PhD Research Fellow in History

• English
• Norsk Nynorsk

With about 17,000 students, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest higher education institutions in Norway. A broad range of academic programmes are offered at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels, spread out on five campuses Førde, Sogndal, Bergen, Stord og Haugesund.

Our ambition is to build stronger and more solid academic and research environments that will interact nationally and internationally. The aim is to become a recognized actor on the international higher education arena. Increased international cooperation and engagement in externally funded projects will work towards this goal.

The Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports has four departments with staff in Bergen, Sogndal and Stord. This Faculty is one of the largest teachers training institutions in the country with around 6 630 students and a staff of 553, offering kindergarten teacher training, primary and secondary school teacher training for Classes 1-7 and 5-10, practical pedagogical education and Bachelor’s, Master's and PhD programmes.

The faculty will offer an extensive programme of continuing and further education. Research activities at the Faculty are organised into research programmes and research groups.

About the position:

The Western Norway University of Applied Sciences invites applicants to a PhD research fellowship in history in connection with the research project "Like Islands in a Sea of Sand: Understanding the Silk Roads of Late Antiquity as a layered network model".

The PhD research fellowship is connected to the project “Like Islands in a Sea of Sand” (SilkRoMo), financed by the Norwegian Research Council. The SilkRoMo project aims to rethink the way we understand the Silk Roads. The Silk Roads are frequently held up as a prime example of ancient globalisation, envisioned as a vast system of trade routes and networks spanning across Eurasia since at least antiquity. Yet few systematic studies exist of how the Silk Roads network might have functioned in practice, and surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of the nodes in the network. The SilkRoMo project seeks to deepen our understanding of the Silk Roads by conducting a comparative study of four such cases, namely the kingdom of Kroraina (China), the kingdom of Kucha (China), the kingdom of Rob (Afghanistan), and the cities of Palmyra and Dura-Europos (Syria). By combining a detailed comparative study of places and polities along the Silk Roads with a new theoretical framework, the SilkRoMo project seeks to rethink the Silk Roads network and provide new insights to debates of early globalisation processes and ancient trade more generally.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact the project manager (see contact information below) for a detailed project description.
The PhD reseach fellow will be included in the PhD program at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Bergen (UiB). Interested applicants can find a description of the program, study plans, and admission requirements here .

The fellowship is for a fixed-term period of three years. The PhD position requires that the fellow has his/her regular workplace at the Western Norway University, campus Stord, and comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at all times.

The position is available from August 1st 2024.

The PhD research fellow will will develop their own research project within the framework of the SilkRoMo project, investigating a fifth case along the lines of the four primary cases in the project. The case to be selected should be a place or polity broadly in the area connected by the Silk Road network and should chronologically fit into the first millennium CE. The case must have a corpus of written sources comparable to the four primary cases of the SilkRoMo project and integrate the methodological and theoretical framework of the project. The fellow is free to select their own case though some suitable possibilities include: Dunhuang, Turfan or Khotan in the Tarim Basin, Mt. Mug and Panjikant in Sogdiana, and Oxyrhynchus or other papyri archives in Egypt. Interested applicants should feel free to contact the project manager with inquiries about the suitability of possible cases.

The Phd reseach fellow is also expected to actively contribute to the research environment at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

As a Phd reseach fellow, you will:  

• Conduct your own PhD project within the framework of the SilkRoMo project.
• Develop a digital database of the written sources from the PhD project’s case.
• Organize a SilkRoMo project workshop at campus Stord with an associated workshop for masterstudents in autumn 2026. Aid in the organizing of the project conference in Bergen in spring 2027.
• Get the opportunity to participate in a one-month research stay at the University of Kyoto, Japan, in spring 2025. The fellow is also encouraged to seek a longer period of research abroad, in particular at the SilkRoMo project’s partners in the UK and Japan.

In addition to finishing the PhD project it is expected that the Phd research fellow: 

• Contribute to the research group “Ancient Worlds” at the University of Bergen and relevant research groups at HVL.
•  Contribute to the dissemination activities of the SilkRoMo project, especially those aimed at an international audience.
•  Present your own research in various fora, including national and international scientific conferences and publications.

Project outline

The applicant must enclose a preliminary outline of their proposed research project with the application. The outline should be five pages and should introduce the proposed project’s research question, the material/data to be studied, as well as theoretical orientation and methodology, with full references to relevant literature. The preliminary outline will be used in the application process and by the selection committee. The selected applicant will be required to make a revised project outline in cooperation with the supervisors when applying to join the PhD program after commencing the fellowship.

• A five-year Master’s degree (3+2) in history, archeology, relevant languages, or other relevant disciplines.
• A high level of competency in English is required.
• Established competency in the language/languages of the primary source material is an advantage.

The fellow must be eligible for admission to the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Bergen:

• The applicant must have completed a five-year Master’s Degree or equivalent.
• Must have achieved high academic results:
  o Master’s thesis or equivalent: Grade B or higher.
  o Average for the study part of the master’s degree: Grade B or higher.

Applicants with an education from an institution with a grade scale other than A-F, and/or with other types of credits than sp/ECTS, must attach a conversion scale or similar transcript that shows how the grades can be compared with the Norwegian A-F scale and a Diploma Supplement or similar that explains the scope of the subjects that are included in the education.

Desired qualifications and attributes:

•  A demonstrated passion for global history and the dissemination of historical knowledge.
• The ability to work as part of a team and a desire to contribute to the SilkRoMo project.
• The professional and personal skills necessary for completing the doctoral degree within the allocated 3-year timeframe.
• The ability to work independently and in a structured manner.
• A high degree of awareness of the ethical implications of one’s research.

Further information about the PhD programme and the application process can be found here.
The application to the PhD programme is sent after the fellowship has been awarded. The applicant must be admitted to the PhD programme no later than 3 months after the fellowship has been awarded.  

Applications will be evaluated by an expert panel of three members.

Applicants are asked to submit their application and CV online. Please use the link “Apply for this job” (“Søk stillingen”).

The following documentation should be uploaded as an attachment to the online application:

• A project propposal
• Master Thesis
• Copies of selected academic publications (no more than 5)
• A CV with a complete list of academic publications
• Diplomas and certificates

Applicants with a degree from a country other than Norway, need to attach a certified translation of the diploma and transcripts of grades to English or a Scandinavian language, in addition to the original documents, if the original is not in any of these languages. The transcripts must specify the topics, the course works, and the grades at the bachelor`s and master`s degree levels.

It is required that the applicant encloses a recognition document showing that their degree is equivalent to a Norwegian bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or PhD. You can read more about applying for recognition of foreign higher education here.

The Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) offers an automatic recognition document for certain degrees from selected countries. If the applicant’s degree is covered by the automatic recognition, it will be sufficient to attach this document. Read more about automatic recognition here.

As the HK-dir application process may take some time it is recommended to apply to HK-dir as soon as possible. If you have not received a recognition document from HK- dir within the  application deadline, please enclose documentation from HK-dir showing that they have received your application.

Applicants should note that the evaluation will be based on the documentation submitted electronically via Jobbnorge within the submission deadline. The applicants are responsible for ensuring that all the documentation is submitted before the closing date. It is of utmost importance that all publications to be considered in the evaluation are uploaded as an attachment with the application, since these are sent electronically to the expert panel. Applications cannot be sent by e-mail or to individuals at the college.

• Good occupational pension, insurance and loan schemes from The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Exciting academic environment with the possibility of competence enhancement and development
• Opportunities for training within the working hours 

Initial salaries will be offered at grade 54 (code 1017) in the Civil Service pay grade table scale.

There is a compulsory 2 % deduction to the pension fund (see http://www.spk.no for more information). The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at any time.

The appointment will be made in accordance with the regulations for State employees Law in Norway ("Lov om statens ansatte)". Organizational changes and changes in the duties and responsibilities associated with the position must be expected.

State employment shall reflect the multiplicity of the population at large to the highest possible degree. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Bergen has therefore adopted a personnel policy objective to ensure that we achieve a balanced age and gender composition and the recruitment of persons of various ethnic backgrounds.

Information about the applicant may be made public even though the applicant has requested not to be named in the list of applicants. The applicant will be notified if his/her request is not respected.

Short-listed applicants will be called in for an interview.

Employed on condition that you are granted a work and residence permit (must be considered individually).

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is subjected to the regulation for export control system. The regulation will be applied in the processing of the applications. 

Project manager and primary supervisor, Tomas Larsen Høisæter, [email protected]

Homepage

Tomas Larsen Høisæter

Project manager and primary supervisor

[email protected]

24th April 2024

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Stord

Scope

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Fixed Term

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