UiT The Arctic University of Norway has established «The Arctic MSCA-PF program» (uit.no/project/arcticmsca) to recruit excellent young researchers planning to apply for a Marie Skƚodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) to pursue a career in research. We invite applications from promising young researchers within the field of Developmental Psychology, (Cross-)Cultural Psychology and Family Studies . The selected candidate will write a proposal for a 24-month MSCA-PF at UiT together with  Associate Professor Monika Abels. This is an opportunity to accelerate your research career while living in the urban research city of Tromsø, uniquely located at the top of the world surrounded by some of Europe’s last pristine wild nature.

This call is one of 70 from pre-selected supervisors at UiT The Arctic University of Norway through the “Arctic MSCA-PF program”. Successful postdoc candidates will be invited for a three-day MSCA-PF symposium June 4-6, 2024 (hybrid physical/digital event, see details at uit.no/project/arcticmsca/program-structure). At this event, the candidates will present their past research achievements, discuss future plans with their potential supervisor and learn how to write a successful MSCA-PF application. The selected candidates will, jointly with the supervisor, write the MSCA-PF application by the deadline of September 11, 2024.

In this call we search for talented, young researchers within the field of Developmental Psychology, (Cross-)Cultural Psychology and Family Studies as presented by Associate Professor Abels:

My research is based on the assumption that children develop in a social context which can be defined by eco-cultural factors. Aspects that are of particular interest to me are families’/communities’ livelihood patterns, caregivers’ characteristics such as educational achievements and values, children’s daily experiences and their development. I am also interested in local conditions such as differences in infrastructure or seasonal changes. Culture, from this point of view, happens in everyday life and cannot be equated with nation states as conditions within one state can vary widely, whereas there can be similarities in conditions in very different places of the world. The approach to these topics utilizes different methods. A very important method in my research is behavioral observation, both in situ and from videos. These can be supplemented by more structured procedures meant to elicit certain behaviors or test children’s development. To assess values and ethnotheories or parents’ assessments of family routines or children’s skills, interviews and questionnaires are additional useful methods. Some ongoing research concerns preschoolers’ understanding of hidden emotions and children’s relation to nature. I am also interested in the role of screen media in family interactions and nonverbal communication. 

Please send your CV (max 3 pages) and describe a research project that will strengthen and complement the presented research (max 2 pages) to m.abels@uit.no by Feb 16th 2024. Mark your application "Arctic MSCA". Successful candidates will be contacted in late March 2024.