4. Bridging epistemological and ontological perspectives and their normative implications for clinical decision-making in transgender care

Host

University of Oslo

Duration

36 months

The research

This PhD project aims to:

• Analyse different ontological and epistemological presuppositions in scientific and societal narratives about gender dysphoria, and their implications for transgender care
• Study how Norwegian and Dutch transgender clients and health care professionals experience or are confronted with ‘meta-moral challenges’ in clinical contexts related to these different presuppositions and identify possible needs for ethics support
• Co-create and pilot an ethics support tool for clients and health care professionals to recognise, address and constructively handle these challenges in concrete, comprehensible ways (meta-communication)

We seek a highly motivated PhD Research Fellow to join the Centre for Medical Ethics (CME), Institute of Health and Society (HELSAM), University of Oslo, to study different ontological and epistemic perspectives on transgender care (e.g. in literature, policy texts, etc), interview health care professionals and transgender clients about normative implications of different epistemic perspectives for transgender care, and co-create an ethics support tool that helps health care professionals and clients navigate these so-called ‘meta-moral challenges’ in transgender care. The position is part of the international “Gender-InSIGHT” network and includes a 6 to 12-month secondment at transgender clinics in the Netherlands as well. You will perform literature and text analyses, individual and focus group interviews and use participatory research methods for the co-creation of an ethics support tool.

Your experience

Candidates should have:

• A Master’s degree (five-year or equivalent) in either philosophy, (clinical/bio/healthcare) ethics, health care sciences or social sciences; focusing on relevant topics and eligible for admission to a PhD programme at UiO
• Demonstrated training and experience in qualitative research methodology
• Experience with health care contexts; ideally familiarity with trans gender care, the transgender community and/or clinical ethics support
• Strong analytical and academic writing skills; scientific and moral/philosophical curiosity
• Fluent spoken and written English
• Eligibility for MSCA Doctoral Networks: mobility rule (must not have resided or carried out main activity in Norway for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the appointment start) and must not already hold a PhD
• Admission requirements for the PhD program at the Faculty of Medicine must be met
• To be employed as a PhD Research Fellow, admission to a doctoral program is required, or there must be a binding agreement for admission. Normally, one must apply for admission to a Ph.D. program within 3 months after the start of the research project leading to the Ph.D. degree

Personal skills / Personal qualities

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; capable of independent work and effective teamwork
• Sensitivity to ethical, cultural, and societal dimensions of transgender care
• Organized, proactive, and capable of advancing co-creation processes with diverse stakeholders

The position

The PhD candidate will get positioned within the Centre for Medical Ethics (CME) at the University of Oslo in Norway. CME, established in 1989, is positioned within the Institute of Health and Society (HELSAM) and is one of Europe's largest centers for medical and healthcare ethics and hosted 41 PhD candidates who actually graduated. CME’s area of study spans from moral challenges in the patient-provider encounter, priority setting in health care, to research ethics and philosophy of medicine and science. CME has a strong record when it comes to clinical ethics, medical ethics and clinical ethics support, yet also a strong interdisciplinary approach to ethics with an international staff from 15 different countries. Since decades they have the national responsibility (given by Norwegian Health Care Authorities) to support all Norwegian health care institutions and health care professionals with various moral challenges. They are responsible for the teaching of research integrity to all PhD students at the Medical Faculty. Furthermore, CME often integrates the work of theoretical and philosophical scholars, such as philosophy of science and meta-ethics, into the field of medical ethics.

The secondment (6 to 12 months) will take place at transgender clinics in the Netherlands and the department of Ethics, Law & Humanities at Amsterdam UMC.

Responsibilities / Your main tasks

• Conduct historical-philosophical analysis of narratives about gender dysphoria across disciplines and public discourses
• Design and carry out qualitative studies with transgender clients and health care professionals in Norway and the Netherlands
• Co-create, document, and pilot an ethics support tool; evaluate feasibility and acceptability in clinical settings
• Collaborate closely with supervisors and international partners; contribute to Gender-InSIGHT training events and secondments
• Disseminate findings through publications, presentations, and stakeholder engagement