Doctoral Research Fellowship in Dance Rhythm

RITMO - Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion

A Doctoral Research Fellowship (SKO1017) in Dance Rhythm is available in the research project DJEMBEDANCE: Multimodal Rhythm in Music and Dance from West Africa, funded by the Research Council of Norway. The project is affiliated with RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion at the University of Oslo.

RITMO is a Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway. This interdisciplinary centre focuses on rhythm as a structuring mechanism for the temporal dimensions of human life. Methods from musicology, psychology, neuroscience, and informatics are combined to study rhythm as a fundamental property that shapes and underpins human cognition, behaviour and cultural expressions.

All RITMO researchers are co-located and work in a unique interdisciplinary constellation, with world-leading competence in musicology, psychology and informatics. It is expected that all members of the centre contribute to the general activities and collaborations within RITMO. The researchers have access to state-of-the-art facilities in sound/video recording, motion capture, eye tracking, physiological measurements, various types of brain imaging (EEG, fMRI), and rapid prototyping and robotics laboratories.

Applicants should upload a research outline, with research questions and theoretical and methodological approaches. The research outline should demonstrate an ability to conduct independent research within the scope of the DJEMBEDANCE project.

The candidate is expected tostudy Malian djembe dance and its relation to the corresponding musical genre from the perspective of ethnochoreology, applying the methods of dance analysis and ethnographic fieldwork. Emphasis will be placed on the temporal dimension, particularly the rhythmic coordination of the dancing with the music. The research will be part of the interdisciplinary DJEMBEDANCE project, which builds on a large set of multimedia recordings (audio, video, motion capture) of djembe music and dance performance from Mali. The project's objective is to study rhythmic, metric and timing patterns in both modes of expression, focusing on their cross-modal relations, interactions and integration. Aspects to be studied include microtiming patterns, metric beat perception and production in music and dance, and adaptive time-keeping in music-dance synchronisation. The candidate will collaborate closely with ethnomusicologists, computational scientists, and cognitive scientists

The candidate will be supervised by Rainer Polak in collaboration with Anne Danielsen and an external dance expert.

The person appointed will be affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities' organized research training. The academic work is to result in a doctoral thesis that will be defended at the Faculty of Humanities with a view to obtaining the degree of PhD. The successful candidate is expected to join the existing research milieu or network and contribute to its development. Read more about the doctoral degree.

The appointment is for a duration of three years, starting 1 September 2023. All PhD Candidates at the Faculty of Humanities who submit their doctoral dissertation for assessment with a written recommendation from their supervisor within 3 years or 3 ½ years after the start of their PhD position, will be offered, respectively, a 12 or 6-month Completion Grant. The candidate will be enrolled in RITMO's Career Development Programme.

To be eligible for admission to the doctoral programmes at the University of Oslo, applicants must, at minimum, have completed a five-year graduation course (Master's degree or equivalent), including a Master's thesis of at least 30 ECTS. In special cases, the Faculty may grant admission based on a one-year Master's course following an assessment of the study programme's scope and quality.

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on the following:

Applicants who have recently graduated with excellent results may be given preference.

Applications must include:

Please note that all documents must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Educational certificates, master theses and the like are not to be submitted with the application, but applicants may be asked to submit such information or works later.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, jobbnorge.no. The application must be submitted by the deadline Marcb 2023 (23:59 Central European Time).

Short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview.

Please see the guidelines for the application assessment process and appointments to research fellowships.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

Following the Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) § 25, Chapter 2, demographic information about the applicant may be used in the public list of applicants even if the applicant opts out from the entry in the public application list.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. We also want to have employees with diverse expertise, combinations of subjects, life experience and perspectives. We will make adjustments for employees who require this.

If there are qualified applicants with special needs, gaps in their CVs or immigrant backgrounds, we will invite at least one applicant in each of these groups to an interview.

Head of Administration Pia Søndergaard, e-mail: pia.sondergaard@imv.uio.no, phone number: +47 22 85 44 89.

For questions regarding the process:

HR Adviser Tonje Olsen

The University of Oslo is Norway's oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution, with 28 000 students and 7500 employees. With its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally recognised research communities, UiO is an important contributor to society.

RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion is financed through the Research Council of Norway's Centre of Excellence Scheme.

RITMO combines a broad spectrum of disciplines – from musicology, neuroscience and informatics – to study rhythm as a fundamental property of human cognition, behaviour and cultural expression. The Centre is organized under the Department of Musicology, in close collaboration with the Department of Psychology and the Department of Informatics.

1st March 2023

University of Oslo

Oslo

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Temporary

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