Two PhD fellowships are available at the PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo (UiO). The PhD fellows will be working in the European Social Science Genetics Network (ESSGN). The PhD fellows at UiO will working on integrating genetic and social science approaches to study intergenerational transmission of educational performance and school variation in genetic and environmental effects under supervision of professors Eivind Ystrom, Alexandra Havdahl, and two professors from European institutions in the ESSGN.

The PhD fellowships at UiO are directed at rendering a new understanding of: 1) how education is transmitted across generations by modeling genome-wide parental indirect genetic effects. 2) The interactions between genetic potential, school-wide factors, and specific characteristics of schools that are optimal for children’s psychological development.

The ESSGN PhD fellows at UiO will use data from Norwegians since 1940 (n=8 400 000) with registries giving genealogy and year-by-year event data on place of residence, indicators of socioeconomic status (SES), and educational performance. ESSGN at UiO combines this with a population-based cohort study comprising genotyping of families (n=240 000 in 110 000 families) and a wide array of survey data. An approach combining intergenerational, temporal, locational, genetic, and individual levels of inference will allow the PhD fellows to do novel studies on the gene-environment interplay for academic outcomes.

The two positions will be a part of a total of 13 PhD studentships in Social Science Genetics across eight European Universities that constitute the European Social Science Genetics Network (ESSGN). The Doctoral Network is funded by the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and includes: Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL), University of Bologna (IT), University of Bielefeld (DE), University of Bristol (UK), University of Oslo (NO), University of Oxford (UK), University of Uppsala (SE), and VU University Amsterdam (NL). We invite applications from eligible students for studentships that commence in the fall of 2023.

For more information, eligibility, and how to apply: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/234711/the-european-social-science-genetics-network-essgn-two-marie-skodowska-curie-actions-doctoral-positions