Job description

A Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (SKO 1352) in Multilingualism is available at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellowship is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and is associated with the project Indigenous Language Resilience: From learners to speakers (SPEAKERS). The candidate is expected to propose a research project closely connected to the main project.

Through a comparative analysis of Sápmi and three additional cases, the SPEAKERS project investigates why and how some learners transition from learners to speakers of Indigenous or minoritized languages. In many Indigenous contexts schools are key arenas for language revitalisation; the goal of SPEAKERS is to gain a deeper understanding of what happens after students leave school. The project aims to identify and investigate key life moments or mudes that facilitate or trigger the transition from learner to speaker, compare the impact and interaction of key social environmental factors on speaker resilience, and investigate inherent tensions in language reclamation processes and how learners and speakers attempt to solve such tensions.

The postdoctoral fellow will lead one of the comparative cases, and work with other project team members on cross-case comparative analysis. The location of this case is open, and the postdoctoral fellow is encouraged to propose an individual project that builds on their previous work, while also contributing to the larger comparative project. We will consider cases relating to any minoritized language, but the project proposal must make clear how this case could inform the SPEAKERS project as a whole. The applicant must have expertise in one or more of the following disciplines: sociolinguistics, linguistics, linguistic or social anthropology, applied linguistics, education, multilingualism, and/ or Indigenous studies. Experience with fieldwork is highly desirable.  

The position is available for a period of 2 years. For postdoctoral fellows funded by the RCN, it is possible to apply for funding for research stay abroad and for funding for an extension of the fellowship period for postdoctoral contract corresponding to the length of the stay abroad (minimum 3 and maximum 12 months). The extension is dependent on an individual application from the successful  candidate.  There is no teaching or supervision requirement in this position, however if the postdoctoral fellow wants to gain experience in teaching and supervision, we aim to provide this opportunity.

The successful candidate is expected to become part of the research environment/network of the department and contribute to its development. The main purpose of postdoctoral research fellowships is to qualify researchers for work in higher academic positions within their disciplines.

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Deadline for applications: 15 September