before- 2023-05-28
Temporary position
100%
Umeå

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The Department of Integrative Medical Biology is now announcing a Ph.D student position. The position is on fulltime for four years, starting 1st of September 2023 or upon agreement.

Description of the PhD-Project

Cognitive decline compromises health for a great number of older individuals. Dopamine decline has been highlighted as one key brain change that may underlie cognitive decline in aging. More knowledge is, however, needed for the dopamine-cognition link, and how dopamine integrity can be spared in aging. This project will employ brain imaging technique to assess in vivo dopamine system integrity in relation to cognition and other aging-related brain changes, e.g. cerebrovascular dysfunction and accumulation of misfolded proteins (Ab and tau), in healthy, older adults. Causal chain of events will be assessed via longitudinal brain imaging and histological assessments in animal models. The student will handle and integrate large amounts of data from brain imaging, cognitive tests, and blood-samples; conduct brain imaging in animal models and perform statistical analyses.

Qualifications

The applicant is required to have completed a university level degree of at least 240 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 ECTS credits are at Master program level.

Specific admission requirements

In order to be admitted to postgraduate studies, it is required that the applicant has:

necessary knowledge from university higher education or corresponding education and/or special professional experience that is assessed in relation to the research area.
good skills in both spoken and written English are a requirement for the position. Evaluation of these skills is made by having the intended PhD student present his/her research plan in English for the Department’s designated postgraduate education group.

Additional merits

In addition, the applicant should, through university studies or other equivalent education, have gained basic theoretical knowledge in pharmacology, biomedicine, neuroscience, or equivalent. Experience of statistics, image analysis, programming, and experimental research will be viewed favorably. The applicant must be able to work independently as well as collaborate with members of the research team.

Terms of employment

The appointment aims at a PhD degree and the main task of the PhD student is to pursue doctoral studies, which includes participation in research, seminars and courses. According to the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance (Chapter 12, Section 2), the decision on employment as a PhD student cannot be appealed. The employment is limited to four years full-time starting 2023-09-01 or upon agreement. The salary corresponds to the established salary level for doctoral employment.

Application

The application shall be written in English or Swedish, documents must be in Word or pdf format. Applications must be submitted electronically using the e-recruitment system of Umeå University Varbi and be received no later than 2023-05-28. A complete application should contain the following documents:

A cover letter summarizing your qualifications, scientific interests and motives for applying (max two pages)
CV
Diplomas of bachelor and Master level degrees
Bachelor/Master theses work/other relevant publications
Other merits of relevance for the position
Contact information to two reference persons

Other and contact

For more information please contact Nina Karalija, nina.karalija@umu.se

More information about the group’s research can be found on our website: https://www.umu.se/en/staff/nina-karalija/

You who are admitted to doctoral studies at the Faculty of Medicine will be enrolled in the faculty-wide doctoral education programme. The doctoral programme comprises 25 credits and is offered in two study variants: 25 credits spread over 8 terms (a total of 4 years) or over 12 terms (a total of 6 years), starting each autumn and spring semester. More information about the programme can be found on the faculty’s web page for doctoral studies https://www.aurora.umu.se/en/organisation-and-management/organisation/faculties/faculty-of-medicine/doctoral-studies/

Welcome to apply!

Information box

Admission- 2023-09-01 or upon agreement
Salary- Monthly Salary
Application deadline- 2023-05-28
Registration number- AN 2.2.1-772-23

Contact

Nina Karalija
nina.karalija@umu.se
Union representative
SACO- 090-7865365
SEKO- 090-7865296
ST- 090-7865431