The position
The Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway has a PhD position vacant in application for biofloc microbiome research. The position is attached to the Microalgae & Microbiomes Research Group (M2RG) at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS). The position is for a period of three years. The objective of the position is to complete research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to the PhD programme is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position.
Biofloc technology uses dense, beneficial microbial communities to recycle waste in aquaculture tanks, keeping water clean and helping animals stay healthy while cutting inputs. SwitchFloc is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network that will fund and train a cohort of international doctoral candidates through coordinated research, expert mentoring, skills courses, and intersectoral secondments. At UiT, this PhD will focus on the microbiomes that make biofloc work: using metagenomics (DNA sequencing to reveal which microbes are present and what they can do) and metatranscriptomics (RNA sequencing to see which genes are active under different conditions) to understand how these communities function and respond. The project may also connect findings to metabolomics and lipidomics (smallmolecule and fat profiles) to link microbes and their activity to water quality, animal welfare, and system performance.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (MSCA DN) are elite, EU-funded training programmes that bring together universities, research institutes, and industry to recruit and train a cohort of doctoral candidates. Their aims are to deliver excellent, collaborative research while developing each fellow’s skills through international and intersectoral mobility, joint supervision, structured courses, and network-wide events and secondments. MSCA DN positions come with employment contracts, competitive funding, and rich professional development in open science, innovation, and entrepreneurship— making them a prestigious, highly competitive opportunity for specialized PhD training, mentorship, and career-building across a powerful European-wide network.
The Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) undertakes research and researchbased teaching of high national and international quality in an interdisciplinary environment. Research activities are provisionally organized into the groups of Living Marine Resources, Food science, Fish Health, Marine Drug Discovery, Marine Resource Management and Development, Environmental and Resource Economics.
The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time after receiving the offer. The successful candidate is expected to commence the position by October 2026 in accordance with the project timeline and funding requirements.
The project / The position’s field of research
This UiT PhD will probe the molecular ecology of biofloc—dense, beneficial microbial communities that recycle waste and stabilize water quality in aquaculture—so we can identify, promote, and manage the microbes and activities that best support animal welfare and system performance. Drawing on UiT’s lead roles in characterizing biofloc microbial communities and defining beneficial microorganisms within SwitchFloc’s Animal Welfare work package, the fellow will build and apply advanced bioinformatics pipelines for shotgun metagenomics to resolve community taxonomy, annotate functional genes, and interpret genome-encoded potential/architecture in biofloc (e.g., genome-resolved analyses) across experimental and farm conditions.
The project will also deploy metatranscriptomics for multikingdom taxonomic profiling (bacteria, microalgae, etc.) and to infer which genome-encoded functions are actively expressed under different biofloc maintenance and aquaculture practices, enabling data-driven strategies to steer floc composition. Expected contributions include a network-wide BF Characterization database and a list of beneficial biofloc microbes derived from genome and transcriptional evidence, alongside training and secondments that integrate omics, aquaculture sampling, and data management across the consortium.
Contact
For further information about the position, please contact Professor Hans Christopher Bernstein:
or Head of Department, Professor Bjørn-Petter Finstad:
Qualifications
Eligibility (MSCA DN)
- You meet the mobility rule: you have not lived or had your main activity (work/studies) in Norway for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before your recruitment date
Required qualifications
- Master’s degree (or equivalent) in microbiology, genetics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, or a closely related field which may include computational biology, computer science, data science, statistics, systems biology, biomedical engineering, or applied mathematics with a clear interest in bioinformatics. Qualification with a master’s degree is required before commencement in the position. If you are near completion of your master’s degree, you may still apply and submit a draft version of the thesis and a statement from your supervisor or institution indicating when the degree will be obtained. You must still submit your transcript of grades for the master’s degree with your application.
- Ability to demonstrate a foundation and/or a strong motivation to develop advanced bioinformatics skills for:
- Shotgun metagenomics (microbial taxonomy, functional gene annotation, and genome architecture/genome-resolved analyses in complex communities).
- Metatranscriptomics (multi-kingdom profiling and inference of expressed functions under different biofloc maintenance treatments).
- English proficiency (written and spoken). Nordic applicants can document their English capabilities by attaching their high school diploma.
Desired qualifications
- Background in aquatic microbial ecology, marine microbiology, or environmental microbiology.
- Strong programming/computing skills (e.g., Python and/or R), Unix/Linux command line, and good practices with Git and reproducible research.
- Experience using or readiness to use high-performance computing (HPC) environments (e.g., SLURM), workflow tools (Snakemake/Nextflow), and containers (Docker/Singularity).
- Hands-on experience with microbiology sampling (water/floc collection, filtration), DNA/RNA extraction, and basic molecular biology.
- Familiarity with short- and long-read data (Illumina, ONT/PacBio), assembly/binning (MAGs), taxonomic/functional profiling, and differential expression analysis.
- Exposure to or interest in metabolomics/lipidomics and multi-omics integration.
- Strong quantitative skills (statistics/ML for microbiome data) and clean, welldocumented code.
- Excellent teamwork, openness to intersectoral and international secondments, and strong scientific communication.
- Language bonus: any level of Scandinavian language and/or Spanish
In the assessment, the emphasis is on the applicant's potential to complete a research education based on the master's thesis or equivalent, and any other scientific work. In addition, professional experience and other experience of significance for the completion of the doctoral programme will be taken into consideration.
We will also emphasize motivation and personal suitability for the position. We are looking for candidates who:
- Have good collaboration skills
- Have good communication and interaction with colleagues and students
- Wants to contribute to a good working environment
As many people as possible should have the opportunity to undertake organized research training. If you already hold a PhD or have equivalent competence, we will not appoint you to this position.
Admission to the PhD programme
For employment in the PhD position, you must be qualified for admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics and participate in organized doctoral studies within the employment period.
Admission normally requires:
- A bachelor's degree of 180 ECTS and a master's degree of 120 ECTS, or an integrated master's degree of 300 ECTS.
- A master's thesis with a scope corresponding to at least 30 ECTS for a master's degree of 120 ECTS.
- A master's thesis with a scope corresponding to at least 20 ECTS for an integrated master's degree of 300 ECTS.
Grade requirements applies both to the master thesis as well as courses part of the master’s degree. The minimum requirements are grade B or better on the master’s degree, and an average grade of B or better on courses that are part of the master’s degree. For integrated master's degrees, applicants are required to have achieved a grade of B or higher on their master's thesis and an overall average grade of C or higher across all courses comprising the integrated degree programme. A more detailed description of admission requirements can be found here.
If you are employed in the position, you will be provisionally admitted to the PhD programme. Application for final admission must be submitted no later than two months after taking up the position.
Applicants with a foreign education will be subjected to an evaluation of whether the educational background is equal to Norwegian higher education, following national guidelines from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. Depending on which country the education is from, one or two additional years of university education may be required to fulfil admission requirements, e.g. a 4-year bachelor's degree and a 2-year master's degree. UiT normally accepts higher education from countries that are part of the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
Inclusion and diversity
UiT The Arctic University of Norway is working actively to promote equality, gender balance and diversity among employees and students, and to create an inclusive and safe working environment. We believe that inclusion and diversity are a strength, and we want employees with different competencies, professional experience, life experience and perspectives.
If you have a disability, a gap in your CV or immigrant background, we encourage you to tick the box for this in your application. If there are qualified applicants, we invite at least one in each group for an interview. If you get the job, we will adapt the working conditions if you need it. Apart from selecting the right candidates, we will only use the information for anonymous statistics.
We offer
- A friendly workplace with research-oriented, dedicated academics
- Involvement in a prestigous EU funded MSCA DN research project
- Good career opportunities
- Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement
- Pension scheme through the state pension fund
- PhD Fellows are normally given a salary of 550 800 NOK/year with a 3% yearly increase
Norwegian health policy aims to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their personal finances and where they live, has access to good health and care services of equal standard. As an employee you will become member of the National Insurance Scheme which also include health care services.
More practical information about working and living in Norway can be found here: https://uit.no/staffmobility
Application
Please note that the application will only be assessed based on the information submitted by the application deadline via Jobbnorge. It is therefore important that you include all necessary documents demonstrating your qualifications for the position.
Your application must include:
- Cover letter explaining your motivation and research interests
- CV (education, training, working experience and professional work)
- Official diplomas for Bachelor's and Master's degree in the original language
- Official transcripts of grades/academic record for Bachelor's and Master's degree in the original language
- Official translation of diplomas and transcripts of records (ToR) to English or a Scandinavian language, if applicable
- Explanation of the grading system for foreign education (Diploma Supplement if available)
- Documentation of English proficiency
- Three reference letters and contact information (request upon interview)
- Master’s thesis, and any other academic works
- Description of motivation and experience in bioinformatics (1 page)
- A list of papers, publications and conference contributions (with author(s), the title, journal, year, pages, or publishers/printer, etc.)
Qualification with a master’s degree is required before commencement in the position. If you are near completion of your master’s degree, you may still apply and submit a draft version of the thesis and a statement from your supervisor or institution indicating when the degree will be obtained. You must still submit your transcript of grades for the master’s degree with your application.
All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. Diplomas and transcripts must also be submitted in the original language, if not in English or Scandinavian. If English proficiency is not documented in the application, it must be documented before starting in the position.
Assessment
The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. The committee's mandate is to undertake an assessment of the applicants' qualifications based on the written material presented by the applicants, and the detailed description draw up for the position. A copy of the assessment report will be sent to all applicants.
The applicants who are assessed as best qualified will be called to an interview. The interview should among other things, aim to clarify the applicant’s motivation and personal suitability for the position.
General information
The appointment is made in accordance with State regulations and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants.
Remuneration for the position of PhD Fellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1017. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. You will become a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, which gives you many benefits in addition to a lifelong pension: You may be entitled to financial support if you become ill or disabled, your family may be entitled to financial support when you die, you become insured against occupational injury or occupational disease, and you can get good terms on a mortgage. Read more about your employee benefits at: spk.no.
A shorter period of appointment may be decided when the PhD Fellow has already completed parts of their research training programme or when the appointment is based on a previous qualifying position PhD Fellow, research assistant, or the like in such a way that the total time used for research training amounts to three years.
We process personal data given in an application or CV in accordance with the Personal Data Act (Offentleglova). According to the Personal Data Act information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure. You will receive advance notification in the event of such publication, if you have requested non-disclosure.