PhD Fellow in Marine Molecular Ecology

UiT The Arctic University of Norway; Norway; On-site; NOK 522,000 - 638,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Involvement in an interesting research

Flexible working hours

Pension scheme

PhD salary 580,000 NOK/year

Job summary

The Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø seeks a PhD Fellow to study molecular ecology of fishes and communities in the Arctic Ocean for Arctic Ocean 2050. The four-year position includes 25% teaching, with admission to the PhD programme as a prerequisite and a focus on training to doctoral level.

Work will be in the Research Group for Genetics, contributing to cross-disciplinary learning, fieldwork in cold environments, and courses in Fish

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in molecular ecology, molecular biology, or genetics by the time of employment.
• Documented experience with DNA extraction from tissues, communities, or environmental samples.
• Documented experience with PCR and/or qPCR.
• Documented experience with bioinformatic or statistical analysis of DNA sequence data.
• Knowledge of taxonomy of fishes and other marine aquatic taxa.
• Documented knowledge of English.
• Experience in collecting and handling eDNA and community samples.
• Experience with metabarcoding and/or shotgun sequencing approaches.
• Experience with conventionally and video fish survey methods and data analyses.
• Experience with fieldwork and research cruises, especially in cold environments.
• Knowledge of ecological niche theory and food webs.
• Experience with teaching
• Experience with outreach, communication, and social media content creation
• Knowledge of Norwegian or a Scandinavian language

Skills

DNA extraction

PCR/qPCR

eDNA sampling

Bioinformatics

Statistics

Fishes taxonomy

English proficiency

Fieldwork

Lab cleanliness

Teaching interest

Outreach content

Norwegian language

Education

Master’s degree in molecular ecology

Integrated master’s degree (300 ECTS)

Tools

Bioinformatics tools

Statistical software

Job description

Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics

Organisation/Company UiT The Arctic University of Norway Department Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics Research Field Environmental science » Ecology Biological sciences » Biology Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 9 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Oslo) Country Norway Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 37,5 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The position

The Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) is searching for a PhD Fellow to study the molecular ecology of fishes and other communities in the Artic Ocean as a contribution to the national flagship project Arctic Ocean 2050 . The candidate will be part of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG).

The position is for a period of four years. The nominal length of the PhD programme is three years. The fourth year is distributed as 25 % each year and will consist of teaching and other duties. The objective of the position is to complete research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to the PhD programme is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the positionwithin a reasonable time after receiving the offer.

The project

The PhD project will focus on illuminating fish diversity and connectivity, overall biodiversity, and biological interactions using environmental DNA obtained from seawater, natural samplers, and communities, video surveys and conventional survey methods, from the Arctic Ocean. This frigid part of the world is undergoing dramatic changes due to the climate crisis, however, how fishes, and other communities, and the food webs are impacted by these changes is poorly studied.

The research could therefore additionally include categorizing assemblages of species and/or populations into groups of ecological traits and function and include the construction of molecular based food webs. The successful candidate will be working in the national flagship project Arctic Ocean 2050. The teaching will be related to the thematic areas of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG), primarily within a course in Fish Biology and in a new course in Aquatic Molecular Ecology.

The successful candidate will become a member of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG) and will be included in the research, the career development programme, and social activities of the research group.
The candidate will be working with the RGG and Arctic Ocean 2050 team of scientists, PhD students and technical staff with highly cross-disciplinary competence. The applicant should be able to work independently as well as in a team.

Qualifications

Required qualifications:

• A master’s degree or equivalent by the time of employment in molecular ecology, molecular biology, or genetics within a topic relevant to the position
• Documented experience with DNA extraction from either tissues, communities, and/or environmental samples
• Documented experience with PCR and/or qPCR
• Documented experience with either bioinformatic or statistical analysis of DNA sequence data
• Knowledge of taxonomy of fishes and other marine aquatic taxa
• Documented knowledge of English
• Experience in collecting and handling eDNA and community samples
• Experience with working in clean lab environments
• Experience with metabarcoding and/or shotgun sequencing approaches and analysis of such data
• Experience with conventional and video fish survey methods and data analyses
• Experience with fieldwork and research cruises, especially in cold environments
• Knowledge of, or experience with, ecological niche theory and foodwebs
• Experience and interest in teaching
• Experience with outreach, communication, and social media content creation
• Knowledge of Norwegian or a Scandinavian language

In the assessment, the emphasis is on the applicant's potential to complete a research education based on the master's thesis or equivalent, and any other scientific work. In addition, other experience of significance for the completion of the doctoral programme may be given consideration.

Personal qualifications and suitability will be emphasized; the candidate’s personal qualifications should include excellent interpersonal and communication skills and an enthusiasm to work as a member of a collaborative research team.

As many as possible should have the opportunity to undertake organized research training. If you already hold a PhD or have equivalent competence, we will not appoint you to this position.

• Abachelor's degree of 180 ECTS and amaster's degree of 120 ECTS, oran integrated master's degree of 300 ECTS.
• Amaster's thesiswitha scope corresponding to at least 30 ECTSforamaster's degree of 120 ECTS.
• Amaster's thesiswithascope corresponding to at least20 ECTSforan integratedmaster's degree of 300 ECTS.

Grade requirements applies both to the master thesis as well as courses part of the master’s degree. The minimum requirements are grade B or better on the master’s degree, and an average grade of B or better on courses that are part of the master’s degree. For integrated master's degrees, applicants are required to have achieved a grade of B or higher on their master's thesis and an overall average grade of C or higher across all courses comprising the integrated degree programme. A more detailed description of admission requirements can be found here .

If you are employed in the position, you willbeprovisionally admittedto the PhD programme. Application forfinal admissionmust be submitted no later thantwo monthsafter taking up the position.

Applicants with a foreign education will be subjected to an evaluation of whether the educational background is equal to Norwegian higher education, following national guidelines from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills . Depending on which country the education is from, one or two additional years of university education may be required to fulfil admission requirements, e.g. a 4-year bachelor's degree and a 2-year master's degree. UiT normally accepts higher education from countries that are part of the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

Inclusion and diversity

UiT The Arctic University of Norway is working actively to promote equality, gender balance and diversity among employees and students, and to create an inclusive and safe working environment. We believe that inclusion and diversity are a strength, and we want employees with different competencies, professional experience, life experience and perspectives.

If you have a disability, a gap in your CV or immigrant background, we encourage you to tick the box for this in your application. If there are qualified applicants, we invite at least one in each group for an interview. If you get the job, we will adapt the working conditions if you need it. Apart from selecting the right candidates, we will only use the information for anonymous statistics.

We offer

• Involvement in an interesting research project
• A good academic environment with dedicated colleagues
• Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement
• Pension scheme through the state pension fund
• PhD Fellows are normally given a salary of 580 000 NOK/year with a 3% yearly increase

Norwegian health policy aims to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their personal finances and where they live, has access to good health and care services of equal standard. As an employee you will become member of the National Insurance Scheme which also include health care services.

Please note that the application will only be assessed based on the information submitted by the application deadline via Jobbnorge. It is therefore important that you include all necessary documents demonstrating your qualifications for the position.

Your application must include:

• Cover letter explaining your motivation and research interests
• CV
• Official diplomasforBachelor's andMaster's degree in the original language
• Official transcripts of grades/academic record forBachelor's andMaster's degree in the original language
• Official translation of diplomas and transcripts of records (ToR) to English or a Scandinavian language, if applicable
• Explanation of the grading system for foreign education(Diploma Supplement if available)
• Master’sthesis, and any other academic works

Qualification with a master’s degree is required before commencement in the position. If you are near completion of your master’s degree, you may still apply and submit a draft version of the thesis and a statement from your supervisor or institution indicating when the degree will be obtained. You must still submit your transcript of grades for the master’s degree with your application.

All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. If English proficiency is not documented in the application, it must be documented before starting in the position.

Assessment

The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. The committee's mandate is to undertake an assessment of the applicants' qualifications based on the written material presented by the applicants, and the detailed description draw up for the position. A copy of the assessment report will be sent to all applicants.

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

Generalinformation

The appointment is made in accordance with State regulations and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants .

Remuneration for the position of PhDFellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code1017.A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. You will become a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, which gives you many benefits in addition to a lifelong pension: You may be entitled to financial support if you become ill or disabled, your family may be entitled to financial support when you die, you become insured against occupational injury or occupational disease, and you can get good terms on a mortgage. Read more about your employee benefits at: spk.no .

A shorter period of appointment may be decided when the PhDFellowhas already completed parts of their research training programmeor when the appointment is based on a previous qualifying position PhDFellow, research assistant, or the like in such a way that the total time used for researchtraining amounts to three years.

We process personal data given in an application or CV in accordance with the Personal Data Act (Offentleglova). AccordingtothePersonal Data Actinformation about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure. You will receive advance notification in the event of such publication, if you have requested non-disclosure.

In case of discrepancies between the Norwegian and the English version of this description, the Norwegian version takes precedence.

Eallju - Developing the High North

UiT The Arctic University of Norway is a multi-campus research university and the northernmost university of the world. Our central location in the High North, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio, and our interdisciplinary qualities make us uniquely suited to meet the challenges of the future. At UiT you can explore global issues from a close-up perspective.
Credibility, academic freedom, closeness, creativity and commitment shall be hallmarks of the relationship between our employees, between our employees and our students and between UiT and our partners.
The Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) consists of Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NFH) and School of Business and Economics.

The main task of BFE is to conduct teaching and research dissemination at a high national and international level within all relevant fields. Prioritized research areas are aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, climate, life in the arctic, marine bioprospecting, fish health, seafood products, business and macroeconomics, resources and environment, markets and management of marine resources. The interdisciplinary profile of the faculty provides good opportunity to develop research projects involving several research groups at the faculty according to its strategy.

Number of offers available 1 Company/Institute Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics Country Norway Geofield