About the position
The Department of Biotechnology at the Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences, and Biotechnology (ALB) at the University of Inland Norway (INN) invites applications from exceptional candidates for a Researcher position. The position is expected to start in August 2026 and will last for two years, with a possibility of extension. The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Biotechnology, with their workplace located in Hamar. The candidate must work from the designated workplace in Hamar.
The researcher will work in the group of Professor Rafi Ahmad. The Ahmad group (https://www.inn.no/english/find-an-employee/rafi-ahmad.html) is also part of the Norwegian Network for One Health Resistome Surveillance (NORSE), a national network of 13 Norwegian institutions. The group is also part of Microbiology Matters (MiMa), a PhD school with work-life relevance that focuses on One Health and infectious diseases (https://en.uit.no/project/mima). The group is also affiliated with the National Center of Expertise, Heidner Biocluster.
The appointed candidate will be working within a proliferating scientific environment comprising academic staff members, Ph.D. students, and research fellows with scientific expertise ranging from theoretical methods (machine learning, biostatistics, and bioinformatics) to experimental methods (genomics, molecular biology, clinical microbiology, microscopy, and spectroscopy).
Responsibilities and tasks
The Project
The WHO considers bacterial infection caused by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) a critical global threat to modern healthcare and societal well-being. It has been nearly 40 years since a new class of antibiotics was introduced to the market. This, along with the increased and often inappropriate use of existing drugs, means we are heading toward a world where antibiotics may no longer be effective. Remarkably, most prescriptions and antibiotic administration are still done without any information on the causative pathogens or their resistance profiles.
The selected candidate will work within the project “UTI-Diag: Reducing the burden of antimicrobial resistance – urinary tract infection using innovative and scalable rapid diagnosis " funded by the Research Council of Norway program Global Health Challenges. Please find the project details here:
https://www.inn.no/english/research/research-projects/UTI-Diag/. The main objective of UTI-Diag is to develop a proof-of-concept decision-making diagnostic system for rapid, accurate, and sensitive on-site detection of bacterial infections, pathogen identification, resistance profile characterization, and prediction of antibiotic susceptibility for urinary tract infections.
The main tasks of the Researcher will be to (a) optimize the in-house developed novel method for culture-independent sample preparation for body fluids, including urine and blood; (b) perform metagenomic, and potentially photonics analysis on clinical samples, and (c) correlation of the generated data; (d) proof of concept study to evaluate the performance of the development method in clinical settings.
Please refer to our latest publications, which highlight our work.
Qualifications
The candidate must have a Ph.D. in biotechnology, molecular biology, genomics, or another relevant scientific discipline. PhD candidates who have submitted their thesis and are waiting for their PhD defense are also eligible to apply. PhD candidates must have successfully defended their thesis before the start date for the position.
Required qualifications
The required qualifications are:
- Prior experience with methods development for the rapid diagnosis of bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance.
- Proficient in metagenomic sequencing technologies from Oxford Nanopore.
- Hands-on expertise using both MinION and PromethION flow cells.
- Proven expertise in the entire sequencing workflow, from sample preparation to bioinformatic analysis, as evidenced by published research articles.
- Extensive hands-on experience handling human clinical samples, including both blood and urine.
- Expert-level expertise in bacterial infection diagnostics and AMR.
- First-author publications in high-impact peer-reviewed international journals.
Desired Qualifications
- Fluency in scripting in Python and R.
- Experience with Linux.
The candidate must also demonstrate proficiency in spoken and written English. Additional consideration will be given to those with strong teamwork and communication skills and to those with documented scientific publications.
The position and associated tasks must be carried out in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations for government employees, including also the Act on Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology, etc. Candidates who, after assessment of the application and attachments, come into conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to take up the position at University of Inland Norway. Necessary approvals must be maintained throughout the employment relationship.
We offer
- Collaborating within a multidisciplinary team comprising microbiologists, ML/AI specialists, bioinformaticians, medical professionals, and physicists.
- Access to cutting-edge computational infrastructure.
- Involvement in a stimulating and impactful project that contributes positively to society, offering opportunities for both personal and scientific growth.
- An intellectually stimulating work environment with dynamic colleagues focused on a critical and rapidly growing research field.
- A flexible and independent work setting where candidates have significant autonomy. Daily interaction with talented and motivated colleagues.
- Position is paid and placed in position code 1109 Researcher in the Government Salary Scale.
- Life insurance and occupational injury insurance are included. Pension contributions to Statens pensjonskasse (Norwegian Public Service Pension,) will be automatically deducted. All residents in Norway are automatically included in the Norwegian public health system.
For more information about INN University as an employer, please see here.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0FVnszhpJYHow to apply
Regsiter your application and CV electronically via "Apply for this job" on the job portal Jobbnorge.
Your application must include:
- CV (summary of education and work experience).
- Translated copies of academic certificates/transcripts.
- List at least two references with complete contact information.
- A complete list of scientific and other publications.
Relevant applications will be considered by an expert committee. Comprehensive CVs, certified copies of diplomas and certificates, publication lists and documents/works to be considered must be submitted as electronic attachments or links to the application.
If you have any questions regarding uploading of attachments or other technical matters regarding the application, Jobbnorge customer service can be contacted.
Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.
For more inforation about the position, please contact Professor Rafi Ahmad, Ph.D., tlf: +47 91329738 , epost: rafi.ahmad@inn.no
General information
INN believes that there is strength in inclusion and diversity. We desire employees with different competencies, professional combinations, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to an even better way of solving problems. We will facilitate for employees who need assitance to realise their goals. Relevant adaptations can be, for example, technical aids, adapting furniture or adjusting routines, work tasks and working hours.
If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, gaps in the CV or immigrant background, we shall call at least one applicant in each of these categories for an interview. In order to be considered as an applicant in these groups, the applicants must meet certain requirements. You can read more on this here: https://arbeidsgiver.difi.no/positivsaerbehandling.
We encourage applicants to tick in Jobbnorge if they have a disability, a gap in their CV or immigrant background. The ticks in the jobseeker portal form the basis for anonymised statistics that all state-owned enterprises report in their annual reports.