Postdoctoral position in infectious-disease epidemiology

Postdoctoral position in computational climate-sensitive infectious-disease epidemiology

The department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, the unit of Sustainable Health, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher in computational climate-sensitive infectious-disease epidemiology. The employment is a full-time, permanent employment for two years starting 24-08-23 or as agreed upon.

Description of the project

The position is advertised within the framework of the Horizon Europe IDAlert project (idalertproject.eu), which seeks to understand the impact of climate change and adaptation responses on the emergence infectious diseases in Europe. An integral part of the project is to develop advanced decision support tools through data-driven epidemiological modelling allowing for projections and scenario assessments.

Work responsibilities

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to engage in advanced spatio-temporal epidemiological modeling of infectious diseases, utilizing data mining, data science, and machine learning techniques. The focus includes integrating diverse datasets, encompassing environmental, climatic, social, demographic, travel, and disease occurrence information. The objective is to develop disease risk indicators and track changes and perform analyses on outbreak or transmission risk of relevant pathogens such as West Nile virus and other vector borne pathogens at different spatio-temporal scales in Europe. The ideal candidate is expected to independently and in collaboration perform research aiming at meeting project objectives and to disseminate results through publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, seminars, and conferences.

Eligibility 

A person who has been awarded a doctorate or a foreign qualification deemed to be the equivalent of a doctorate in quantitative epidemiology and public health with a strong component of statistics, mathematics is eligible for appointment as postdoctoral researcher. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time at which the appointment decision is made. 

We are seeking a candidate with strong quantitative skills in data analytics, data science, and epidemiological modeling of infectious diseases. A background in public health, quantitative infectious disease epidemiology, and disease ecology, especially with respect to vector borne or zoonotic diseases. Proficient programming skills in R, MATLAB, or Python, is essential.

Additional useful qualifications

Since appointment as a postdoctoral researcher is a career-development position for junior researchers, we are primarily interested in applicants who completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the application deadline. If there are special reasons, an applicant who has completed their degree earlier than that may be considered. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, clinical practice, appointments of trust for a trade union organisation or other similar circumstances, and for relevant duties/assignments within the subject area. 

Experience in handling extensive climate datasets, conducting simulations on high-performance cluster computers, and proficiency in bash programming would be advantageous. Experience in work with AI-based (e.g., eXtreme Gradient Boosting and related) and process-based epidemiological models is valuable. The scientific work is conducted within the research group as well as in association with a larger collaborative scientific network, and good communication and collaborative skills are important. A background in mathematics is meriting.

More information about the position

The appointment is a full-time, fixed-term position for two years in accordance with the terms of contract for fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral researcher from 1 February 2022.