MSCA SEAS postdoctoral fellow in early human adaptation to shifting coastlines in southern Africa

UiB - Knowledge that shapes society

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Thematic area and supervisor

The position is connected to the theme: The effects of shifting coastlines on early human cognition and behaviour in southern Africa.

The position is open to an incoming candidate, see mobility rules.

The successful candidate will be employed at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion and included in the SapienCE Centre of Excellence on Early Sapiens Behaviour.

Information about the Centre and research possibilities for the fellow is available here. For further details about the research and supervision possibilities please contact Researcher Karen van Niekerk.

Upon contact van Niekerk will direct interested persons to relevant potential supervisors who will be able to offer advice towards the development of a research proposal.

About the SEAS fellowship programme

Shaping European Research Leaders for Marine Sustainability (SEAS) is a postdoctoral research fellowship programme for 37 fellows launched and managed by the University of Bergen. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101034309.

In this third call, open April 1 – June 12*, 2023, we invite talented experienced researchers to apply for 6 fellowships. Successful candidates will be employed in fixed-term fulltime postdoctoral research fellow positions at UiB.

*) Extended deadline for this position until September 5, 2023

The SEAS programme offers

• high-quality inter- and transdisciplinary research and training opportunities in the area of marine sustainability supported by a supervision and inter-sectoral mentoring scheme
• opportunity to transfer knowledge and skills between disciplines, organisations and sectors
• a regional ecosystem of marine actors
• structured skill-based training
• high-quality working conditions
• personal career support
• academic freedom
• equal opportunities

For more information see the SEAS webpage or send an email to seas@uib.no.

SEAS eligibility criteria and application requirements

Eligible applicants will be evaluated on transparent evaluation criteria by international experts. No restrictions by nationality, age, gender, ethnicity, disability/special needs, or social status will apply. To be considered eligible for academic review, applications must adhere to the following programme requirements:

• The research proposal must be relevant to marine sustainability.
• Applicants must hold a PhD degree in a relevant field prior to the application deadline or alternatively document that the thesis has been defended successfully, or that the dissertation is currently being evaluated by the PhD evaluation body of their academic institution. It is a condition of employment that the PhD must have been awarded.
• Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB.
• Applications must be submitted through the Jobbnorge portal and include all mandatory elements (see below). Applications via email will not be accepted.
• Applicants must have a high degree of proficiency in English (self-assessed in the CV and demonstrated in the application).
• SEAS mobility rules.
• Outgoing fellowships require a continuous stay in the outgoing host country of minimum 18 and maximum 24 months.
• The application and relevant documents must be in English.

Evaluation

We anticipate the whole evaluation procedure to take approximately 4 months from application deadline. Eligible applicants will be evaluated by three international experts and assessed against criteria addressing excellence, impact, implementation, quality of the researcher and training, knowledge transfer, and networking opportunities. Details are stated in the Guide for applicants.

Employment conditions/offers for SEAS fellows

• Fixed-term 3-year contract as a postdoctoral research fellow at UiB.
• Salary according to position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 573 900 (approx. € 55.800 depending on exchange rate) (equivalent to pay grade 62) upon appointment. Further increases in salary are made according to length of service in the position.
• Welfare benefits* and social benefits including pension-saving, occupational injury insurance, full salary during sick leave for 52 weeks, and paid parental leave**.
• Extension of the position term (work contract) due to sick leave and parental leave.
• Norwegian language courses free of charge.
• High standards for working hours, holidays, place of work, health, and safety.
• Access to specific training activities exclusively provided within the framework of the SEAS programme.
• An individual research budget of minimum € 300 per month for 3 years is guaranteed, and an additional € 300 per month can be applied for, for activities such as secondment, travels, joint events, etc.
• Outgoing fellows will receive full coverage of travel costs for attending the mandatory gatherings (in compliance with UiB-routines for travel procurement and reimbursement).

*) Subject to membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. For non-EU outgoing fellows, individual benefit agreement must be considered.

**) Right to paid parental leave requires 6 months paid work before first day of leave. See full requirements.

About the postdoctoral fellowship

The primary objective of the postdoctoral position is to qualify the appointee for work in top academic positions. Teaching and/or other qualifying duties might be included if the appointee lacks such experience. The UiB-contract may, under certain conditions, be extended by up to one year if a fellow acquires sufficient funding from other sources than SEAS.

For all SEAS fellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) is to be developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 2 of the fellowship, including a plan for the individual research budget, and information on additional funding where applicable.

If selected, you must be able to take up the position within four months after receiving the offer unless another concrete start date is approved by the SEAS-administration. Before applying we recommend you familiarise yourself with current visa and work permit regulations for Norway (incoming candidates) or other host country (for outgoing candidates).

How to apply

The application process for these prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowships requires a close dialogue with the named supervisor(s) or contact(s) who, close to the deadline, must sign a supervisor match declaration if an application is to be eligible.

Before starting the online application process, please familiarise yourself carefully with our application requirements in the Guide for Applicants. It is essential that all required attachments (see next section) are uploaded via our electronic recruiting system JobbNorge. Before uploading any documents in the portal (to minimise repetition of information):

• In the ‘JobbNorge-application field’: Only write your name.
• In the ‘JobbNorge-CV form’: Only fill in your 1) personal details, 2) information about your PhD-degree (in the field ‘Academic qualifications’) and 3) recent relevant work experience.
• You do not need to fill in any other sections in the JobbNorge form, as all the information we need will be provided by you when attaching the mandatory elements listed in the next section.

Elements to be attached when submitting

The following elements or documents are to be attached in separate files. Total amount of pages must not exeed 350. For documents 1-7 you must download and use SEAS templates found in the Guide for applicants. Submit all attachments with your name in the file name (e.g., surname_name_att1).

1. Mobility declaration (including documentation of country of residence last 3 years, e.g., work contract, rental contract, tax slips) (Att. 1).
2. Research proposal (Att. 2).
3. Ethics and security issues: self-assessment form (Att. 3).
4. Motivation letter (Att 4).
5. CV including list of publications (Att. 5).
6. For both incoming and outgoing fellowships: Supervisor match declaration (signed) (Att. 6).
7. Only for outgoing fellowships: Match declaration signed by outgoing host institution (Att. 7).
8. PhD diploma, or an official statement that verifies that you have defended your thesis successfully or that it is currently under assessment by your academic institution.
9. Any relevant publications (do not include entire thesis/book chapters etc).
10. Letters of recommendation from the graduating university or previous employers are encouraged but not mandatory.

If you apply for more than one of the SEAS postdoctoral research positions, you must send separate applications.