Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Multilingualism and Neurocognition

Stig Brøndbo
15th February 2026
Languages
English

• Norsk Bokmål
• English

English

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Multilingualism and Neurocognition
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The position

One Postdoctoral Research Fellow position in the neurocognition of multilingualism is available in the Department of Language and Culture at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The position is affiliated with the Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL), more specifically the Brain domain. C-LaBL is financed by the Trond Mohn Foundation 2024-2029. 

The position is a fixed term position for a duration of 3 years. It is a prerequisite that the applicant can carry out the project over the full course of the employment period. No person may hold more than one fixed term position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the same institution.

As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you will have the opportunity to advance your scientific career and further qualify for academic positions. If you do not already have the educational competence that meets the requirements for an Associate Professor position in Norway, UiT will arrange such competence during the employment period.

The appointed postdoctoral fellow will have their daily workplace at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø.  Expected starting date: August 2026 (the date can be negotiated). 

The Department

The Department of Language and Culture has a very active and diverse research profile. The Department’s core activities are research, teaching, and dissemination within linguistics, literature, art history, and media and documentation studies. The Department hosts about 160 employees the majority of which are situated at the Tromsø campus, but some are at the Alta campus. There are about 500 students at the department.  

The Department houses one of the world’s foremost research communities in linguistics represented by Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C-LaBL). I addition, there are research groups within acquisition (AcqVA-Nor), cognitive linguistics (CLEAR), Sami language technology (Giellatekno and Divvun), and sociolinguistics, multilingualism, and revitalization (MultiNor). 

The Department’s research communities within literature, art history, and media and documentation studies are nationally highly competitive, and are organised into research groups such as Arctic Voices, Engaging Conflicts in a Digital Era (ENCODE), Health, Art and Society (HAS), Interdisciplinary Phenomenology (IP), Pax Slavia in FLux: European Contexts (PSIF) and Worlding Northern Art (WONA). 

ISK offers teaching in the following fields: linguistics, literature, art history, media and documentation studies, English, Kven, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian, Sami, Spanish, and German, as one-year programmes, as well as full Bachelor and Master programmes (including three international programmes). The department is also involved in teacher education level 8-13 and provides teaching in North Sami, Spanish, English, Nordic, Russian and German. In addition, the department is responsible for all the Sami language teaching (mother tongue and second language) at UiT. It also offers PhD programmes in linguistics, cultural/literary studies, art history, as well as media and documentation studies.    

C-LaBL

The advertised position will be one of nine PhD/postdoctoral positions in the Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL).

The Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C-LaBL) will provide a step-change in our understanding of how multiple languages interact in the mind/brain, develop innovative longitudinal methodologies to study multilingualism, and train the next generation of scholars and research leaders in this increasingly important field. By fostering collaborative research across linguistic theories, neuroscience, and language acquisition/processing, we will focus on the effects of multilingualism – for the languages involved, for the brains that house them, and for the learning and teaching of multiple languages. C-LaBL is divided into three domains of study (Language, Brain, and Learning) that will be linked by a cross-cutting research theme focusing on Linguistic Distance. Thus, the core work of C-LaBL will investigate the interaction of multiple grammars in the multilingual mind/brain, with a main focus on the significance of linguistic distance (similarities/differences between languages) for development, crosslinguistic influence, neurocognitive adaptations in the brain as a result of multilingual experience, as well as instructed additional language learning. Work at the center will be theoretically motivated and use a variety of research methods, including offline behavioral experiments, eye-tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The research will be of practical relevance to current societal challenges related to education and health. The C-LaBL Mentorship Program will provide a comprehensive training scheme to a number of postdoctoral fellows, ensuring that future leaders in the field of multilingualism have a solid background that crosscuts all three domains. 

The Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL) springs out of an active and productive research community in language acquisition and multilingualism at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø.

The research community in language acquisition and multilingualism at UiT currently consists of approximately 40 active researchers, including eleven professors/associate professors, a lab manager, four postdoctoral fellows, eight MSCA postdocs, three PhD students, seven Professor II positions (20%), and an internationally renowned Scientific Advisory Board. The group members are involved in a number of research projects both locally and internationally, e.g. the NOBELL and MOVA projects financed by the Research Council of Norway. For further information about the group’s work and activities, see the website of the Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL).  

The advertised postdoctoral position will give the successful candidate the opportunity to work closely with an outstanding team of linguists and cognitive scientists. 

For further information about the position and the Center for Language, Brain & Learning, please contact one of the PIs of the Brain domain (see contact information below) to get access to the full project proposal for C-LaBL.

The position's field of research

The advertised postdoctoral fellow position will conduct work within the Brain domain of C-LaBL. 

The Brain domain examines the degree to which relative language distance (RLD) between the languages in a multilingual mind impacts on neurocognitive outcomes in a multitude of aspects including (i) how bi-/multilinguals learn new languages, (ii) how these languages interact, (iii) how bi-/multilinguals control their language system, and ultimately, (iv) how the mind (cognition) and brain (structure, function) adapt to these linguistic experiences. 

Using sophisticated metrics from formal linguistics, we measure and (empirically) manipulate RLD systematically to investigate the determinism of typology in multilingual language processing (and its neural substrates) and domain-general neurocognitive adaptations. Empirical work within this domain combines performance on executive function and language-specific tasks with imaging measures (e.g., EEG, MRI). Studies are designed to understand the interaction of RLD alongside language experiences as deterministic factors, while, crucially, assessing the directionality of their interactions. We examine these relationships across the spectrum of RLD pairings (bilectalism, closely related languages to very distant language doublets and triplets in a stepwise systematic manner), matching for other variables of experience. Such an approach will help to determine the nature and degree and directionality of the effects of language distance on multilingualism-induced neurocognitive outcomes. 

We ask that candidates sumbit a contextualizing statement/proposal, detailing how the candidate plans to contribute to the research in the Brain domain (2-3 pages).

Contact

For further information about the position, please contact Professor Vincent DeLuca:

• email: vincent.f.deluca@uit.no     

or Head of Department Cathrine Theodorsen:

• email: cathrine.theodorsen@uit.no
• phone: +47 77 64 55 89

Qualifications

Required qualifications: 

• A PhD  in cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, language sciences or another relevant field. If you're in the final stages of your PhD, you may still apply for the position, provided that you submit parts of your dissertation along with your application. This enables the evaluation committee to assess the quality and likelihood of completion by the desired employment date. You must include a statement from your supervisor or institution stating the expected completion date for your PhD degree. Documentation of your completed PhD degree must be submitted before commencement.
• Experience with experimental design, data collection and analysis. 
• Excellent command of spoken- and written English. Nordic applicants can document their English capabilities by attaching their high school diploma.

Desired qualifications: 

• Experience with imaging methods (particularly EEG and/or (f)MRI
• Experience with advanced statistical modelling.
• Prior research experience working with bi-/multilingual populations is also favorable. 
• Competence in Norwegian 

Emphasis shall also be attached to experience from popularization/dissemination and academic policy and administrative activity.

During the assessment emphasis will be put on the candidate’s motivation, potential for research, and personal suitability for the position. 

At UiT we put emphasis on the quality, relevance and significance of the research work and not on where the work is published, in accordance with the principles of The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA ).

Inclusion and diversity  

UiT The Arctic University i 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 is 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 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

• Involvement in an interesting research project 
• Good career opportunities 
• A good academic environment with dedicated colleagues  
• Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement  
• Pension scheme through the state pension fund 

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 for 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:

• Application letter
• Contextualizing statement/proposal (max 2 pages), detailing how the candidate fits into the research done in the Brain domain of C-LaBL as detailed specifically above (including potential for investigations across other domains of the Center). 
• Contextualizing statement/proposal, detailing how the candidate plans to contribute to the research in the Brain domain (2-3 pages).
• CV (containing a complete overview of education, supervised professional training and professional work, as well as a list of publications if applicable).
• Diplomas and transcripts (all degrees)
• Documentation of English proficiency . If English proficiency is not documented in the application, it must be documented before starting in the position.
• Contact information to 3-4 references
• Documentation of educational competence , if available
• Description of your academic production stating which works you consider to be the most important- this will be an annotated list of your publications, with a brief description of each study. Please highlight or note which of these you wish to be taken into consideration.
• From the above list, three samples of either published work or other relevant professional writings. 

If you're in the final stages of your PhD, you may still apply for the position, provided that you submit parts of your dissertation along with your application. This enables the evaluation committee to assess the quality and likelihood of completion by the desired employment date. You must include a statement from your supervisor or institution stating the expected completion date for your PhD degree. Documentation of your completed PhD degree must be submitted before commencement.

All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. 

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. A trial lecture may also be held.

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 . 

The remuneration for Postdoctoral research fellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1352. 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 .

The successful candidate must be willing to get involved in the ongoing development of their department and the university as a whole.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure. 

In case of discrepancies between the Norwegian and the English version of this description, the Norwegian version takes precedence.

Eallju - Developing the High North 

UiT The Arctic University of Norway is a multi-campus comprehensive university at the international forefront. Our vision is to be a driving force for developing the High North. The Northern Sami notion eallju, which means eagerness to work, sets the tone for this motive power at UiT. Along with students, staff and the wider community, we aim to utilise our location in Northern Norway and Sápmi, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio and interdisciplinary advantage to shape the future.

Our social mission is to provide research-based education of high quality, perform artistic development and carry out research of the highest international quality standards in the entire range from basic to applied. We will convey knowledge about disciplines and contribute to innovation. Our social mission unites UiT across various studies, research fields and large geographical distances. This demands good cooperation with trade and industry and civil society as well as with international partners. We will strengthen knowledge-based and sustainable development at a regional, national and international level.

Academic freedom and scientific and ethical principles form the basis for all UiT’s activities. Participation, co-determination, transparency and good processes will provide the decision-making basis we need to make wise and far-sighted priorities. Our students and staff will have the opportunity to develop their abilities and potential. Founded on academic integrity, we will be courageous, committed and generous in close contact with disciplines, people and contemporary developments.

We will demonstrate adaptability and seek good and purposeful utilisation of resources, so we are ready to meet the expectations and opportunities of the future. We will strengthen the quality and impact of our disciplines and core tasks through the following three strategic priority areas.

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Deadline

15th February 2026

Employer

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Municipality

Tromsø - Romsa

Scope

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Duration

Fixed Term

Place of service
Hansine Hansens veg 18, 9019 Tromsø

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