MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2023 – The Arts of Transformation - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Call for Expression of Interest for a joint application under the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme – Call: MSCA-PF-2023

Hereby OsloMet invites interested experienced researchers of any nationality, who have a PhD degree and maximum eight (8) years of research experience after having obtained the PhD degree, to apply for the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship (call HORIZON-MSCA-PF-2023) to conduct research at OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University for a period of two years.

Department of Art, Design and Drama

The fellowship is affiliated with the Department of Art, Design and Drama, which is an excellent and creative academic environment at OsloMet. Focusing on the intersection between the arts, aesthetics and society, the department is at the forefront of research that cement the importance of the arts in forming societal imaginaries and in materially making and shaping landscapes, lives and communities. The department is the home of about 900 students and 55 employees, and offers study programmes on Bachelor’s and Master’s level in sustainable fashion, drama- and theatre communication, theatre and society, art in society, art and design, teacher training and design and communication in digital media. The department has four research groups, which include Art & Society; Education & Society, Design Literacy and Art – Practice – Research. 

Area of research

The concept of “transformation” is increasingly gaining momentum among scholars and policy makers calling for radical change towards sustainability. Transformation processes have become key in the growing literature on sustainability and development and have been rapidly translated into multiple policy settings. For example, the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (2015) is promoted under the banner “Transforming Our World”, guided by “a supremely ambitious and transformational vision”. Partly displacing the discourse of sustainability itself, the discourse on transformation presents an entry point to address systemic causes of ecological degradation and social injustice, thereby providing solutions to pressing global challenges. Yet, so far, transformation projects have fallen short of delivering significant action and change. Critics argue that while the transformation discourse is cloaked in emancipatory terminology, its limited ability to enable change is because it is guided by a form of thinking that explains everything in advance, thus excluding any form of knowledge or experience that does not fit its prescription. As a result, transformation discourse risks reproducing assumptions and values of mainstream discourses, rather than changing them. 

More work is needed to understand how emancipatory thought can be advanced, rather than restricted, within sustainability transformations. This includes work that links sustainability transformations with progressive commitments to knowledge pluralism, embracing a plurality of ways of knowing and experiencing a world shaped by rampant inequality and global environmental crisis. Key here is to embrace diverse forms of individual, embodied and situated experiences and emotions (suffering, frustration, joy or loss) that may inspire resistance or change, as well as local and indigenous knowledges, and forms of community mobilisation that enable the flourishing of radical ideas and genuine alternatives to the status quo. 

The candidates are invited to explore the potentials and challenges of the field of the arts and aesthetics to embrace knowledge pluralism and shape sustainability transformation. Proposals may examine a variety of aesthetic practices, processes and methods, including the expanded field of visual and performing arts, creative practice and design, and the role of aesthetics in education and society more generally. 

The candidates may want to address questions such as: How may the arts and aesthetics reveal aspects that are absent from mainstream transformation discourse? What new transdisciplinary ways of working and producing knowledge that challenge established practices can be developed through the arts and aesthetic practice? What roles may the arts and aesthetics play in forming new societal and environmental imaginaries and give tangible form to alternatives outside of the constraints of the given present? How may the field of the arts and aesthetics challenge and deconstruct transformation discourses that maintain relations of domination and exploitation of people and nature? In what ways do the field of arts and aesthetics enable knowledge perspectives that, rather than examining the life conditions of the subaltern, develop knowledge from a subaltern perspective? How may the arts and aesthetics better equip us to engage with the complexity of transformation and deal with the effects of living with uncertain futures?

Successful candidates will be supervised by Professor Cecilie Sachs Olsen along with other relevant professors in the department. Prof. Sachs Olsen has extensive experience working practically and theoretically with the intersection of art, politics and society, focusing specifically on exploring how aesthetic practice can be used as a framework to analyse and re-imagine sustainability, space and politics. 

With this call for Expression of Interest, we invite researchers to submit their application accompanied by CV (including publication list) and a one-page project description, that will be the basis for selecting a maximum of two candidates with whom we will collaborate for developing competitive MSCA-PF proposals. The cooperation for the proposal development will be carried out remotely, with regular online communication via email and virtual meeting platforms. Applicants who are successful in getting their proposals funded by the EU, must relocate to work in the Department of Art, Design and Drama, at OsloMet main campus, in the center of Oslo.

Starting Date of the fellowship

The EU shall inform the results on the MSCA-PF-2023 applications in February 2024. Successful applicants are expected to be available to start the fellowship project from within the two months following the announcement of results and no later than summer 2024. 

Main duties of the position

The successful candidate will primarily work on the MSCA fellowship funded project, but will be integrated in the Department of Art, Design and Drama in general, taking part in regular meetings and discussion groups. The candidate will specifically be introduced with Prof. Cecilie Sachs Olsen’s national and international network of researchers. In agreement with the candidate, the candidate will be included in other ongoing projects, teaching at the MA level and/or in the development of grant applications processes. 

Expected qualification of applicants 

Candidates must have a PhD in visual or performing arts or an interdisciplinary PhD in which artistic strategies, methods or practices are put to work in disciplinary contexts outside the art field (i.e. the GeoHumanities, cultural geography, the environmental humanities, education and design). Candidates from other academic disciplines will be assessed based on the relevance of their project description. 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. The candidates must be eligible for a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship: have a PhD successfully defended by the submission deadline (mid-September 2023), a maximum of eight (8) years research experience after PhD, and not having worked/studied in Norway more than 12 months in the last three years.

We are looking for applicants who have

• Knowledge of the possibilities, roles and functions of the arts, aesthetics and/or creative practice in a variety of social and/or educational contexts. 
• A good track record in research and publications
• Commitment to develop a competitive MSCA-PF grant application
• An open, creative 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. Interested candidates must submit with their application the following documents:

• CV (including research track record and list of publications)
• A one-page description of the project idea for which a MSCA-PF grant will be applied (no predefined structure, excluding references)

Short-listed candidates will be invited for a virtual interview to select candidates that will be invited to develop the full MSCA-PF application with deadline by mid-September 2023 under the supervision of Professor Cecilie Sachs Olsen and with the support of the professional research administration staff at OsloMet. 

Under this call announcement a maximum of five candidates will be interviewed and two candidates will be invited to write applications with the endorsement of OsloMet. Candidates will be informed of the results of the internal pre-selection and invitation to apply within the two weeks following the interview. 

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. Proposals will be pre-selected based on internal evaluation and the availability of suitable supervision. 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 the virtual masterclass on MSCA-PF, a two-day workshop organised by OsloMet on 19-20 April 2023 to provide applicants with detailed information and explanation of the application template to complete their proposal in compliance with the EU Commission requirements.

The postdoctoral position

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

We offer

OsloMet assists in developing competitive MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals. Then, to successful applicants who are awarded the MSC-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 Professor Cecilie Sachs Olsen
• Norwegian language classes
• Onboarding assistance for relocation and other services

It is important for OsloMet to reflect the population diversity, all qualified candidates from any nationality are welcomed to apply. OsloMet is an IA (Inclusive Workplace) organisation and operates in compliance with the Norwegian IA agreement. We make our active endeavour to further develop OsloMet as an inclusive workplace and to adapt the workplace if required. If there are periods in your career when you have not been working, under education or training, you are also eligible to apply. Questions may be directed to the contact persons (per below).

Remuneration

The competitive fellowship opportunities are 100% funded and include living and mobility allowances. 

• Type of employment: Temporary position
• Contract type: Full time
• Annual Salary: Approx. EUR 70,000
• Starting day of employment: (expected): TBD between 1 April – 1 Sept 2024
• Number of positions: 1 – 2 
• 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 in the link here and EURAXESS Norway

Contact

Cecilie Sachs Olsen, Professor, cecilies@oslomet.no 

If you have administrative questions to your application, please contact hrtkd@oslomet.no. 

Last day of application

Call closes on 31st January 2023

Reference number: 22/09005