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Call for Expressions of Interest: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow in Professions, Expertise, Education, and Policy

Call for Expressions of Interest for a joint application under the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme – Call: MSCA-PF-2025

The position of professions in society is changing. Today, most professional work takes place in organizational settings of public services or private sector firms, and the increasing complexity of professional tasks requires problem-solving across disciplinary and professional boundaries, as well as stakeholder involvement and civic participation. Meanwhile, in many countries, there is an increasing distrust of experts and expertise. Technical developments such as AI are also profoundly changing professions, a process that will only accelerate in the years ahead. Professional education must adapt to these and other changes, and in a rapidly changing society, it must somehow prepare professionals for tasks and roles that are yet unknown. Arguably, innovative cross-disciplinary research on professions and professional education has never been more important.

With this as background, the Centre for the Study of Professions at OsloMet invites interested and eligible researchers of any nationality to submit a project idea for a potential application for an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (call HORIZON-MSCA-PF-2025) to conduct innovative research on professions at the Centre for a period of two years. Eligible candidates have a PhD successfully defended by the submission deadline (10 September 2025), a maximum of 8 years research experience after the PhD, are able to relocate to Norway for the fellowship, and have not resided in Norway for more than 12 months during the last three years.

The Centre for the Study of Professions

The Centre for the Study of Professions (SPS) is a leading Nordic multidisciplinary centre devoted to research and doctoral training in topics such as expertise, professions, education, work, and policy. It houses an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and political science. The Centre is currently home to 14 permanent academic staff, 3 postdocs, 20–30 doctoral fellows and a number of affiliated/visiting professors, supported by a dedicated team of administrative staff and research assistants. We are located on OsloMet’s main campus in central Oslo.

The study of professions is an intrinsically inter- and multidisciplinary field of research, characterised by theoretical and methodological diversity and comparative approaches. The Centre combines empirical research with investigations of theoretical and ethical issues in various professional domains. Topics for our research on professions include: career paths and the labour market, recruitment to education, professional education as a source of identity and qualifications, the role of professions in the design and implementation of policy, professional ethics, digitalization and AI, and the exercise of professional discretion. We study both features common to all professions and those specific to individual professional domains. The Centre has a particular ambition to disseminate policy-oriented research, which is often relevant to a broad range of actors, including professionals, public authorities, NGOs, and citizens.

The Centre has four research groups, each with its own specific areas of interest:

Professional knowledge and qualification

Expertise, ethics and public policy

Professional practice and interaction

Professional careers and labour markets

Our research groups have extensive formal and informal links with researchers in other faculties and centres at OsloMet and at other institutions, both in Norway and internationally. The following are some of our recent and ongoing research projects:

Automating Technologies and the Future of Meaningful Work

Renewed Perspectives on Research Use in Education (REPOSE)

The Authority of Expertise in Professional Tax Law Practice (TAXLAW)

Organising for Outcomes: Links between service integration and transitions to employment for citizens with complex service needs

Persistent Passion for Professional Education: Consequences for student completion and dropout (PERSIST)

The Centre welcomes expressions of interest from researchers whose project ideas fit within one of the research areas indicated above (see links for further information). Professions that can be studied include, but are not limited to, teaching, medicine, law, engineering, nursing, social work, the police, and the military. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches would be relevant, and comparative approaches (cross-sector, cross-institutional, cross-national, or other) are welcome, but not required.

In developing your project idea, please keep in mind that MSCA evaluators will want to see why the proposed research project is solid, timely and innovative, why you are the best qualified person to carry it out, and also why SPS is the perfect place for you to carry it out. For the latter, the relevant expertise of the Centre and supervisor will be important. If you are also able to show that Norway would be a particularly good location for conducting (much of) your research, even better.

Supervisors

MSCA grantees will be supervised by one of the following experienced faculty members at the Centre:

Professor Wilfried Admiraal

Professor Tone Alm Andreassen

Associate Professor Ida Drange

Associate Professor Andreas Eriksen

Professor Rachelle Esterhazy

Professor Håvard Helland

Professor Edmund Henden

Professor Hege Hermansen

Associate Professor Lars E. F. Johannessen

Professor Anne Birgitte Leseth

Professor Sølvi Mausethagen

Research Professor Jan Messel

Associate Professor Anders Strand

Professor Fredrik Thue

Please follow the links above for further information about the Centre for the Study of Professions, our research groups, and individual staff members.

We are looking for applicants who

Application and assessment process

Applicants who are successful in receiving EU funding must relocate to Oslo to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Professions for the duration of the project (c. 2026–2028).

Interested candidates must submit with their application the following documents:

The one-page project description should indicate how the proposed project fits with the Centre’s areas of focus. Candidates are also encouraged to identify which member(s) of staff they would prefer to work with.

All documents that you submit to OsloMet, including your proposal idea, will be handled in full confidentiality and in strict compliance with GDPR regulations.

Evaluation will be based on the applicant’s qualifications and project idea, including its fit with the Centre’s research areas and (one of) our faculty members’ research profile. Some candidates will be invited for a virtual interview. Please note that we may assess applications continuously and send some interview invitations prior to the deadline, but all applications submitted by the deadline will be assessed on equal terms. Based on the applications and interviews, a number of candidates may be invited to develop a full MSCA-PF application in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Professions.

Candidates who are invited to develop a full application will be expected to do so under the supervision of one of the Centre’s faculty members and with the support of the professional research administration staff at OsloMet. For these candidates, participation in OsloMet’s virtual masterclass on MSCA-PF 28–29 April is obligatory. This will be a two-day workshop with detailed, tailored and necessary instruction concerning the application process and template. Further cooperation on the proposal development will be done remotely in the period from April until the deadline in mid-September 2025, with regular online communication via email and virtual meeting platforms.

Employment at OsloMet (if the MSCA-PF application is successful)

MSCA-PF-2025 decisions will be announced by the EU in February 2026. To successful applicants who are awarded the MSCA-PF grant, we will offer:

We make active endeavours to further develop OsloMet as an inclusive workplace and to make adaptations to the workplace where required. You are welcome to apply even if you have had periods where you have not been in employment, education, or training. Any offer of employment is subject to 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.

Remuneration:

MSCA-PF fellowships are 100 % funded and include living and mobility allowances.

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 on  Oslomet’s website and on the website of EURAXESS Norway.

Contact

Questions may be directed to the individual supervisors listed above (follow the links for contact info), or to:

Application deadline: 3 March 2025

Reference number: 24/27975

OsloMet is a Charter & Code certified institution by the EU Commission holding the right to use the logo HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R). OsloMet is a member of the EURAXESS network supporting a positive work environment for researchers in motion.

OsloMet has signed The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). DORA recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated.

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. Candidates who are seen to be in conflict with the criteria in the latter law will not be considered for the position.

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