Doctoral student in Educational Measurement – orientation Learning and brain plasticity throughout the life span - ,

Specialization of the doctoral studentship
In the Educational Measurement unit, we do research related to quality issues (reliability, validity, fairness) and individual and group differences in large-scale educational tests and other educational and psychological assessments. Researchers at the department are linked to one of Umeå University’s priorities research areas: Learning and brain plasticity throughout the life span (see link here), and the doctoral position till be oriented towards this research area, with focus on learning and cognitive performance over time. More specifically, the research will explore relationships between early school achievements and cognitive ability later in life, and factors that may affect these relationships. The project will use large-scale data from existing infrastructures such as the Betula data base, the SweSAT data base and school grade registers. The exact structure and contents of the doctoral project will be jointly decided by doctoral student and supervisor.

Qualifications
The applicant must meet the requirements for both basic and subject specific qualifications. Basic qualification is held by those who have either obtained an advanced level degree, completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 credits are at an advanced level, or in some other way within or outside the country have acquired essentially equivalent knowledge.

Applicants meet the subject specific entry requirements for admission to doctoral studies in Educational Measurement if they have passed at least 90 credits in either educational measurement, pedagogy, psychology, sociology or statistics, or have equivalent and proven knowledge.

Criteria’s for Selection

In selecting among eligible applicants, consideration will be given to

• the ability to benefit from the training
• previous academic results
• the quality of the submitted research plan

The applicant needs to be familiar with processing and analyses of quantitative data. Proficiency in English is a requirement.

Terms of employment
Doctoral students will primarily devote themselves to their education at third-cycle level. Employment as a doctoral student is for the time necessary for the completion of research studies at a normal rate of study, which corresponds to a full-time position for four years. Doctoral students may work with teaching and administration up to a maximum of 20 percent of their full-time employment. In such cases, the period of employment is extended with the equivalent time spend on teaching/administration, up to a maximum of one additional year. The workplace is Umeå University, and doctoral students are expected to actively contribute to the research environment.

According to The Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 12 §2, a decision of appointment to a doctoral studentship cannot be appealed.

Application

The application must contain:

1. Curriculum vitae (CV), including name and contact information of two reference persons
2. A letter in English, Swedish or another Scandinavian language that states the relevance of your previous merits and your motivation for undertaking research training leading to a PhD in educational measurement.
3. Research plan in English, Swedish or another Scandinavian language – must not exceed 15000 characters including spaces – that contains: purpose and research problem, previous research, implementation: that is, method, material and theory, relevance and time plan
4. A transcript from the Ladok student registry, a degree certificate, and/or equivalent attested copies of your academic transcripts proving that general and specific requirements are met
5. Copies of relevant BA and MA theses and other relevant publications

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Please note: the Swedish version is the official version of this advertisement. In the case of any differences in information between this translation and the official version, the latter takes precedence and is the legally binding document.

Additional information
The department of applied educational science (TUV) has approximately 100 employees working in teaching, research and commission service. The research at the department has a broad coverage and includes PhD programs in pedagogical work and educational measurement.  To the educational measurement unit, we are now looking for at least one doctoral student. For more information about the department, please see (link) 

For more information about the Department of Applied Educational Science and the research discipline, contact Professor and Deputy Head of Department, Bert Jonsson, bert.jonsson@umu.se,  +46907867612. For more information about the doctoral programme in Educational Measurement, contact associate professor Hanna Eklöf, hanna.eklof@umu.se, +46907867851