Interested and eligible applicants may submit their online application for PhD programs via the University’s Online Application Portal.

1. PhD Position in human geography focusing on sustainability and transitions for a changed forest landscape

Summary of PhD Program:

With climate change the risk of forest damages by for example fire, pest, and pathogens increases. There is thus a need to adjust forest management to also in the future ensure the supply of biodiversity, recreation and sustainable biomass production. The position involves work in an ongoing research project about a large-scale increase of the share of broadleaves, including fast growing broadleaves, with the purpose to contribute towards a transition towards a sustainable forest management and energy system. A large-scale transition of forest management will be affected by the forest owner’s willingness to adapt but also to what extent the change is perceived to be legitimate by society.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-12

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2. PhD Position in medical science with a focus on virology

Summary of PhD Program:

The overall aim of the project is to gain an in depth understanding of the mechanisms of virus infection in mosquitoes. The project is encompassing e.g. determination of the vector competence of mosquitos for different viruses, cellular tropism, gene expression, and immune responses at both cellular and molecular level. Co-infection in the mosquito with other microorganisms will also be studied. The study will employ advanced, virological and molecular techniques, e.g. single cell sequencing. Results from this study can be applicable in prevention and control strategies for vector-borne diseases.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-13

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3. PhD Position in Comparative Political Sociology of Climate Policymaking

Summary of PhD Program:

This PhD project will be carried out as part of the larger research project “In Search of Decoupling.” The candidate will conduct case studies with the purpose of understanding how some societies have succeeded in mitigating some environmental problems, including climate change to varying extents. Under what conditions have these successes, including key policy decisions that contributed to them, been possible? And to what degree have these achievements and policy choices reflected public opinion, come at an economic cost, and/or influenced levels and types of employment?

Last Application Date: 2022-10-15

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4. PhD Position in Medical Science with an orientation towards Pharmacology

Summary of PhD Program:

Cannabinoid CB1 and dopamine D2 receptors can physically interact to form CB1/D2 heteromers that could constitute important therapeutic targets for a wide range of CNS disorders. However, the pharmacological importance of this interaction is yet to be determined on a molecular level. The main hypothesis we are addressing is that bidirectional allosteric interactions within CB1/D2 heteromers have functional consequences for the activity of receptor complexes in both the healthy and diseased brain. Hence, the main goal of this project is to use pharmacology to characterize the effects of different CB receptor ligands on CB1/D2 heteromer-specific signalling. The project will take advantage of the key strengths of different model systems – from transfected human cell lines, mouse/human stem cell-derived neuronal models, to a pharmacological model of schizophrenia in vivo using zebrafish.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-16

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5. PhD Position in Computing Science with focus on responsible machine learning

Summary of PhD Program:

This project aims to investigate, develop and integrate responsible AI framework with learning from multiple representations by taking advantage of the complementarity, the redundancy, and specific characteristics of different representations. LMR seeks to improve performance as well as ensure responsible learning from multiple representations in comparison to methods operating on a single representation only. Typical examples of LMR include the combination of numerical and symbolic formalisms, the representation of data and models on different levels of abstraction, and the combination of different types of supervision of the learner.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-17

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6. PhD Position in chemistry, focus organic chemistry

Summary of PhD Program:

The main objective with this doctoral research project is to develop these molecules further in terms of their activity and selectivity but also to introduce chemical groups/features that make them more valuable as research tools with the aim to unravel the exact mode of action. The work thus mainly concerns synthetic organic chemistry and method development. However, because the evaluation of the compounds activity and selectivity are so central to the project you will also learn different methods to test the compounds. You will also attend group meetings with focus on the design and synthesis of the molecules as well as project meetings with collaborators where the use of the molecules in biological studies will be discussed.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-21

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7. PhD Position in Experimental Physics

Summary of PhD Program:

The selected candidate will work within the research project ‘Relativistic nanophotonics’. The unique combination of sub-two optical cycle laser pulse duration (<5 fs) and ultra-high intensities (>10^18 W/cm^2) – more details can be found here D. E. Rivas et al., Sci. Rep. 7, 5224 (2017) – opens the way towards field-controlled relativistic interactions. When nanometer-sized solid targets are used, the so-called relativistic nanophotonics regime – D. E. Cardenas et al., Sci. Rep. 9, 7321 (2019) –, these interactions involve the acceleration of electrons with highest fields beyond TV/m strength and shortest duration below 1 fs.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-21

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8. PhD Position in Applied Physics with focus on laser-based combustion diagnostics

Summary of PhD Program:

Combustion of solid biomass together with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has the potential to drastically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from renewable heat and electricity production. The most promising way to achieve this is to implement oxy-fuel biomass combustion and CCS in existing plants for heat and power generation and waste incineration. Oxy-fuel combustion produces a flue gas that consists of highly concentrated CO2, which can be directly compressed at low cost for permanent storage. However, systematic experimental studies of solid biomass oxy-fuel combustion, and studies on larger scale are scarce. The objective of this project is to acquire essential knowledge to implement BECCS in the energy system.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-28

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9. PhD Position in Medical Sciences with a research profile in Radiation Physics

Summary of PhD Program:

The main goal of this PhD project is to decrease the physical uncertainties in radiation therapy with protons, which lead to unnecessary irradiation of healthy tissue and thus potential negative side-effects for patients after cancer treatment. To achieve this goal, we will explore the possibilities to estimate human tissue characteristics with high accuracy using PCCT image data and machine learning. Through better knowledge of tissue characteristics, more accurate determination and modelling of proton range can be achieved in proton therapy treatment planning. Furthermore, this project will also cover a comparison between physical models, previously developed by the research group, and machine learning for evaluation of the impact of more accurate quantitative methods in radiation oncology.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-30

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10. PhD Position in chemistry with a focus in biogeochemistry

Summary of PhD Program:

This research project fully supports a PhD student to study mechanisms for formation of methylmercury in anaerobic microbial biofilms. This work will focus on experimental molecular level studies on mercury uptake and methylation in biofilms. The spread of mercury in ecosystems constitutes a severe threat to wildlife and human health. The problems are largely caused by formation of neurotoxic methylmercury which accumulates in aquatic food webs. Methylmercury is formed intracellular in a select group of anaerobe microorganisms by methylation of inorganic mercury. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms for cellular uptake and methylation of mercury.

Last Application Date: 2022-10-30

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Umeå University has huge a campus in Sweden and widely known as for its contribution in top notch education and research. The contribution of Umeå University is not only limited to natural sciences and engineering but it also offers high quality research as well as higher education in bio-medical sciences, social sciences, humanities, psychology, education, architecture etc.

1. PhD position in Experimental Physics

Summary of Doctoral Project:

We are looking for a PhD candidate interested in developing a state-of-the art ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy system to uncover the structure, and consequently the function, of molecular entities controlling key life processes inside our cells. The PhD project interfaces three rich fields of research: ultrafast science, optics and structural biology. The overarching goal is to measure correlations between coherent vibrations in organic molecular systems. This approach, while technically challenging, could bring the highest degree of biomolecular specificity. The primary field of study for the PhD candidate will be to develop an experimental setup that will combine the generation of ultrabroadband pulses in the MIR spectral region (from 2.5 to 15 μm wavelength) with their coherent superposition for two-dimensional mid-infrared time domain spectroscopy (2D-MIR TDS).

Last Application Date: 2022-07-31

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2. PhD position in Medical Science with an orientation towards cell biology

Summary of Doctoral Project:

Brachial plexus injuries (BPI), whether traumatic or obstetrical, cause a dramatic loss of motor function in the arms and hands. Although surgical techniques exist which may promote regeneration of the injured nerve structures, the end-organ muscles are at risk of deteriorating to the degree that functional reinnervation is impossible. The distance from the site of injury to the intrinsic muscles of the hand is normally too far for the muscle to survive until the regenerating axons reach the target. The purpose of this translational project is to introduce a novel treatment regime. We propose the administration of an advanced therapy based on stem cells, for delivery of factors to rescue muscle damage. This PhD-project aims to address pre-clinical testing and characterization of the cell-based product both in vitro and in an established animal model.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-01

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3. PhD position in political science with a focus on Transformation, Riskification and Geopolitics in the Arctic

Summary of Doctoral Project:

The aim of this doctoral project is to contribute with new empirical insights into political drivers in the development of the Arctic and to increase our contextual understanding by way of international concepts facilitating cross-disciplinary dialogue. The climate crisis and increasing competition over natural resources and security solutions challenge established forms of cooperation in the region and by extension the global goals of sustainability, for example as these are expressed Agenda 2030. The Arctic lacks an obvious center of gravity while the effects of transformation are unevenly distributed. Actors calculate risk under the influence of different geopolitical connotations. Who among the many actors involved have the power to influence Arctic transformation? Is it conceivable to arrive at a sustainable agenda, not broken by groups of optimists, skeptics and deniers?

Last Application Date: 2022-08-05

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4. PhD position in Energy Technology – Solar thermal energy production

Summary of Doctoral Project:

Solar energy is an important renewable energy resource that can be used for different thermal applications such as space and water heating in residential buildings. To integrate solar energy in district heating systems (DHSs) medium-high temperatures are needed that could be achieved with a concentrating solar thermal collector even in high latitude regions such as the Nordic countries. Such integration could contribute to decarbonizing our society by replacing biomass- and fossil-based energy resources in the Swedish DHS and to enhance energy security. The scope of this call for new PhD students is to use system approach to investigate the environmental effects and the economic effects of integrated solar thermal in the Swedish DHSs.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-05

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5. PhD student in Computational Science and Engineering with focus on Optimization for Federated Machine Learning

Summary of Doctoral Project:

Because of privacy concerns around user data, and related legislation around handling user data, there has been an increased interest in using edge devices such as mobile phones, to process user data without storing them at a central location. This has also been a major concern in privacy-sensitive areas such as in medical applications of machine learning, where sharing patient data between hospitals raises privacy issues since patient data virtually always contain private information. There has therefore been much interest lately in federated learning, a class of optimization algorithms used mainly to train a global machine learning model at disparate heterogeneous sites without sharing data between the sites. It is possible to frame federated learning as an operator splitting problem, and within the operator splitting framework, it is possible to simultaneously solve many of the problems that arise when training large-scale machine learning models on e.g., medical images or other data from multiple sites.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-14

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6. PhD student in mathematics within the WASP AI programme

Summary of Doctoral Project:

Deep learning models, particularly deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have enjoyed tremendous success on an impressive number of complex problems. However, a fundamental understanding of the mathematical descriptions of the models and their extensions to non-flat data are still lacking, presenting an exciting research problem spanning several areas such as differential geometry, numerical analysis, and dynamical systems. A promising approach, referred to as geometric deep learning, is to account for the geometry of the input data by making the networks equivariant with respect to the symmetries of the data. This means that a transformation of the input produces a corresponding transformation of the output. Making such geometric structures manifest amounts to incorporating prior knowledge of the system to facilitate learning.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-15

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7. PhD position in Mathematics with focus on Matematical Finance and Economics

Summary of Doctoral Project:

This project looks at the valuation of real options in the presence of multiple agents and strategic competition; a framework often referred to as real option games. Classical literature argues that a strategic element in real options erodes the option value, leading to a suboptimal equilibrium. Some mechanisms that reduce this effect have been discussed recently, specifically information and noise by Lambrecht as well as complementarity and cooperation. However, in recent work the supervisor showed, that access to financial markets with specifically designed structured products can alter the decision making to move away from inefficient equilibria. In the context of this research proposal, we will build on a classical setup where companies compete for projects and make investment decisions accordingly and add a market in which shares and other derivatives products on the various companies are traded. We allow the companies to trade in these and run a portfolio alongside their own business.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-15

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8. PhD position in informatics

Summary of Doctoral Project:

The ongoing digitalization of the real estate industry is of major strategic interest for both the industry itself and on the national level, as the implementation of digital technology, such as sensor-based systems (Internet of Things, IoT) are prompting real estate firms to explore new avenues for value creation and at the same time improve energy efficiency with the expectation of reaching targeted sustainability goals. The implementation of sensor technology has received considerable attention in practice, but not garnered as much attention in research, especially not from an organizational or managerial perspective. This PhD position is focused on the real estate industry’s digital transformation and intends to map and analyze the new opportunities, challenges, values ​​and practices that are created through the introduction of IoT. The purpose is to be able to contribute knowledge about how organizations consciously and strategically use new digital technology in combination with existing resources to change existing operations and achieve sustainability goals.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-15

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9. PhD student position in computational science

Summary of Doctoral Project:

Your mission will be to contribute in the development of an early warning system for detection of hazardous chemicals. This is critical for academia, stakeholders, policy makers but also industry to enable them to take action and avoid risk of exposure at a level of adverse effects of biota including humans. The mission includes developing text mining and data curation methods using artificial intelligence based methodologies and large scale inventory screenings. Data from various sources will be studied with the strive to identify indicators of hazards. Large amounts of data will be combined with biological markers for different physiological disorders with the purpose of understanding chemical triggers of hazardous effects. Machine learning based models will be developed in close collaboration with environmental chemists and (eco)toxicologists who provide underlying data and expertise. In summary, you will work with a variety of calculation-based methods with chemical and biological data. The project will be conducted in close collaboration with researchers from different disciplines and you are expected to play an active role in interdisciplinary cooperation.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-26

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10. 2 PhD position in Medical Sciences with a research profile in radiation physics

Summary of Doctoral Project:

The projects aims at developing treatment and monitoring of cancer therapies with focus on imaging based methods, primarily magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, but can also include CT and CBCT and other imaging modalities. Planning and execution of radiotherapy will be main applications of the projects. The candidate will be part of a multi-professional team including medical physicists, oncologists, radiologists and other specialties if appropriate. Image analysis, programming and use of clinical software’s and equipment will be central components of the work. Parts of the work may include machine learning and big data. The Ph.D. projects can to some degree be adjusted based on the applicants interests.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-26

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11. PhD student for our Intelligent-Human-Building Interactions lab (IHBI)

Summary of Doctoral Project:

The energy retrofitting measures alone do not guarantee energy saving in buildings, as the energy-related occupant behaviors have a considerable impact on actual energy performance. There is growing evidence that occupant-centric energy retrofitting can achieve significant energy savings. The purpose of the project is to investigate how occupant-centric energy retrofitting should be developed considering the occupant’s behaviors interacted with energy retrofitting measures. The PhD student will perform a series of experiments at the IHBI lab, in order to (1) identify energy-related occupant behaviors under various energy retrofitting measures to achieve occupant-centric energy retrofitting; (2) quantify the impacts of alternative behavior on energy consumption for a better understanding the role of the occupant in energy saving. Studies are experiment-driven and multidisciplinary, in close collaboration with municipalities and other researchers.

Last Application Date: 2022-08-29

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12. PhD Student Position in medical science, pediatrics

Summary of Doctoral Project:

The aim of this current project is to assess risk for adverse cardiac events associated with psychotropic drug treatment using national registers and epidemiological research methods. Results from these studies will fill a knowledge gap regarding psychotropic drug safety, in combination with other medications, longtime treatments, comorbidity, in different ages, sociodemographic status and sexes. The project is a joint research consortium between clinical and research specialist areas which enables several and methodological clinical aspects to be considered. The results from this study will be communicated to relevant stakeholders. The project involves a larger research group with several doctoral students. By the study´s large sample size and power to detect even smaller risk estimates, this national-wide population-based study will contribute substantially to a better risk-benefit assessment, and in the long term, lead to better personalized psychopharmacological drug treatment.

Last Application Date: 2022-09-15

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