University of Stavanger | Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental History

Job description

The University of Stavanger invites applicants for a position as Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental History at the Faculty of Education and Humanities, Department of Cultural Studies and Languages. The position is vacant from 1 August 2026.

Applicants should propose a self-defined research project in environmental history that places electronic or digital technologies at the center of its historical inquiry. The Greenhouse Center’s More-Than-Human Histories theme examines how humans, nonhuman organisms, materials, and technologies are constituted through their relations with one another. We seek to analyze these entanglements symmetrically rather than treating the nonhuman world as a backdrop or resource for human history. This call invites projects that bring this ambition into direct engagement with the history of electronic and digital systems and technologies. Projects should examine how specific electronic technologies have mediated, transformed, or co-produced relations between human and nonhuman worlds: how organisms, ecosystems, or environmental processes have been sensed, modeled, classified, or governed through electronic means, and what kinds of nature these practices have made visible, legible, or actionable — and what they have obscured. The historical approach should be specific and grounded in identifiable sources and sites.

The call is open regarding period and geography. Projects focused on computing, remote sensing, databases, digital platforms, or AI are welcome, as are projects that begin earlier, for instance in the electronic instrumentation of oceanography, the cybernetic management of fisheries, or the automation of agricultural environments in the mid-twentieth century. The unifying requirement is that technology functions as a historical actor or infrastructure to be analyzed, not only as a research tool.

Proposals may approach this through institutions, scientific practices, policy and governance, or cultural and imaginative dimensions of human-nonhuman-technological entanglement, but they should demonstrate how the chosen technology shaped ecological relations and environmental knowledge in historically specific and consequential ways. Purely theoretical projects are outside the scope of this call.

The postdoctoral fellow will be affiliated with the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities, a university-level research center at the University of Stavanger. It supports a growing community of academics who use history, literature, media, religion, philosophy and art to understand how people relate to nature and the environment. We have a dynamic intellectual atmosphere with weekly programming that the new fellow will be expected to participate in. More information about the Greenhouse is available here.

The aim of the position is for the successful candidate to develop a research profile and gain the qualifications required to be eligible for a position as an Associate Professor. Additionally, the position may provide valuable experience and other competencies relevant to the postdoctoral researcher’s career development.

If the person being hired does not already have pedagogical competence that meets the requirements for position as Associate Professor, we will facilitate the acquisition of such competence during the employment period.

A career development plan will be drawn up, outlining the competencies the Postdoctoral Fellow is expected to acquire during the employment period. The Postdoctoral Fellow will also have access to career guidance throughout the postdoctoral period.

The qualifying project will be carried out at the University of Stavanger. It is assumed that the appointee will work full time on the project and that she/he will participate in the academic community.

Postdoctoral Fellow is employed for a period of three years. The employment period includes 30 months of project work plus 6 months of administrative/teaching assignments in the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages, and/or in the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities.

Project proposal

You must submit a description of a research project within the subject area and plan for its completion. The project proposal must show how you will proceed to carry out the research work, what the key issues and hypotheses will be, what theories and methods you will apply, publication channels and a schedule for carrying out the work. It must be clear from the application in what way the project will add your competence. The project proposal will be included in the competence assessment.

The final project description and progress plan are drawn up in consultation with the supervisor (s) during the first three months of the employment period. It is a prerequisite that you complete the project during the employment period.

Qualification requirements

You must have a PhD with a specialisation relevant for the project. The PhD thesis must have been submitted for evaluation within the application deadline for the position and approved before accession.

You must have excellent command of both oral and written English. In the assessment the following criteria will also be emphasised:

• relevance, quality and feasibility of the project
• submitted scientific work and your personal skills for completing the project within the time frame
• international experience and network
• qualifications within the areas of creativity, innovation and commercialisation of research
• good teamwork, communication skills and ability to participate in research communities across organisational units
• ability to work independently in a structured manner
• motivation, sense of responsibility and accountability, work capacity and enthusiasm for research

We offer

• varied duties in a large, exciting and socially important organisation
• an ambitious work community which is developing rapidly. We strive to include employees at all levels in strategic decisions and promote an informal atmosphere with a flat organisational structure
• free Norwegian language courses if you do not have proficiency in Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish at level A2 at the time of employment
• access to Lifekeys, a digital service for the preservation of personal mental health and well-being
• salary in accordance with the State Salary Scale, l.pl 17.510, code 1352, NOK 590.000 - 680.000 gross per year. A higher salary may be considered in special cases. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.
• automatic membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, which provides favourable insurance and retirement benefits
• favourable membership terms at a gym and at the university sports club, SiS sports club at campus
• employment with an Inclusive Workplace organisation which is committed to reducing sick leave, increasing the proportion of employees with reduced working capacity, and increasing the number of professionally active seniors
• Hjem-jobb-hjem, discounted public transport to and from work
• as an employee in Norway, you will have access to an optimal health service, as well as good pensions, generous maternity/paternity leave, and a competitive salary. Nursery places are guaranteed and reasonably priced.
• relocation programme

Diversity

Diversity is a resource in the working and learning environment at UiS. When we have different backgrounds and experiences, we can approach challenges from multiple perspectives and find better solutions. At UiS, we are committed to showing respect for each other’s differences and accommodating employees with disabilities. We take into consideration your needs and your situation in various life phases.

If you find this position interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, disability, cultural background, or whether you have been out of the workforce for a period.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, gaps in their CV, or immigrant backgrounds, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these groups for an interview. If you fall into any of these categories, feel free to indicate it when applying for the position. Learn more about the criteria for being considered an applicant in these specific groups here.

Contact information

More information on the position can be obtained from Professor Finn Arne Jørgensen, tel: +4748101359, e-mail: finn.a.jorgensen@uis.no or Department Chair Kjetil Vikhamar Thengs, tel: +4751831337, e-mail: kjetil.v.thengs@uis.no.

Information about the appointment procedure can be obtained from HR advisor Camelia Danaei, e-mail: camelia.danaei@uis.no.

Application

To apply for this position please follow the link “Apply for this job”. Your application letter, relevant education and work experience as well as language skills must be registered here. In the application letter, you must state your research interests and motivation for the position.

The following documents must be uploaded as attachments to your application:

• 3-5-page research plan that clearly describes your project proposal and its contribution to the field
• CV with a full summary of your education and experience
• documentation of approved PhD. If you have not completed the PhD, you may enclose a confirmation from the institution on the expected date of obtaining the doctoral degree.
• complete list of academic publications with information on where they are published. You may also upload up to 5 publications, including your PhD thesis or published monograph based upon the thesis.
• transcripts and certificates, and other documentation that you consider relevant

Applications are evaluated based on the information available in Jobbnorge on the application deadline. You should ensure that your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the criteria which are set out above.

The documentation must be available in either a Scandinavian language or in English. If the total size of the attachments exceeds 100 MB, they must be compressed before upload.

Please note that information on applicants may be published even if the applicant has requested not to be included in the official list of applicants - see Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act. If your request is not granted, you will be notified.

UiS only considers applications and attachments registered in Jobbnorge.

General information

The engagement is to be made in accordance with 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.

Employment as Postdoctoral Fellow is regulated in Regulations to the Universities and Colleges Act, chapter IV.

We put emphasis on the quality, relevance and significance of the research work and not on where the work is published, in accordance with the principles of The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

UiS has signed The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (CoARA), committing to recognizing various forms of results, practices, and activities in the evaluation of research and researchers.

Your qualifications for the position, based on documentation registered in Jobbnorge, will be assessed by an internal expert committee. Based on the committee’s statement, relevant applicants will be invited to an interview before any recommendations are made. References will also be obtained for relevant candidates. More about the hiring process on our website.

UiS has an Acquisition of Rights Agreement for the purpose of securing rights to intellectual property created by its employees, including research results.

The appointee will be based at the University of Stavanger. It is a prerequisite that you have a residence which enables you to be present at/available to the academic community during ordinary working hours.

The position has been announced in both Norwegian and English. In the case of differences of meaning between the texts, the Norwegian text takes precedence.

Application and more details: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/297163/postdoctoral-fellow-in-environmental-history