PhD Candidate in Children’s Media in English

About the position

The Department of Teacher Education, Section for English and Foreign Languages offers a full time, 3-year position as a PhD candidate to take part in the project “Affect, Identity, and Trauma in Contemporary Family Film” in cooperation with the research group CLEAR: Children’s Literature Education and Research. The project leaders are Dr Jade Dillon and Dr Alyssa Lowery.

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.  The successful candidate will contribute to the project with individual and collaborative research to explore the correlation of affect, identity, and trauma in contemporary family film. The candidate may consider pursuing any project that investigates how family film depicts emotional stimulus and displaced identities, including (but not limited to) generational trauma, emotional turmoil, pre- and pubescent growth.

The PhD candidate should pursue filmic examples and discuss how this is relevant in children’s emotional literacy and development. This research will contribute to the discourse of children’s media, EFL education, and child development and literacy.

The candidate will work closely with the Children’s Literature Education and Research group and contribute to seminars, workshops, and conferences. Research areas may include related topics such as diverse representation in children’s media, the selection and use of multimedia and popular texts in the classroom, the use of popular film to support critical media literacy skills, and ongoing shifts in sociocultural constructions of childhood and adolescence.

Your immediate leader will be the Head of Section for English and Foreign Languages. You can read more about the Department of Teacher Education and the sections here.

Duties of the position

  • Develop and carry out a PhD project on the topic “Affect, Identity, and Trauma in Contemporary Family Film”
  • Participation in Children’s Literature Education and Research group
  • Participation in interdisciplinary research and dissemination duties
  • Other duties may arise in discussion with the PhD supervisors

Required selection criteria

  • You must have a professionally relevant background in children’s literature, children’s media studies, critical literacy, and/or cultural studies
  • Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree programme, where 120 credits are obtained at master’s level 
  • You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master’s degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU’s grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education. 
  • You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty’s doctoral program

The appointment is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) 

Preferred selection criteria

  • Excellent reading and writing skills in English
  • Experience in critical research, children’s literature research, and/or children’s media
    studies
  • The proposed project’s academic quality and relevance to the research project “Affect, Identity and Trauma in Contemporary Family Film” and the research group CLEAR: Children’s Literature Education and Research

Personal characteristics

  • Ability to work independently
  • Collaborative skills and ability to participate in academic communities within and across disciplines
  • Academic ability to complete the project and research education requirements within the given time frame
  • Personal suitability and motivation for the position

We offer

Salary and conditions

PhD candidates are remunerated in code 1017, and are normally remunerated at gross from NOK 491 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Educational Sciences, Specialization Teaching Profession and School Research, within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that applications are only evaluated based on the information available on the application deadline. You should ensure that your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the criteria which are set out above. 

The application must include:

  • CV and certificates
  • Transcripts and diplomas for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you have not completed the master’s degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master’s thesis has been submitted. 
  • A copy of the master’s thesis. If you recently have submitted your master’s thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master’s degree must be presented before taking up the position. 
  • Individual research project proposal and progress plan of at least 2-3 pages, grounded firmly within the aims of the research group and relevant to the focus of the PhD position. 
  • If you have publications or other relevant research work (published or unpublished, up to 5 items) 
  • Name and contact information of three referees 

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor’s and master’s education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

Joint works will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint works, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is a strength. We want our faculty and staff to reflect Norway’s culturally diverse population and we continuously seek to hire the best minds. This enables NTNU to increase productivity and innovation, improve decision making processes, raise employee satisfaction, compete academically with global top-ranking institutions and carry out our social responsibilities within education and research. NTNU emphasizes accessibility and encourages qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender identity, ability status, periods of unemployment or ethnic and cultural background. 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

In accordance with The Public Information Act (Offentleglova), your name, age, position and municipality may be made public even if you have requested not to have your name entered on the list of applicants.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Jade Dillon (telephone +47 73592141, email jade.dillon@ntnu.no) or Alyssa Lowery (telephone +47 73592313, email alyssa.lowery@ntnu.no).

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Adviser Aaste Line Strand, e-mail: aaste.l.strand@ntnu.no.

Please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Diploma Supplement is required to attach for European Master Diplomas outside Norway. Chinese applicants are required to provide confirmation of Master Diploma from China Credentials Verification (CHSI).

If you are invited for interview you must include certified copies of transcripts and reference letters. Please refer to the application number SU-746 when applying.