Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

Karolinska Institutet is recruiting researchers as part of the Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) Fellows program. The successful candidates will join Karolinska Institutet and conduct research at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) as part of a vibrant community of researchers from all the SciLifeLab host universities at SciLifeLab Campus Solna.

This call is one of three current calls at Karolinska Institutet for Assistant Professors in programs associated with SciLifeLab. The other two calls are DDLS Fellow in Data-Driven Precision Medicine and Diagnostics and up to two SciLifeLab Fellows in Molecular Life Science.

Form of employment

Temporary fixed-term employment as Assistant Professor (biträdande lektor) for a maximum of six years at Karolinska Institutet, with the option to apply for promotion to a permanent position as Senior Lecturer.

An Assistant Professor employed in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 4 Section 12a shall be promoted to a permanent position as Senior Lecturer if they are eligible and assessed to be suitable for promotion. Eligibility and suitability are assessed in accordance with the criteria listed in the Instructions Regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet. The assessment criteria that were valid at the time of appointment as Assistant Professor will be applied when applying for promotion to Senior Lecturer. Current assessment criteria can be found here.

About the position

The purpose of the employment as Assistant Professor is to develop research skills as an independent researcher and acquire the scientific and pedagogical qualifications required for eligibility for appointment as Senior Lecturer.

DDLS Fellows are based both at SciLifeLab and at one of Karolinska Institutet’s 22 departments. The successful applicants must independently identify and agree with a department at Karolinska Institutet regarding the employment as Assistant Professor, as well as negotiate the terms of employment. The employment is agreed with the receiving department, which is also responsible for salary setting.

The DDLS program provides funding for the first five years of the position, with the sixth and final year funded by the receiving department at Karolinska Institutet, for a total of maximum six years’ employment.

The employment will commence at the receiving department no later than 1 January 2025. In the event an applicant who is rewarded with a position through the call is already employed as Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet, time and associated funding will be counted off correspondingly from the new employment.

The National DDLS Fellows Program

Data-driven life science uses data, computational methods and artificial intelligence to study biological systems and processes at all levels, from molecular structures and cellular processes to human health and global ecosystems. The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) aims to recruit and train the next-generation of data-driven life scientists and to create globally leading computational and data science capabilities in Sweden. The program is funded with a total of 3.1 billion SEK (about 290 MUSD) over 12 years from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg (KAW) Foundation.

The DDLS program will recruit 39 high-profile young group leaders, launch over 210 postdoctoral positions and establish a research school for 260 doctoral students, including industry doctoral students and postdocs. Fellows will be recruited to the 11 participating host universities/organizations but brought together under a national DDLS program coordinated by SciLifeLab. The DDLS program has four strategic areas: Cell and Molecular Biology, Evolution and Biodiversity, Precision Medicine and Diagnostics, Epidemiology and Biology of Infection. For more information, please see http://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven.

During 2022-2023, the first round of 20 young group leaders joined us as DDLS Fellows, and now we are looking to recruit an additional group of 19 Fellows. Each DDLS Fellow will receive a recruitment package of 17 MSEK (about 1.6 MUSD) for a 5-year period, covering their own salary and other resources, such as two doctoral students and two postdoc positions. The Fellow positions are tenure-track with the host organizations assuming responsibility for the long-term faculty appointments following a tenure evaluation.

The future of life science is data-driven. Will you be leading that change with us? Then join us in this unique program!

For this call, Karolinska Institutet will recruit one DDLS Fellow in Data-Driven Epidemiology and Biology of Infection.

Data-Driven Epidemiology and Biology of Infection

Data-Driven Epidemiology and Biology of Infection covers research that will transform our understanding of pathogens, their interactions with hosts and the environment, and how they are transmitted through populations. Research will have a strong focus on computational analysis or predictive modeling of pathogen biology or host-microbe systems for which multidimensional, genomescale experimental data are now available or it may use population-scale genetic, clinical, or public health data from pathogen surveillance efforts and biobanks.

The subject area concerns research in the general area of epidemiology and biology of infection with a strong computational profile. This research subject area aims to lead to innovative development and/or application of novel data-driven methods relying on machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other computational techniques.

At Karolinska Institutet we encourage applications from candidates interested in developing data-driven methods in infectious disease epidemiology.

SciLifeLab

SciLifeLab is an academic collaboration between multiple Swedish universities and distributed national research infrastructure with a distinct focus on health and environmental research (http://www.scilifelab.se/). The core mission of SciLifeLab is to provide technologies facilitating the large-scale analysis of biological processes at the molecular level. SciLifeLab Campus Solna, founded in 2010 as a joint effort by Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, is the largest SciLifeLab site where multiple universities are co-localized under a single roof. SciLifeLab Campus Solna houses state-of-the-art resources and technological infrastructures, e.g., high throughput DNA sequencing, analysis of gene single cell and spatiotranscriptomics), protein profiling, cellular profiling, chemical and functional biology, advanced visualization, advanced bioinformatics, structural biology, biostatistics, and systems biology. By working together Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University have been able to achieve a significant critical mass of researchers (> 100 research groups, about 1200 staff) including one of the largest groups of bioinformaticians and computational biologists in the EU. The research environment at SciLifeLab Campus Solna is one of the strongest life science centers in the world.

Eligibility Requirements

Those eligible for employment as an Assistant Professor are individuals who have been awarded a doctoral degree or attained equivalent research competence.

Priority should be given to those who were awarded a doctoral degree or attained equivalent research competence no more than five years prior to the expiry of the application period for the position as Assistant Professor.

Those who have been awarded a doctoral degree or attained equivalent research competence earlier may however be considered if there are special grounds for absence from research (deductible time).

Special grounds refer to:

• parental leave
• positions of trust in trade union organizations
• mandatory service in the total defense forces
• long-term illness
• general medical internship (maximum 24 months)
• specialist medical residency for clinically active professionals (maximum 24 months)

The ground, dates and extent must be clearly specified in the application and verified with relevant documentation.

Applicants should have in recent years conducted research of high quality and demonstrated an ability to continue to conduct research of high quality. Applicants should have published in internationally leading journals within their respective fields, with a prominent place in the list of authors, preferably as first author and/or last author. Applicants should have demonstrated the ability, as the principal applicant, to obtain external financing.

Assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• applicant’s competence
• scientific quality and feasibility of the research plan
• relevance to the call

What do we offer?

A creative, international, and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. 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. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at Karolinska Institutet. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top-quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several good benefits through our collective agreement.

Application process

We prefer that your application is written in English. Applications must contain the following documents, and should be uploaded as separate files numbered and named as follows:

1. cover letter with statement of interest (2 pages)
2. Curriculum Vitae (3 pages)
3. certificate of doctoral degree
4. complete publication list*
5. contact details for three referees
6. research plan including statement concerning relevance to the call (4 pages including references)
7. proof or certificates of absence from research/deductible time

* Please submit your publication list organized according to the headings and information below. Sort the publications under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. The author order shall be identical to that of the published work, and your name should be highlighted in bold in the author list. All published items should include a hyperlinked DOI.

     I. Selection of publications: List up to three publications that are of greatest importance to your research. Describe your contribution and the relevance to your research plan for each one of these publications (maximum 4 lines per publication).
     II. All publications: List all publications in order under the following headings (including publications listed under part one above):
          a. Peer-reviewed published original articles
          b. Peer-reviewed published conference contributions
          c. Peer-reviewed published books and book chapters
          d. Original articles intended for peer-review and publication (including pre-published articles, articles in press, articles in manuscript form)
          e. Other relevant published items not peer-reviewed (including protocols, datasets, code, popular science articles or presentations)

Please submit your application no later than October 15^th, 2023. No applications, revisions or additions to applications will be accepted after this date.

Applications will be reviewed in several stages before candidates are selected for interview. Applicants will be asked to give a research seminar as part of the selection process. Interviews are planned to be held in person in the period 18 – 22 March 2024.