Doctoral (PhD) student position in Biostochastics - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

To be a doctoral student means to devote oneself to a research project under supervision of experienced researchers and following an individual study plan. For a doctoral degree, the equivalent of four years of full-time doctoral education is required.

The Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institutet conducts research and teaching within immunology, infection biology, cell biology and cancer. Our key words are multidisciplinary, bridging, national and international collaborations.

The research group

The position is in Ben Murrell's group in MTC, based in the Biomedicum, in Karolinska's Solna campus. The lab has worked across the experimental/computational interdisciplinary spectrum, in topics in virology and immunology, and currently specializes in computational biology focusing on developing methods and applications of deep learning for protein sequence and structure, as well as topics in phylogenetics.

For a recent list of topics that the Murrell lab works on, please see: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=I80vy5cAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate and https://staff.ki.se/people/benjamin-murrell.

The doctoral student project and the duties of the doctoral student

The project involves methods development for modeling biological systems. The best models are often powerful but weakly constrained; the best mechanistic models are often interpretable but too rigid. This project will develop methods between these extremes: flexible enough to learn from modern biological data, but structured enough to respect inherent constraints in the systems they model. In particular, we will work across a variety of biological domains, from ecology (phytoplankton community dynamics), phylogenetics, to generative models of proteins.

The student will:

1. Work across the theoretical and mathematical development of these modeling approaches
2. Implement the models, train them, and conduct computational experiments to investigate their behavior and performance
3. Collaborate with experimental labs (i.e. wetlabs) in the various domains, where appropriate

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment full of expertise and curiosity. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Our vision is to pursue the development of knowledge about life and to promote a better health for all. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. As a doctoral student you are offered an individual research project, a well-educated supervisor, a vast range of elective courses and the opportunity to work in a leading research group. Karolinska Institutet collaborates with prominent universities from all around the world, which ensures opportunities for international exchanges. You will be employed on a doctoral studentship which means that you receive a contractual salary. Employees also have access to our modern gym for free and receive reimbursements for medical care.

Eligibility requirements for doctoral education

In order to participate in the selection for a doctoral position, you must meet the following general (A) and specific (B) eligibility requirements at latest by the application deadline.

It is your responsibility to certify eligibility by following the instructions on the web page Entry requirements (eligibility) for doctoral education. 

A) General eligibility requirement

You meet the general eligibility requirement for doctoral/third-cycle/PhD education if you:

1. Have been awarded a second-cycle/advanced/master qualification (i.e. master degree), or
2. Have satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the advanced/second-cycle/master level, or
3. Have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.*

Follow the instructions on the web page Entry requirements (eligibility) for doctoral education.

*If you claim equivalent knowledge, follow the instructions on the web page Assessing equivalent knowledge for general eligibility for doctoral education.

B) Specific eligibility requirement

You meet the specific eligibility requirement for doctoral/third-cycle/PhD education if you:

• Show proficiency in English equivalent to the course English B/English 6 at Swedish upper secondary school.

Follow the instructions on the web page English language requirements for doctoral education.

Verification of your documents: Karolinska Institutet checks the authenticity of your documents. Karolinska Institutet reserves the right to revoke admission if supporting documents are discovered to be fraudulent. Submission of false documents is a violation of Swedish law and is considered grounds for legal action.

(A) and (B) can only be certified by the documentation requirement for doctoral education.

Skills and personal qualities

In addition to the aforementioned requirements for the position:

• An exceptional background in probability theory (incl. measure theory) and mathematical statistics, especially related to stochastic processes, with demonstrable contributions (e.g. via key authorship on preprints) to theoretical publications
• Demonstrable experience (i.e. publications or preprints) with theory and methods in modern deep learning and generative modeling
• A strong familiarity (including publications or preprints) with advanced statistical modeling approaches (e.g. Gaussian Processes, latent-variable SSMs, etc) and techniques in inferential statistics including modern Bayesian approaches (e.g. MCMC, HMC) as well as classical frequentist inference
• Demonstrable computational competence (evidenced by publicly available code), comfortable with using and developing algorithms, data structures, etc to solve challenging problems
• Demonstrable experience (including publications or preprints) working in biological domains, and a strong motivation to apply statistical models to biological problems
• The candidate must demonstrate a willingness to work independently and strong communication abilities to work in collaboration within a team

Meritorious for the position:

• Experience with the Julia programming language is very advantageous

The technical competence listed above will be assessed during the interviews.

Terms and conditions

The doctoral student will be employed on a doctoral studentship maximum 4 years full-time.

Application process

Submit your application and supporting documents through the Varbi recruitment system. Use the button in the top right corner and follow the instructions. We prefer that your application is written in English, but you can also apply in Swedish.

Your application must contain the following documents:

• A personal letter and a curriculum vitae
• Degree projects and previous publications, if any
• Any other documentation showing the desirable skills and personal qualities described above
• Documents certifying your general eligibility (see A above)
• Documents certifying your specific eligibility (see B above)

Selection

A selection will be made among eligible applicants on the basis of the ability to benefit from doctoral education. The qualifications of the applicants will be evaluated on an overall basis.

Karolinska Institutet uses the following bases of assessment:

• Documented subject knowledge of relevance to the area of research
• Analytical skill
• Other documented knowledge or experience that may be relevant to doctoral studies in the subject.

All applicants will be informed when the recruitment is completed.

https://ki.se/en/mtc

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