The Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo is the largest of its kind in Norway with approximately 150 employees engaged in research, teaching, curating collections and popularizing the sciences of botany, mycology, zoology, paleontology and geology.

More about the position

The technical assistant will be part of the recently funded Artsdatabanken-project “MeioSkag - Meiofauna and interstitial fauna of four lophotrochozoan groups of the Skagerrak”.
A substantial part of marine biodiversity occurs in the space between the sand grains, gravel, and stones of sediments, the marine interstitium.
This biodiversity is also known as meio- or interstitial fauna and such species are part of most animal phyla.
They are a crucial link in the ecosystem between the bioproduction and consumption of microfauna such as bacteria and protists to the macrofauna such as larger worms, snails, mussels and eventually fish and other vertebrates at top level of ecological networks.
Despite this the knowledge about their taxonomy, distribution and ecology is at best poor both globally and in Norway and in dire need of improvement.
Records are often only down to the phylum to family level and rarely the genus or even species level.
Additionally, many have unresolved taxonomic issues including cryptic species.

In this project, we will conduct a field inventory and collect species of such taxa in Norway.
Given the vastness of this huge knowledge gap; we will target meiofaunal and interstitial species of Gastrotricha, Gnathostomulida, four Platyhelminthes orders and 10 Annelida families.
Globally these taxa comprise about 3,700 species with 31 species documented in Norwegian databases.

Moreover, we will concentrate on the Norwegian coastline of the Skagerrak from the foot of the dunes to a depth of 50m.
With morphological and molecular methods, we will determine species and learn more about their distribution (including published reports) and their association with Norwegian nature types and different sediment types.
Therefore, we also want to digitize records from existing literature, which is not reflected in databases like Artskart.
Through the planned project, we will contribute to basic biosystematics and species distribution research in general, and more specifically, we will provide much needed baseline data for nature conservation management actions for this important part of biodiversity, which is entirely lacking at present for both Norway and globally.

The Natural History Museum has a modern DNA laboratory as well as microscopic infrastructure needed for the project.
The position will be associated with the “Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics” research group, specifically Torsten Struck (Professor of Evolutionary Genomics and head of the group).

Work tasks

• Identification of specimens from different taxonomic groups of this project to the species level
• Morphological documentation of the species by photography
• Cataloguing and curation of species for the scientific collections
• Generation of DNA barcodes for the different species
• Compilation of results into reports

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a Bachelor's degree or equivalent in biology. Relevant work experience related to the specific tasks of the position may replace the educational requirement
• Experience in working with meiofaunal or interstitial species and with molecular-biological methods
• Proficiency in both written and oral English
• Driver’s license (category B)

You must have the availability to travel for field work around the Norwegian coastline of the Skagerrak.
It is also important that you have the capacity to work independently.

It is an advantage if you have :

• Work experience in a museum including photography and curation of collection material
• Experience with previous Artsdatabanken projects

• Working knowledge of a Scandinavian language and an interest to develop skills in written and oral Norwegian

We offer

• Salary based on salary level of NOK 548 600 - 584 500 per year depending on qualifications in a position as Principal Engineer, position code 1085
• A friendly working environment, which is close to both the city center of Oslo, a vibrant and international city, which is nice to live in, and to nature parks and mountains
• Full funding of the project-related activities, including molecular lab work and participation on field trips
• Training in the different animal groups including stays with some of our international cooperation partners
• Some flexibility with the arrangement of working hours
• Membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Attractive welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include:

• Application letter
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work, scientific publications and other relevant experience)
• Copies of educational certificates
• Names and contact details of two references (name, affiliation, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number).
  The references will be contacted if necessary.
  Letters of recommendation are therefore not required for the initial application.

The application with attachments is to be delivered in our electronic recruiting system Jobbnorge.

Please remember that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language.

The University of Oslo has an agreement regarding acquisition of rights to work results for all employees, with the aim to secure rights to research results, etc.

Formal regulations

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength.
The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition.Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.