PhD Candidate in Environmental Humanities, Language Education and Artificial Intelligence

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At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the job

The Department of Teacher Education, Section for English and Foreign Languages, offers a full-time, 3-year position as a Ph.D. candidate to take part in the project “Climate Change, Language Education, and AI” in cooperation with the research group on technology and learning in education: NTED-DIGIT. The project leaders are Associate Professor Tom Nurmi, Associate Professor Fredrik Mørk Røkenes, and Postdoctoral Researcher Han Han.

Although AI has the potential to be a tool in climate modeling and remediation efforts, its extractive resource and supply chain costs, e-waste pathways, and carbon footprint actively contribute to pollution and global warming. This project examines how language education can be a site of critical information literacy around environmental climate research and the cost/benefits of AI technologies. The “Climate Change, Language Education, and AI” project explores how AI ed-tech (e.g., text-to-image generators DALL-E/MidJourney) influences students’ epistemic beliefs about environmental climate research and (mis)information in English in the school while also investigating the pedagogical potential of current trends in AI-climate-related natural sciences and humanities projects (e.g., biodiversity monitoring, pollution detection, AI in eco-literature, etc.).

For a position as a Ph.D. candidate, the goal is to complete a doctoral education and obtain a doctoral degree. The Ph.D. candidate will be affiliated with the research group New Technologies and Educational Design (NTED-DIGIT) and connected to the group’s research activities (seminars, workshops, conferences, etc.). NTED-DIGIT’s main objectives are to:

• develop new knowledge about emerging technologies, formative design, and learning processes at all levels of education.
• investigate the use of information and communications technology for teaching and learning using diverse methodological approaches.
• explore the development of teachers’ professional digital competence across subject disciplines and educational contexts.
• identify the impact of digitalization on processes related to teaching and learning.

The successful candidate will contribute to the project with individual and collaborative research to explore AI’s influence on perspectives about controversial scientific topics, such as environmental climate research, which is an emerging area of research in language education that presents challenges and opportunities for students’ epistemic beliefs. The use of generative AI tools to generate and influence online information and manipulate perceptions is expanding, especially in English, thus increasing the importance of developing students’ critical literacy in language education. The successful candidate will contribute to the project with individual and collaborative research about how (mis)information in environmental climate research and artificial intelligence (AI) in language education in different language education contexts, including (but not limited to) primary and secondary school and teacher education. The candidate should pursue practices with emerging AI-powered technologies (for instance, popular science texts and resources about climate research influenced by content creation tools such as ChatGPT or DALL-E/MidJourney) and study how student knowledge is relevant to the design of language teaching. This research will contribute to the discourse of environmental humanities, language education, and AI technologies in education.

You will report to 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

• Complete a doctoral degree on the topic “Environmental Humanities, Language Education, and AI”
• Participate in the New Technologies and Educational Design research group
• Participate in interdisciplinary research and dissemination duties

Required selection criteria

• A professionally relevant background in English and/or foreign language education, environmental humanities, educational technologies, educational sciences, or teacher education
• Education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at the master's level. Documentation of degree must be presented before taking the position
• A strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent, equal to B or better on NTNU's grading scale. If there are no letter grades from previous studies, 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
• Meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program
• The proposed project should be closely connected to the topic and NTED-DIGIT’s research profile
• Excellent written and oral English language skills
  

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate 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

• Knowledge of a Scandinavian language
• Experience in educational research investigating environmental humanities topics, language learning, misinformation/source credibility and/or artificial intelligence technologies in educational contexts.
• Experience with mixed methods, interventionist, and/or multi-method research
• Knowledge about the Norwegian education system in general
• Teaching experience from higher education and/or the school is desirable

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 within the given time frame
• Communication skills
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 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 three years (without teaching duties).

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 program 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 there may be changes in the work area.

It is a prerequisite that you be present at and accessible to the institution on a daily basis.

About the application

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

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:

• Application letter with a statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interests, and a specification of how the proposed project connects to the research topic and the research group NTED-DIGIT
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience, and other qualifying activities)
• Certificates, transcripts, and diplomas for bachelor's- and master's- degrees or documentation of thesis submission
• Independent research project proposal of 5-8 pages (excluding list of references) and a progress plan (1 page), grounded firmly within the aims of the research group NTED-DIGIT and relevant to the focus of the Ph.D. candidate position
• If you have any publications or other relevant research work we would like you to include them – published or unpublished that you would like to be considered in the assessment (up to 5 items), a brief account of their scientific significance, and in case of co-authorship, a description of the applicant’s contribution to each publication
• References (list of 3 persons with name, title, email, and phone number)

If all or parts of your education have been taken abroad, we ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education. A description of the required documentation can be found here. If you already have a statement from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills - HK-dir (formerly 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 and The obligations in the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment ( CoARA) on responsible assessment of research and recognition of a wider range of academic contributions to science and society.

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 daycare for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and the possibility of enjoying nature, culture, and family life. It also has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must continually maintain and improve your professional development and be flexible regarding any organizational changes.

A public list of applicants with names, ages, job titles, and municipalities of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Tom Nurmi, email: tom.nurmi@ntnu.no or Professor/ Head of Section Eivind Nessa Torgersen, telephone +47 73 41 27 75, email: eivind.torgersen@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Terese Brå, e-mail: terese.bra@ntnu.no.

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas, and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.

Application deadline: 02.09.2024