About the position

A position as Researcher in Natural Language Processing (NLP) is available in the Language Technology Group (LTG) within the Section for Machine Learning at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway.

Starting date no later than October 1st, 2026.

The appointment is for a fulltime position and for a period of 2 years.

Job description

The position forms part of the research project MORALCHANGE, a cross-disciplinary collaboration between social scientists and NLP researchers exploring how changes in moral values shape political discourse and cultural divides over time. The main focus of the announced position will be on fine-tuning and evaluating LLMs for text classification with respect to moral categories, based on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT). While the research project is coordinated by the Institute for Social Research (ISF), an independent research institute in Oslo, the announced position is located with the Language Technology Group at UiO.

We seek a highly motivated researcher with a strong track record in NLP. The ideal candidate should be able to demonstrate broad knowledge of deep neural architectures as applied to core NLP tasks. The position presupposes a PhD degree or equivalent in Natural Language Processing, or in Computer Science with a thesis that is clearly NLP-based.

LTG is an international and diverse group, where current prominent research activities include event extraction, sentiment analysis, and training and benchmarking of language models. The research profile of the group is heavily machine-learning oriented, and the group has access to excellent HPC infrastructure.

For more information about the Language Technology Group (LTG) at IFI, please see: http://www.mn.uio.no/ifi/english/research/groups/ltg/

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:

The candidate must have a PhD degree (or other corresponding education equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree) in Natural Language Processing, or in Computer Science with a dissertation that is clearly NLP-based
The doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the closing date. Only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defence are eligible for appointment
Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
Demonstrated research excellence in NLP, evidenced by publications in top tier peer reviewed NLP conferences or journals
The candidate must be able to demonstrate broad knowledge of core NLP tasks
The candidate must have comprehensive knowledge of contemporary neural machine learning techniques and architectures in NLP, both in terms of theoretical understanding and practical experience, including fine-tuning of Large Language Models (LLMs)
Strong programming skills and implementation experience

Desired qualifications:

Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments is an advantage
Previous modeling experience for relevant tasks will be an advantage
Previous experience with interdisciplinary collaboration at the intersection of computational social science and NLP will be an advantage
Proficiency in a Scandinavian language is an advantage, though not a requirement

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:

We seek highly motivated candidates who:

Are open-minded and scientifically curious
Can work independently and contribute constructively to interdisciplinary teams, including collaborating across disciplines and communicating results to diverse audiences
Demonstrate strong analytical and problem solving abilities
Have excellent written and verbal communication skills
Are positive and resilient, and value inclusive teamwork and collegiality

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

We can offer you

Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
Committed colleagues in a good working 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.
Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
Salary in position as Researcher, position code 1109 in salary range NOK from 595 000 - to 695 000, 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, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
Letters of recommendation
A complete list of publications and up to 5 academic works 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".

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.

Formal regulations

The best qualified candidates will be invited for interviews.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and 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.

Please see Rules for the use of research posts SKO 1108, 1109, 1110 and 1183 at UiO.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.