项目介绍

2025年3月12日

The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract researchers and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.

Doctoral position in Medical Science

Project title: Development of weakly and unsupervised machine learning in digital Pathology

The Department of Laboratory Medicine is located at the Institute of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. 

General information about being a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg can be found on the university’s doctoral student pages https://www.gu.se/en/doctoral-studies

Duties   

Doctoral education in Medical Science comprises carrying out a scientific project and completing at least 30 credits of courses at third-cycle level. The doctoral student must also write a scientific compilation thesis or monograph corresponding to at least 120 credits. For more information about third-cycle studies at Sahlgrenska Academy, see https://www.gu.se/en/sahlgrenska-akademin/doctoral-studies

Project: Skin diseases are common and cause significant morbidity globally. Skin cancer incidence is rapidly increasing. The gold standard for diagnosis is histopathological verification, which burdens dermatopathology laboratories. Challenges include high interobserver variability and increased workload. Digitalization enables AI solutions in digital pathology. Deep learning can increase diagnostic precision, reduce diagnosis time, and decrease variability. Weakly supervised and unsupervised learning methods are being developed to handle large datasets efficiently.

The purpose is to develop deep learning-based methods to:

• Predict metastatic potential in primary cutaneous melanoma.
• Diagnose common dermatoses.
• Develop unsupervised learning for differential diagnosis of skin tumors.

Implementation: Several hundred WSIs of skin cancers and benign skin tumors will be analyzed using unsupervised and weakly supervised dual steam multiple instance learning. Furthermore, several hundred WSIs and clinical images of common dermatoses collected for development of  unsupervised and weakly supervised diagnostic computational pathology methods. The results will be validated with external datasets.

Significance: The research can improve cancer diagnostics, enable early adjuvant treatment, reduce workload, shorten diagnostic delays, and reveal new histopathological features. The integration of AI in digital pathology has the potential to improve patient outcomes and streamline workflows in dermatopathology.

It is desirable that applicants have experience in AI development within pathology, with a special focus on skin pathology. 

Doctoral studies comprises four years of full-time study, and leads to a doctoral degree.  As part of your employment as a doctoral student, you may have departmental duties corresponding to up to 20 % of full-time employment, distributed throughout your study period, and result in a corresponding extension of the studies. Departmental duties usually consist of teaching at first- and second-cycle levels, but may also include research and administration.    

Eligibility   

Doctoral education requires general eligibility and, where appropriate, specific eligibility as set out in the general syllabus for the subject.  

The general eligibility requirements for doctoral studies are:    

1. having completed a degree at second-cycle level, or
2. the fulfilment of course requirements totalling at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits must be at second-cycle level, or  
3. the acquisition of equivalent knowledge in some other way, either in Sweden or abroad. 

Specific entry requirements for this subject, according to the general syllabus, are:

having successfully completed the English B/6 course or is considered to have acquired equivalent knowledge through previous studies. 

Assessment criteria    

The selection of applicants who meet the basic and specific eligibility requirements will be based on the ability to assimilate the doctoral studies. The assessment shall attach particular importance to documented qualifications for:

– specific knowledge and skills within the subject area and related research fields
– experience of scientific theory and relevant research methodology
– scientific analysis and presentation verified through an academic paper, degree project, scientific
journals or the like.   

Admission and employment   

Once you have been admitted to doctoral studies, you will be employed as a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg. The provisions for employment as a doctoral student can be found in ordinance SFS 1993:100. Initial employment as a doctoral student may apply for a maximum of one year, and may be renewed by a maximum of two years at a time. A doctoral student may be employed as a doctoral student for a maximum of eight years, but the total period of employment may not be longer than the equivalent of full-time education at doctoral level for four years.   

Location: Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine. Extent: 100%. First day of employment: as agreed.

The University applies a local agreement on salaries for doctoral students.

Please note, doctoral studies at the Institute of Biomedicine requires physical presence to conduct the studies. If the admitted applicant needs a residence permit for higher education to pursue studies in Sweden, the Institute of Biomedicine has the right to revoke the admission decision if the applicant cannot present a valid residence permit no later than at the start of the studies. 

Contact information 

For more information about the project please contact principal supervisor
Noora Neittaanmäki, Associate Professor, Institute of Biomedicine, 
e-mail: noora.neittaanmaki@gu.se 

Unions 

Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg can be found here:   
https://www.gu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss/hjalp-for-sokande    

Application   

You can apply to be admitted to doctoral education via the University of Gothenburg’s recruitment portal. It is your responsibility to ensure that the application is complete as per this notice, and that the University receives it by the final application deadline.   

You must include the following, in pdf format

• Personal letter
• CV
• Diploma and transcripts showing that you meet with the general entry requirement
• Proof of completion of English 6 course or the acquired equivalent knowledge through previous studies

If your degree is from a university outside of Sweden, make sure that you attach a diploma and full transcripts that makes assessing your degree easier.  

If your degree has not been verified by a Swedish authority you need to provide contact details to the issuing university, registrar or similar, that can verify the degree at our request.

For information on what you need to submit in order to fulfill the English language requirement see https://www.universityadmissions.se/en/entry-requirements/english-language-requirements/

Applications must be received by: 2025-04-01

Information for International Applicants 

Choosing a career in a foreign country is a big step. Thus, to give you a general idea of what we and Gothenburg have to offer in terms of benefits and life in general for you and your family/spouse/partner please visit: 

https://www.gu.se/en/about-the-university/welcome-services 
https://www.movetogothenburg.com/