Job description

ONE POSITION AS RESEARCER / DEVELOPER FOR AUTOMATING SENSITIVE NEURODATA SHARING AND ANALYSIS is available at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Molecular Medicine, for a period of up to three years. The Institute of Basic Medical Sciences consists of academic departments and units that pursue research and education within basic medical science. The institute has approximately 390 employees and is located in the Domus Medica building. More information about the institute can be found here: www.med.uio.no/imb/english/.

The automation developer will work in a multidisciplinary environment at the Neural Systems laboratory (NeSys), in collaboration with the UiO IT department operating the national services for sensitive data (TSD). The NeSys laboratory has a leading role in the Data Services of the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure - the European distributed research infrastructure for brain and brain-inspired research (https://ebrains.eu) and leads the Norwegian national node of EBRAINS (https://www.ebrains.eu/national-nodes/norway). Current developments are supported by the EU-funded EBRAINS 2.0 project and the NORBRAIN infrastructure project funded by the Research Council of Norway.

EBRAINS Data Services aim to become the primary research infrastructure services for sharing, integrating, and analysing diverse and multiscale neuroscience data from the European and global research community. EBRAINS was included in the European roadmap of research infrastructures (ESFRI) in 2021. EBRAINS Norway aims to develop workflows tailored for sharing and analysing data from the NORBRAIN research infrastructure (www.norbrain.no) and establish a national community of EBRAINS users. 

In the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure, the Neural Systems Laboratory (www.med.uio.no/nesys) is responsible for 1) creating new standards for brain atlases through development and maintenance of resources and tools for atlas-based integration and analysis of experimental rodent brain data, and 2) providing services for FAIR neuroscience data and data processing. 

The automation developer will be part of the UiO team for neuroscience data life cycle management and data processing but will also collaborate closely with the TSD team at the UiO IT department. 

More information about TSD, the data sharing, data curation process, and metadata can be found here: 

• https://www.uio.no/english/services/it/research/sensitive-data/
• https://www.ebrains.eu/data/share-data/share-data-process
• https://wiki.ebrains.eu/bin/view/Collabs/data-curation
• https://github.com/openMetadataInitiative

The position should be filled as soon as possible.

More about the position

The automation developer to be employed will have responsibilities for testing, improving, and validating the process of controlled sharing and analysing of sensitive neurodata organized within the trusted data repository TSD, with anonymous metadata exposed via EBRAINS: Specific tasks include: 

• Developing, validating and documenting solutions for 1) standardized organization of data and metadata, aligned with EBRAINS standards and prepared for sharing of anonymous metadata via the public EBRAINS data service within complete (sensitive) metadata and data at TSD, and 2) connecting data to relevant analytic software and scripts available via TSD, and 3) containerizing, deploying and running software provided by EBRAINS and by users 
• Developing web-based user interfaces and automated processing steps
• Contributing to user support and training activities

 Qualification requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated and competent researcher with relevant experiences, holding a Master’s degree (MSc) in software engineering, or equivalent practical experience, who enjoys working in an international and interactive environment. Candidates must have extensive experience with:

• Coding in Python / Jupyter 
• Web development (HTML / CSS / Javascript)
• Use of JavaScript/Node.js or equivalent webapp backend frameworks
• Use of REST APIs

Selection criteria

The successful candidate will be a good team player with excellent coding skills, positive and pro-active attitude, and good abilities for team-based software development. Experience in working in an academic and / or multicultural / multidisciplinary environment is an advantage. Emphasis will be attributed to individual suitability and qualifications. Experience with JSON schemas, DevOps (deployment using Docker on Kubernetes), and use of databases for tracking requests and progress logging is an advantage. Short-listed applicants may be invited for an interview at the University of Oslo or by videoconference. As part of the hiring procedure, shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in skills testing to assess the required job-related competencies.

 We offer 

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• Committed colleagues in a good working environment. 
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities. 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position as researcher, position code 1108 in salary range NOK from 565 900 to 635 400 NOK, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.

Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.

Application 

Your application should include:

• Application letter.
• CV.
• A complete list of publications.
• Transcripts and certificates.
• Contact information for 2-3 references.

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.