About the position

We invite applications for a PhD Research Fellow position in Continuous Experience Recognition for Distributed Co-Creative Immersive Systems, available at the Department of Informatics as a member of the MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity.

Starting date no later than February 2, 2027.

The fellowship period is three years.

A fourth year maybe considered and it will involve 25 percent of other career-promoting work. Other career-promoting work may consist of teaching, supervision, and/or research assistance. This is dependent upon the qualification of the applicant and the current needs of the department.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

Job description

The position is part of MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity, which is a Norwegian AI centre funded by the Research Council of Norway (2025-2030). It comprises more than 200 faculty members from many higher education institutions in Norway, in collaboration with numerous public and private sector partners. The primary objective of MishMash is to create, explore, and reflect on AI for, through, and in creative practices. MishMash researchers will develop innovative CoCreative AI systems, investigate AI’s impact on creative processes, educational strategies, and address AI’s ethical, cultural, legal, and societal implications in creative domains. See mishmash.no for more information. In addition, this PhD candidate will be able to participate and exploit synergies with the RCN-funded DRIVE project on brain-driven multi-sensory robotic avatars for remote collaborative physical work.

The PhD fellowship position is located at the University of Oslo’s Department of Informatics (IFI) and is hosted by the Network and Distributed Systems Research Group (ND) with co-supervision from IFI’s Machine Learning section and the University of Inland Norway’s research group for User Perception and Engagement in XR Experiences. ND conducts research in networks and distributed systems of all scales, multimedia and AR/VR/XR systems, robotics and machine learning, advancing general and fundamental scientific knowledge driven by specific applications.

The successful candidate will join ND’s the Sustainable Immersive Networking Lab (SINLAB), a multidisciplinary team working on systems that enable users to become immersed in remote physical environments, observe them, move in them, and physically act in them, and experience the effects of their actions through multimodal feedback (audio, video, haptics). SINLAB conducts holistic research on distributed, real-time interactive and immersive systems, in particular on enabling a first-person presence in remote, augmented and virtual spaces. We work on overcoming the challenges of limited temporal and spatial accuracy of such remote interactions. We pay particular attention to the exploration of potential and limitations arising from the use of AI-based methods in predictive feedback.

The successful candidate will:

explore how a combination of multimodal observation (audio, video, LIDAR, thermal vision) and physiological measurements (motion tracking, eye tracking, EMG, BCI, EDA, HRV) can be used to continuously assess the human experience of interaction quality, and
how this assessment can be fed back into the AI-based predictor to tune its behaviour in real-time for a highly personalized and context-dependent experience.

This research will be conducted in collaboration with partners of the MishMash center. Specific applications in which the candidate will explore are (1) multimodal first-person presence in a remote environment through a robot, and (2) the co-creative collaboration between an embodied AI and one or more human musicians. Additionally, applicability to situational awareness and high-level control in control centers will be considered.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Required qualifications:

Master’s degree or equivalent in informatics, computer science/engineering, mathematics, music/media technology, electrical/electronic engineering, cybernetics, robotics or other field relevant for the position
Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
Documented experience with designing and conducting user experience studies and quantitative performance evaluation
Documented experience in the system performance evaluation of computer systems and networks for interactive applications, preferably with AR/VR/XR, robotics, haptics, multimodal or multimedia systems. Directly relevant areas are preferable
Documented hands-on experience with machine learning methods, in particular for time series data
Documented hands-on programming experience
Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
Candidates without a master’s degree have until 31.12.2026 to complete the final exam.

Desired qualifications:

It is a strong advantage to have command of a Scandinavian language due to the collaborative nature of the MishMash center
Documented experience in computer networks and/or distributed systems is a strong advantage
It is an advantage to be knowledgeable in non-AI statistics and mathematical modeling
It is an advantage if the applicant has developed working systems, prototypes, or emulators
It is an advantage if the applicant has developed software in fields such as AR/VR/XR, robotics, haptics, multimedia systems or computer games requiring hand-eye-coordination
It is an advantage to have experience in AI-based time-series analysis, spatio-temporal prediction or situational awareness
It is an advantage to have experience with scientific writing and publication

Language requirement:

Good oral and written communication skills in English
English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements:
https://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html#toc8

Grade requirements:
The norm is as follows:

The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system

For more information see:

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

What are we looking for in you?

Personal skills:

Be comfortable and capable working in an open, interactive, collaborative work environment
An interest in collaborating beyond one’s own research discipline
The social responsibility and ethical awareness required to design, organize, and conduct user studies
Good communication and collaboration skills
A positive attitude and the ability to handle hectic periods
Prefer to be present at the workplace and actively contribute to the professional and social environment of SINLAB and MishMash

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We can offer you

A pleasant and stimulating work environment
Good welfare schemes
Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours
A workplace with good development and career opportunities
Career development programmes
Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
Salary in position as PhD Research Fellow, position code 1017 in salary range NOK from 550 800 - 595 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

How to apply

The application must include:

Cover letter - statement of motivation and research interests
CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
Copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma and transcripts of records
Letters of recommendation
Documentation of English proficiency if applicable
List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job".
Foreign applicants should attach an official explanation of their University's grading system.

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian), Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian) and Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo.

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.

PhD Research Fellow-Continuous Experience Recognition for Distributed Co-creative Immersive Systems