PhD Fellowship in Criminology - "HARZOTROPH" project

About the position

A PhD fellowship (SKO 1017) is available as part of the project (HARZOTROPH) "Denying harm? Neocolonial conservation through trophy hunting and zoos", funded by the Research Council of Norway. The appointee will be responsible for their own research and collaborate closely with project leader Ragnhild Sollund at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law. The project starts in autumn 2026, and the fellow will be part of an international project team.

The employment period lasts for three years without other career-advancing work, or four years with 25% other career-advancing work. Other career-advancing work will consist of teaching. A four-year employment period requires that the candidate can contribute to filling an unmet teaching need at the faculty.

PhD fellowships are recruitment positions and are intended to lead to a ph.d. degree at the Faculty of Law. It is required that the person appointed as a fellow qualifies for admission to the faculty's doctoral program. Read more about researcher education here .

The candidate is expected to be an active participant in, and contributor to, the research environment at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law and will be given the opportunity to participate in one of the many multidisciplinary research groups at the Faculty of Law.

More about the position

"Denying harm? Neocolonial conservation through trophy hunting and zoos (HARZOTROPH)" will explore the legitimacy of the trophy hunting industry and zoos as they appear through the industries' own descriptions of their activities, and as experienced by people who hunt for trophies and visit zoos.

HARZOTROPH will bring forth information from countries with different colonial histories and different occurrences of trophy hunters and zoos, and through various analytical approaches from criminology, sociology of law, social anthropology, and political science, investigate whether the arguments for trophy hunting and zoos are rooted in neocolonialism or whether a shift regarding animal rights can be traced.

Through qualitative methods such as ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, surveys in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the USA, and through literature reviews and content analysis of websites, HARZOTROPH will explore who benefits from trophy hunting and zoos; whether trophy hunting and the captivity of wild animals serve to protect species from extinction; or instead deplete countries of endangered species and primarily benefit commercial businesses.

A project description can be obtained by contacting the project leader (ragnhild.sollund@jus.uio.no).

The fellow's part of the project will thematically deal with and be linked to a work package on trophy hunting. The final description of the ph.d. project will be prepared in consultation with the project leader, Ragnhild Sollund, after the appointment.

In addition, active participation in the project group's projects is expected, including both digital and physical seminars and workshops, in collaboration with the international team.

The fellow is expected to:

• Within the employment period, have produced a dissertation deemed worthy of defense for the degree PhD.
• Assist the project leader with the academic implementation of project activities such as workshops and seminars.
• Participate in the dissemination of research results at national and international conferences.

Qualification requirements

The position requires a Norwegian five-year master's degree in sociology of law, criminology, or equivalent education approved by the faculty as a basis for admission.

Normally, the applicant should have grades that place them in the top tier of the field. This also applies to the master's thesis.

Good oral and written English skills are a requirement.

Knowledge of, and experience with, qualitative methods is a prerequisite.

Desired competence:

• Knowledge of Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language) is an advantage.
• Experience with, or interest in, green criminology and human-animal relations is an advantage.

Personal suitability:

• You must have good administrative skills.
• You must be able to work independently and in a structured manner.
• You should have good collaborative skills and show ability, will, and commitment to contributing to the development of the research field.
• You should be able to take initiative and want to participate actively in an international and interdisciplinary research team.

Assessment basis

The applicant must submit a project description of 5-7 pages outlining the research theme, its significance, and relevance to the development of criminology and/or sociology of law. The proposed project should combine theoretical and empirical ambitions with feasibility.

When assessing applicants, emphasis will be placed on the project description, grades, any previous written works, and the applicant's academic and personal prerequisites for conducting the project. It is assumed that the person appointed will be able to complete the project within the employment period.

The assessment is conducted by an assessment committee that performs a ranking based on the above criteria and interviews relevant candidates. In certain cases, a separate interview committee is appointed.

The faculty's appointing body makes the final decision on the appointment.

We offer

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important social mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promotes sustainable, just, and knowledge-based societal development.
• A pleasant and stimulating working environment.
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity for up to 1.5 hours per week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities.
• Membership in Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with favorable mortgage loans and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in a PhD fellowship position, position code 1017, in the salary range NOK 575,000 - 625,000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted as statutory contribution to Statens Pensjonskasse.

Read more about the benefits of working for the state in Arbeidsgiverportalen.

The application must include:

• A cover letter.
• CV (complete overview of education, previous positions, practice, academic work, and publications).
• A complete publication list.
• A project description of 5-7 pages about trophy hunting based on HARZOTROPH.
• Copies of diplomas with all grades included in the degree and certificates (if the original language of the diplomas/certificates is not English or a Scandinavian language, an English translation must be attached in addition to a copy of the original). Foreign diplomas must include official documentation regarding the grading system, along with the official grading scale.
• Up to 3 academic works, for example a master's thesis, articles, or other texts (published or under publication) can be attached to the application. If the works are written by multiple authors, the distribution of work between them must be documented with a co-author statement.
• Contact information for 2-3 references.

Applications with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge; click “Søk stillingen”.

When you apply for the position, we ask you to retrieve your educational results from Vitnemålsportalen.no . If your educational results are not available via Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your diplomas or transcripts. We point out that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and international broad university, and will be an inclusive and diverse workplace and place of study. Read more about UiO's work for equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no .

We fulfill our social mission best when we utilize our different experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We would like to have more good colleagues – perhaps the next one is you?

We will provide accommodations if you have a need for it. Relevant accommodation can, for example, be changes in working hours, adaptation of tasks, digital, technical, or physical accommodation, or other practical adjustments.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or gaps in your CV, we encourage you to check the box for this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified applicant from each group for an interview. A disability here refers to an applicant who states they have a disability that will require accommodation in the workplace or in working conditions. Read more about the requirements on Arbeidsgiverportalen .

The checkboxes in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state entities report in their annual reports.

More information about equality measures at UiO can be found here .

General information

Relevant applicants will be invited to an interview.

Applicant lists may be made public according to Offentleglova § 25, second paragraph. When you apply for a job 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 wish to be exempted from publication, and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we cannot, you will hear from us.

Please see Forskrift til universitets- og høyskoleloven , Retningslinjer for ansettelse i rekrutteringsstillinger ved UiO and Forskrift for graden philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) ved Universitetet i Oslo.

UiO has a takeover agreement for all employees with the purpose of securing the rights to research results, etc.