Want to research what is politically possible in climate and energy policy?
The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) is currently recruiting two PhD candidates for the new FEASIBILITY research project. The positions offer the opportunity to work on some of the biggest questions in climate and energy policy, in a close and social research environment just outside Oslo.
How can societies carry out major climate and energy transitions? What is politically feasible, and for whom?
These are the central questions in the new FEASIBILITY project, which recently received funding through the Research Council of Norway’s Toppforsk programme. The project explores what makes climate and energy policy politically achievable in a time shaped by rapid technological, economic and geopolitical change.
‘We talk a lot about what is technically possible. But what is politically possible, socially desirable and practically achievable is much more complex,’ says Senior Research Fellow Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg.
The project brings together researchers from political science, human geography, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and energy modelling to explore how technology, politics, power, economics and local conditions shape the green transition.
‘If we want to understand what is feasible, we need to look at technology, politics, economics and how policies work in local and regional contexts,’ says Senior Research Fellow Siddharth Sareen.
Researchers in FEASIBILITY will work with case studies from Norway, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Four PhD candidates will be recruited, two of them at FNI.
‘These PhD candidates will not be isolated,’ Inderberg says with a smile.
‘They will work closely with each other and with us.’
FNI is currently advertising two PhD positions in the project:
Read more about the FEASIBILITY project here.
Open doors, low hierarchy
But what is it like to be a PhD candidate or early career researcher at FNI?
FNI researcher Serafima Andreeva describes an environment where young researchers are trusted with responsibility early on.
‘You get to present and discuss your work at conferences, in projects and in the media. If you want to, there is a lot of room for growth here.’
Viviana Meixner Vásquez highlights the close contact between junior and senior researchers as one of the most important aspects of working at FNI.
‘It’s easy to knock on people’s doors here. You don’t feel like senior researchers are far away from you.’
There are shared lunches every day, regular seminars, project meetings, writing groups and constant conversations in the corridors. Several researchers point to the informal atmosphere as one of the best things about FNI.
‘There is very little hierarchy here,’ says Eivind Hjort Matthiasen.
‘People play piano in the evenings, go swimming during lunch breaks and help each other with things outside work too.’
Read the full interview with four early career researchers at FNI here:
What can you expect as a PhD candidate at FNI?
Open PhD positions
- PhD Research Fellow in the FEASIBILITY project – Political Science
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PhD Research Fellow in the FEASIBILITY project – Human Geography
Application deadline: 18 June 2026.
About the Fridtjof Nansen Institute
The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) is an independent research institute at Polhøgda, just outside Oslo. FNI conducts research on international climate, energy and environmental politics, oceans and the Arctic, with particular expertise on Norwegian politics, the EU, China and Russia.
Researchers at FNI work on topics related to climate transitions, energy systems, geopolitics, biodiversity and international governance.
