项目介绍

2025年5月15日

There is a vacancy for a PhD Research Fellow in computational biology at the Department of Informatics. The position is for a fixed-term period of 3 years with the possibility of a 4th year with career-promoting work (e.g. teaching duties at the Department). The position is subject to financing by NFR. 

About the project/work tasks:

The successful candidate is involved in developing ensemble learning strategies for cell-type deconvolution to improve performance and to provide error estimates. This includes both implementing pistemic uncertainties (model uncertainties) and aleatoric uncertainty (stochastic errors from the measurement process). Further exploration of adversarial learning strategies for ensemble generation to provide an out-of-the-box solution for cell-type deconvolution which provides error estimates are planned.

Second, in the overall NFR project algorithms for cell type deconvolution on spatial transcriptomics data get developed. These algorithms as well as the ones for error predictions shall get implemented in the existing Deconomix software package and GUI application. This shall make the algorithms accessible and re-usable to both expert bioinformatician and wet-lab biologists with little programming knowledge.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• Applicants must hold a master’s degree or equivalent education in physics, mathematics, computational biology, informatics or similar. Master students can apply provided they complete their final master exam before 01.09.2025. It is a condition of employment that the master’s degree has been awarded.
• Experience from or competence in front and back-end development in Phyton is a requirement.
• Experience from or competence in mathematical model development for deconvolution models is a requirement.
• Experience from or competence in working with biological data is a requirement.
• Experience in working with high dimensional biological data from single cell RNASeq and spatial transcriptomics data is an advantage.
• Experience in supervised and unsupervised learning techniques is an advantage.
• Experience with cell type specific interactions is an advantage.
• Experience in other programming languages than Python is an advantage.
• Statistical knowledge (survival analyses, linear regression, etc.) is an advantage.
• Working experience in interdisciplinary teams (i.e. in medicine) is an advantage.
• Experience in working with cancer data is an advantage.
• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner and demonstrate good collaborative skills.
• Applicants must be proficient in both written and oral English. 

Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, ambitions and potential will also count when evaluating the candidates.

Special requirements for the position 

The University of Bergen is subjected to the regulation for export control system. The regulation will be applied in the processing of the applications. 

About the PhD Research Fellow position:

About the PhD Research Fellow position:

The fellowship will be for a period of 3 years, with the possibility for a 4th year contingent on the qualifications of the candidate and the teaching needs of the department and will be decided by the Head of department upon appointment. If a 4th year is granted, one year of career-promoting work associated with teaching, dissemination or research infrastructure/services, will be distributed over the full employment period and thus corresponding to 25 per cent of the time each year.

The employment period may be reduced if you have previously been employed in a qualifying post (e.g. research fellow, research assistant).

About the research training

As a PhD Research Fellow, you must participate in an approved educational programme for a PhD degree within a period of 3 years. The deadline for applying for admission to the PhD programme at The Faculty of Science and Technology is 2 months after you start your position or after the start of the research project that will lead to the PhD degree. It is a condition that you satisfy the enrolment requirements for the PhD programme at the University of Bergen.

We can offer:

• A good and professionally stimulating working environment 
• Salary as PhD research fellow (code 1017) in the state salary scale. This constitutes a gross annual salary of NOK 540 500 . Further increases in salary are made according to length of service in the position.
• Enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Good welfare benefits

Your application must include:

• A brief account of the applicant’s research interests and motivation for applying for the position
• The names and contact information for two referees. One of these should be the main advisor for the master’s thesis or equivalent thesis 
• CV
• Transcripts and diplomas showing completion of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you have not yet completed your master’s degree, please submit a statement from your institution confirming the expected date of award of your master’s degree. Your master’s degree must be documented with transcripts and/or diploma before starting in the position. 
• Relevant certificates
• Approved documentation of proficiency in English (if required, cf. English language requirements for PhD admission)
• A list of any works of a scientific nature (publication list with links)

The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded at Jobbnorge. 

General information:

For further details about the position, please contact Dr. Franziska Görtler, Haukeland University Hospital and CBU at University of Bergen, Franziska.Gortler@uib.no,  0047 461 25 456 and Prof. Dr. Sushma Grellscheid, CBU at University of Bergen, Sushma.Grellscheid@uib.no.

For HR related questions contact HR Adviser Karoline Christiansenat karoline.christiansen@uib.no or + 47 55 58 47 70.

Diversity is a strength that enables us to solve our tasks even better. UiB therefore needs qualified employees regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, worldview, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and age.

We encourage women to apply. If multiple applicants have approximately equivalent qualifications, the rules pertaining to moderate gender quotas shall apply.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at all times.

We encourage applicants with disabilities, immigrant backgrounds, or gaps in their CV to apply. By indicating such circumstances in your application, you may receive favourable consideration. We ensure that at least one qualified applicant from each of these groups is invited for an interview as part of our commitment to inclusivity and equal opportunity. 

For further information about the recruitment process, click here.