Doctoral Student in Epidemiology on Susceptibility to Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

Description of the workplace

We are now looking for a driven PhD student who will work on the PhD project “Variation in susceptibility against lower respiratory tract infections: causes, consequences and preventive measures” and be involved in the group's other research projects.

The successful candidate will join the EPI@Lund research group located at the Department of Laboratory Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine. The group is led by Prof. Jonas Björk and conducts research on improved preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics and other health crises as well as other register-based epidemiological research. Our network is interdisciplinary and spans several faculties at Lund University. We have close collaborations with other universities in Sweden, including Umeå, Stockholm and Halmstad. We are also part of a national network around epidemiological modeling and collaborate with other researchers both in the Nordics and internationally.

We offer

Lund University is a public authority which means that employees get particular benefits, generous annual leave and an advantageous occupational pension scheme.

Our research group is located at Forum Medicum in Lund which offers opportunities for exchange with other researchers both within and outside the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University. Furthermore, we have a flexitime agreement that provides good conditions for work/life balance.

Read more on the University website about being a Lund University employee: Work at Lund University.

Work duties and areas of responsibility

The overarching objective of the PhD project is to study variation in susceptibility against lower respiratory tract infections, identifying contributing causes, assessing consequences and evaluating preventive measures. The project consists of four studies. The specific research questions associated with the four studies are:

• How can comprehensive population and health register data be used for spatio-temporal surveillance of vulnerabilities during outbreaks of infectious diseases, epidemics and pandemics?
• How can biomonitoring data be used to explain differences in vulnerability by varying immune response, improve risk stratifications and predictions of disease outcomes?
• Which neighborhood-level conditions can explain differences in the public health impact across large disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics?
• How can preventive measures, vaccination strategies as well as non-pharmaceutical interventions, be designed to meet and counteract variation in susceptibility on the individual and neighborhood?

In addition to following the study plan for the doctoral education, as well as participating in relevant courses for the education, the following tasks are also included:

• Maintaining and expanding the register data infrastructure available at Lund University for the research project. This task includes contributions to submissions to the Ethical Review Board, coordination of data requests from register holders, and some basic data management.

The doctoral student must actively participate in seminars and other important meetings and present the project at meetings in accordance with the study plan.

The doctoral student has further responsibility to:

• seek contact with the colleagues who best support a discussion about the results
• find avenues for career support
• formulate, develop and optimize the ways of communication with supervisors and colleagues that best promote the doctoral student's working methods and aspects.

Qualifications

Requirements for employment are:

• MSc in epidemiology, public health, biostatistics, or another health-related field
• Very good reading and writing comprehension in English
• Strong interest in conducting register-based epidemiological research
• Eagerness to acquire a thorough understanding of quantitative epidemiological methods both independently and with peers
• High motivation and good ability to collaborate in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural research environment

Additional qualifications for the position are:

• Experience with statistical programming using Stata or R
• Documented ability to manage and analyze large datasets, including population and health care registers
• Experience working with research or research-related work
• Strong skills in scientific communication, both written and oral
• Experience with geospatial analyses or with GIS software (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS)
• Good command of both written and spoken Swedish

Emphasis will be put on personal qualities. We are looking for someone who is driven, curious and taking responsibility. As the research group works in an international environment, good communication skills and collaboration skills are required. In addition, the duties require organizational skills and ability to prioritize tasks.

Further information

The employment is limited to four years full-time in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance (HF 5 kap 7§) in Sweden with a desired start date of August 1, 2025 or as agreed. Interviews will be conducted as part of the recruitment process at our premises in Lund or digitally.

Eligibility

Students with basic eligibility for third-cycle studies are those who
- have completed a second-cycle degree
- have completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or
- have acquired largely equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

Assessment basis

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

How to apply

Applications are to be submitted via the University’s recruitment system. The application should include a personal letter justifying your interest in the position and how it matches your qualifications. The application should also include a CV, degree certificates or equivalent and any other document to which you would like to draw attention (copies of grade transcripts, details of referees, letters of recommendation, etc.).