Doctoral student in Economic History – A life course approach to epidemics - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Doctoral student in Economic History – A life course approach to epidemics

Assigned duties

Those appointed to doctoral studentship shall primarily devote themselves to their studies, aimed to result in a doctoral degree. Work carried out during the studentship consists of participation in research projects as well as successful participation in postgraduate (third-cycle) courses. Those appointed todoctoral studentships may also work, to a limited extent, with educational tasks and administration at theDepartment of Economic history. However, duties of this kind may not comprise of more than 20 percent of a full-time post.

The PhD position is linked to the research project ‘Pathogens, Pandemics and the Development of Nordic Societies’. The PhD student will work in this project in collaboration with other project members.

Eligibility / Admission requirements

A person meets the general admission requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes if heor she has:

• Been awarded a second-cycle degree; or
• Satisfied the requirements for courses comprising of at least 240 credits of which at least 60 creditswere awarded in the second-cycle; or
• Acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

(Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 7, Section 39)

Specific admission requirements for doctoral studies in each subject are specified in the relevant general syllabus, available at https://www.lusem.lu.se/study/phd

Other requirements

A proficient level of English is required in both written and oral communication.

Basis of assessment

Admittance of a doctoral student is based on an assessment of the candidate’s ability to benefit from third-cycle studies, see the general syllabus for third-cycle studies, available at www.lusem.lu.se/study/phd.

The applicant’s ability to benefit from third-cycle studies and research will primarily be assessed on the basis of academic results from the first and second cycle.

Applicant’s general competence:

• Quality and content of previous written work, such as a Master’s thesis.
• Ability to participate actively in the Department’s research environment.
• Ability to perform independent scientific work.
• Good statistical and econometric knowledge.
• Data management skills and experience in working with large individual-level databases.
• Proficiency in written and oral communication.
• Relevant educational background, for example in economic history, economics, demography or statistics.
• Other relevant experiences for third-cycle education, such as work experience.

We are interested in applicants with an interest in health outcomes and life course research as well as quantitative analysis and working with large micro-level longitudinal databases. Proficiency in Swedish is an advantage, but not a requirement.

Project

The project investigates the effects of childhood conditions on cognitive ability, health, and prosperity later in life. Special attention is given to the role of exposure to epidemics, relative to social and economic factors, and to interventions such as medical care, vaccination, serum therapy, and antibiotics aimed at reducing their impact. A life course approach will be used to analyse critical ages in which disease exposures and interventions are particularly important and for whom. The project uses longitudinal databases for southern Sweden for the last 200 years as well as for the entire country from 1968 onwards. These databases have information on the socioeconomic situation in childhood, education, occupation, income, hospitalization and death by cause. In addition, data on disease exposure, vaccine uptake, public health investments, and sanitation are used.

The project is part of the wider project “Pathogens, Pandemics and the Development of Nordic Societies”, conducted by a Nordic interdisciplinary consortium of scholars from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and dedicated to understanding how different factors influence the dynamics of epidemic and pandemic infections in human populations. Throughout the work, the PhD candidate will get the opportunity to collaborate with other scholars within the consortium, including making study visits at their universities.

Terms of employment

Fixed-term employment, maximum four years (fulltime studies).

Only those admitted to third-cycle courses and study programmes at a higher education may beappointed to doctoral student.

For regulations concerning employment of doctoral students etc, see the Higher Education Ordinance,Chapter 5, Sections 1-7.

For regulations concerning admission to third-cycle courses and study programs, see the HigherEducation Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 34-41.

Application procedure

Please use Lund University job application portal when applying: http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/about/work-at-lund-university

The application must be written in English.

The application should contain:

• Personal letter in which the applicant gives a short description of him/herself and his/her researchinterests and its relevance for the project (max three pages).
• A dissertation plan (max three pages)
• Curriculum vitae.
• Grade transcripts.
• Master thesis or similar degree projects.
• If appropriate, documented language skills relevant for third-cycle studies.
• Other documents that the applicant wishes to submit.

The applicant is encouraged to name a maximum of two teachers or researchers who can give recommendation letters, but we do not consider recommendation letters with the application.