by OsloMet on 28.-29. April 2025 to provide applicants with detailed information and explanation of the application template to complete their proposal in compliance with the EU Commission requirements.

Employment at OsloMet

Successful applicants who obtain a MSCA-PF grant will be offered a position at OsloMet to be hired as researchers to implement their proposed research projects, in conditions as explained below.

We offer:

OsloMet assists in developing competitive MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals. To successful applicants who are awarded the MSCA-PF grant, we offer:

• Flexible working conditions
• An inclusive and friendly work environment
• Unique academic network with the possibility for the right candidate(s) to pursue his/her academic goals under the auspices of Dr. Aas, Dr. Skarpaas and Dr. Thørrisen
• Norwegian language classes
• Onboarding assistance for relocation and other services

Remuneration:

• Type of employment: Temporary position
• Contract type: Full time
• Annual Salary: Approx. EUR 75,000- 80 000. NOTE: obligatory income tax and employer's national insurance contributions will be deducted from this amount.
• Starting day of employment: (expected): Flexible between April and December 2026.
• Working hours: 37.5 hours/week

OsloMet has implemented the Charter for researchers and been granted the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) by the EU Commission and is part of the EU network for mobility of Researchers EURAXESS. OsloMet International Staff Services will assist you during your relocation to Norway and practical information about can be found at our website Work at OsloMet and EURAXESS Norway. 

Contact

• Dr. Randi W. Aas, Professor, randi.aas@oslomet.no, Dr. Mikkel M. Thørrisen, mithor@oslomet.no, or Dr. Lisebet S. Skarpaas, liskska@oslomet.no
• Nina Ånensen, R&I-staff, ninaanen@oslomet.no

Address: Pilestredet 32, Oslo 0166, Norway

Last day of application: Call closes on 31st January 2025 

Published: 20th December 2024

Reference number: 24/28092