PhD fellow in “Resilience of Critical Infrastructures in the Arctic”, UIT THE ARCTIC UNIVERSITY OF NORWAY

The Department of Technology and Safety (ITS), has a PhD position vacant from January 2021 for applicants who wish to obtain the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD). The position is related to the research group “Societal Security, Safety, Engineering, Environment and Emergency Preparedness” and has collaboration with the research group “Operations and Maintenance”.

The appointment is for a period of four years. The nominal length of the PhD program is three years. The fourth year is distrubuted as 25 % each year, and will consist of teaching and other duties for the Faculty of Science and Technology.

The PhD position is for a fixed term, with the objective of completion of research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to a PhD programme in Science is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position. The PhD Candidate shall participate in the faculty’s organised research training, and the PhD project shall be completed during the period of employment. Information about the application process for admission to the PhD programme, application form and regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) are available here.

The Department of Technology and Safety is organised under the Faculty of Science and Technology and is located at two campuses: Tromsø and Harstad. The advertised position has its workplace at Campus Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time, within 6 months after recieving the offer. The department has approximately 80 employees and approximately 500 students. It offers undergraduate and master’s degree programmes as well as research in the areas of aviation, nautical, engineering, safety, and security.

The project/ The position’s field of research

The aim of this project is to develop methodologies for assessment of critical infrastructure (CI) resilience in the Arctic. CIs are usually characterised as large-scale, spatially distributed, complex networks that deliver vital societal functions and their disruption can potentially lead to disasters with devastating impacts on society’s safety, security, economics, etc. Climate change introduces new vulnerabilities in CIs that become of crucial importance in the Arctic, where not only the devastating impacts of the disasters on the society are augmented, but also remoteness, less-developed infrastructure, and harsh environmental conditions of the Arctic, threaten the CIs and their delivered functions, to even a larger extent. That means that CIs in the Arctic should be particularly resilient. The design for resilience in the Arctic takes into account the performance of physical-cyber infrastructure and available emergency response and recovery plans. It should, in addition, integrate the data and information from societal and organisational resilience domains as well, wherein, for instance, the expectation, needs and tolerances of the end-user, being the Arctic communities and indigenous societies, are incorporated.

 Contact

Further information about the position is available by contacting Associate Professor Masoud Naseri, +47 77660327, email: masoud.naseri@uit.no, or Professor Christer Henrik Pursiainen +47 77660387, email: christer.h.pursiainen@uit.no.

 We offer

  • A good academic environment with dedicated colleagues
  • Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement
  • Pension scheme through the state pension fund

More practical information for working and living in Norway can be found here: Welcome to UiT!

 Qualifications

The successful applicant must fulfil the requirements for admission to the faculty’s PhD programme, cf. Regulation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. In addition, he/she should be able to document proficiency in English equivalent to Norwegian Higher Education Entrance Qualification, refer to the website about PhD Regulations at UiT and the English language proficiency.

This position requires a Master of Science in Engineering, or a similar master’s degree with relevant knowledge and education in the area of safety and technology, including mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering. The Master’s degree should be recognized as equivalent to a 2-year Norwegian Master’s degree. The average grade for the master’s degree should be at least B.

It is an advantage to have knowledge about and experience in:

  • Arctic/cold-climate engineering and technology,
  • Resilience, risk, and reliability,
  • Computer programming language (e.g., MATLAB, Python), and
  • Interdisciplinary perspectives and projects

Language skills: Good communication skills in both written and spoken English as recommended here.

Assessment
The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. During this assessment process, emphasis will be attached to personal suitability, language skills, master’s degree grades, and the applicant’s potential for research as shown by:

  • Master’s thesis or equivalent
  • Any other academic works, and
  • Project description (2-3 pages)

All information and material to be considered during the assessment must be submitted by the stipulated deadline.

The applicants who are assessed as the best qualified will called to an interview. The interview shall among other things aim to clarify the applicant’s personal suitability for the position.

 Application

The application must be submitted electronically via www.jobbnorge.no and shall include:

  • Cover letter explaining your motivation and research interests
  • CV
  • Diplomas, diploma supplements and transcripts (all degrees)
  • Documentation on English proficiency. This website states how English profiency shall be documented.
  • Written references
  • Contact information to 1-3 references
  • Master thesis, and any other academic works  
  • List of works and description of these (see below)
    • The list of works shall contain the following information:
    • author(s), the work’s title
    • for articles: the journal’s name and volume, the first and last page of the article, year of publication
    • for publications: publisher, printer, year of publication, number of pages
  • The works (published or unpublished) which the applicant wishes to be taken into consideration during the assessment process must be submitted
  • Project description (2-3 pages)

The documentation has to be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Edvard Kristiansen

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