The Marine Technology Department (NTNU) advertised a PhD position some weeks ago (on jobbnorge.no and NAV – Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration), for on-line risk modelling of DP systems offshore. The application deadline recently expired, and it was quite surprising to find only one ethnic Norwegian applicant, in addition to about 40 international applicants, some of which however, have relevant MSc degrees from Norwegian universities.

It was expected that with the recent employment losses in the offshore sector during the last few months, many would apply for 3 years research grant from NTNU. It is obviously not the highest salary, but it is a decent salary for a young candidate, and gives the opportunity to devote three years to personal development, as a researcher, as a risk management professional and as a human being. An opportunity of a lifetime, many of us would claim. The present situation is virtually as in the past, when the job market was vibrant.

There are some well qualified candidates among the applicants, which gives the confidence that a good candidate will be recruited in the near future. It is also quite pleasing that some representatives from the offshore industry have expressed an interest in the research that we are planning to conduct. But I am still quite surprised that so few Norwegians find such a position interesting.