4 Fully Funded PhD Scholarships for international students at University of Bergen/ Study in Norway without IELTS

The candidate will work in the research group in space physics focusing on particle precipitation. The group explores how energetic particle precipitation can affect the chemistry and dynamics of the neutral atmosphere in the polar region. Energetic electrons and protons, trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field, can collide with gases in the atmosphere. These collisions initiate several chemical reactions leading to the production of NOx and HOx gases, which in turn can reduce the ozone concentration. Ozone is important in the energy budget at these altitudes. Hence changing the concentration of ozone at 50 km affects temperature, winds, and wave propagation in complex feedback loops. The project seeks to study how the impact of energetic electron precipitation depends on the atmospheric state. The middle atmosphere has cooled and mean meridional circulation has accelerated in recent decades resulting from climate change. The pathways how this can influence the responses related to particle precipitation is still largely unknown. The work will involve use of chemistry-climate model WACCM. This is a unique opportunity to work in a challenging and cross-disciplinary project which will enhance our understanding on how the Earth’s atmosphere is linked to space.

Requirements: the following requirements must be met by the successful candidate:

• Applicants must hold a master's degree or equivalent education in space physics or atmospheric physics or a related field. Master students can apply provided they complete their final master exam before 01.07.2024. It is a condition of employment that the master's degree has been awarded.

• Documented good knowledge of and experience in one or more of these areas is a requirement:

• high latitudinal aeronomy (chemistry and/or dynamics)

• processes influencing energetic particle precipitation into the atmosphere

• statistical methods for handling complex data  

•  Experience from data analysis using scientific programming, e.g., Matlab or Python, is a requirement.

• Experience from following is considered an advantage:

• knowledge about Matlab

• familiarity with chemistry-climate models (WACCM) or atmospheric reanalysis data (e.g. ERA5)

• familiarity of energetic particle precipitation and its atmospheric effects

• familiarity with statistical methods

• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner and demonstrate good collaborative skills.

• Applicants must be proficient in both written and oral English.

Application Deadline: 1st June 2024

The PhD project will address different aspects of microbial ecology and evolution. In particular, working with laboratory experiments and computer simulations, the candidate will investigate mechanisms regulating biodiversity and food web functions. Possible research foci include virus-host interaction dynamics and co-evolution under different environmental conditions, as well as analyses of natural microbial communities and change in dominant taxa under varying conditions. RAS (resirculating aquaculture systems) facilities may be used. Central to the research project will be to address the role of life strategy trade-offs in structuring microbial communities. The candidate will be responsible to design and execute a research plan with support from supervisors and technical staff.

A good candidate will fulfil most of the following points:

• Applicants must hold a master's degree or equivalent education in biology or must have submitted his/her master's thesis for assessment prior to the application deadline. It is a condition of employment that the master's degree has been awarded.

• Experience from or competence in molecular biology and microbiology is a requirement.

• Programming skills and experience with computational biology is a requirement.

• Experience with or competence within laboratory work is a requirement.

• Interest in microbial communities, biodiversity and mechanisms underlying ecology and evolution is advantageous.

• Experience with or competence within culturing microbes is an advantage.

• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner and demonstrate good collaborative skills.

• Applicants must be proficient in both written and oral English.

Application deadline: 1st June 2024 

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to join our research team in WP5 on Norwegian Language Technologies. As a PhD researcher, you will work at the forefront of responsible media technologies, exploring innovative approaches to generate news content using advanced language technology methods. This position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to innovative research and make a meaningful impact in the field. The primary task of this position will be to develop novel techniques for generating Norwegian news articles. This involves creating resources that adapt lexical, grammatical, and stylistic choices based on various parameters, including user profiles, cognitive accessibility, media characteristics (such as screen size), and journalistic formats. We are also interested in exploring how news content can be versioned and adapted dynamically. This includes tailoring news articles to different user preferences and user segments, ensuring readability, and optimizing content delivery across various platforms. We envision the use of generative large language models in solving this task. We expect that the candidate will explore how these models can be fine-tuned for news generation while maintaining ethical and responsible practices. The position also offers the opportunity to collaborate with industry partners and gather domain-specific datasets. This real-world collaboration will enhance the relevance and impact of the produced research.

Your required qualifications and skills are:

• The applicant must hold a Norwegian master’s degree or an equivalent foreign master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computational Linguistics, Language Technology, Computer Science with a specialization in NLP or machine learning, or equivalent.

• Good programming skills in Python.

• Previous experience with neural approaches and particularly generative language models is an advantage.

• Experience from relevant scientific work (e.g., previous conference and journal publications) is an advantage.

• As an applicant you should have an excellent written and spoken command of English.

• Proficiency in both written and oral Norwegian is an important advantage, but not a requirement.

• We seek applicants who can work independently, maintain structure, collaborate effectively, and exhibit enthusiasm for research. Personal qualities and relational skills are highly valued, alongside an assessment of ambitions and potential.

Application Deadline: 25th May 2024