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PhD Fellowships 2018 in Comparative Pediatrics and Nutrition, Denmark

Publish Date: Aug 06, 2018

Deadline: Sep 02, 2018

Three PhD Fellowships in Comparative Pediatrics and Nutrition

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (IVH), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen is offering three PhD Fellowships in the Section of Comparative Pediatrics and Nutrition to commence on 1st November 2018 or soon thereafter. The positions are limited to three years.  
  
Background  
In the Section of Comparative Pediatrics and Nutrition, we use highly specialized animal models in piglets to investigate treatments (mainly nutrition and bacterial interventions) that improve the health of both newborn animals and infants. A smaller part of the work includes infant studies at hospitals as well as basic biochemical studies using isolated cells.  
 
For both infants and animals, disease problems are very common just after birth. The problems are greatest when birth occurs prematurely (~10% of all infants born) and when organs are immature and poorly able to tolerate life after birth. Such newborns often suffer from defects related to an immature gastrointestinal tract, reduced immunity and delayed brain development. Optimal provision of nutrition and controlling the bacterial colonization help to adapt the immature organs and prevent serious diseases. Still, there are many questions regarding the optimal feeding pattern (slow or fast feeding with mother’s milk, formula or supplements) and ways to control the microbiota (e.g. pre-, pro- and antibiotic interventions). See our publications from the last 5-10 years to know more.  
 
Project description  
The three PhD projects are part of ongoing research projects in the section (for examples see www.NEOMUNE.ku.dk). In these projects, we investigate if specific bioactive milk components, including lipids, oligosaccharides and proteins, or bacterial interventions improve gastrointestinal health, immunity and brain development after birth. Animal studies using preterm pigs will be a central component in all three PhD projects, although other types of studies may be included (cellular or human studies). The study interventions typically run for up to 30 days until the pigs are euthanized for tissue sampling. The pigs are fed parenteral and enteral nutrition and various in vivo tests are performed during the study period. Many biochemical tissue and blood analyses are performed. With help from our research team, the PhD fellows are expected to be responsible for running the animal experiments, perform laboratory analyses, data analyses and statistical analyses and for publishing the results in international peer reviewed journals. Both the experimental animal work and laboratory analyses are labour-intensive and may require great flexibility in working hours across day/night time and sometimes weekends. The research team include persons with a large range of background education, e.g. veterinary, medical, food science and nutrition, or molecular biology. For the three positions, we need PhD students with different educational backgrounds. We frequently work across different laboratories in Denmark as well as other countries.  
 
Principal supervisor  
Per Sangild, Thomas Thymann or Stine Bering  
 
Required qualifications  
• MD, DVM or other similar clinically-relevant training, or an MSc education that is relevant to our current work areas as described above  
• High motivation and work flexibility are essential  
• Good communication skills both oral and written, including English usage  
• Good collaborating skills are essential  
• Prior research experience, preferably involving data statistics and lead publications  
 
And as many as possible of the following qualifications:  
• Experience with translational research with animals (preferably pigs) in related fields  
• Experience with related clinical research in infants/children  
• Experience in nutrition and food/feed science  
• Competence in gastroenterology, immunology, microbiology, pathology and/or neurology  
• Laboratory analytical skills, potentially including proteomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics and/or metabolomics  
 
General job description  
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (SUND) are to:  
• Manage, carry through and conclude your research projects, from experiments to analyses of samples  
• Actively participate in PhD courses  
• Write scientific articles and finalize your PhD thesis  
• Participate in international congresses  
• Conduct a research stay at an institution abroad  
• Teach and disseminate your research  
 
We offer  
• A highly important research topic, aiming to improve the health of newborn individuals, especially those born compromised.  
• A scientific environment with highly dedicated colleagues from wide academic backgrounds  
• An international work atmosphere with a large proportion of non-Danish co-workers  
• Research that makes a difference for basic and applied pediatrics of infants and animals  
 
Key criteria for the assessment of candidates  
• The grade point average achieved in relevant University degrees  
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD programme and project described  
• Previous publications (if any)  
• Relevant work experience  
• Other professional activities  
• Language skills, including English  
• Personal resources to lead research, interpersonal and collaborative skills  
 
Formal requirements  
The position is available for a 3-year period for applicants holding a relevant master’s degree.  
The successful candidate will be requested to formally apply for enrolment as a PhD Fellow at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences. Employment as a PhD Fellow will be conditional on successful enrolment in the PhD programme according to the rules stipulated in “Bekendtgørelse nr. 18 af 14. januar 2008 om ph.d.-graden.“  
 
Terms of employment  
Salary and other terms and conditions of appointment are set in accordance with the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations) or other relevant professional organisations. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary begins around DKK 26,754 (approx. 3.591 EUR) plus pension. The position is covered by the Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (2013).  
 
Questions  
For further information about the position please contact Associate professor, Stine Bering, email sbs@sund.ku.dk    
 
Foreign applicants may find the following links useful www.ism.ku.dk (International Staff Mobility) and https://www.workindenmark.dk  
 
General information about PhD programmes at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available on the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/ 
 
Application procedure  
The application must be submitted in English, by clicking on “Apply online” below and must include the following:  
• Cover letter detailing your motivation and background for applying for the specific PhD project  
• CV  
• Diploma and detailed transcripts of records (MSc and BSc)  
• Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications (if any), peer reviewed and other  
• Personal recommendations (if any)  
• A maximum of 3 relevant scientific works which the applicant wishes to be included in the assessment (if any)  
 
The deadline for applications is 2nd September 2018. Any applications received after this time or incomplete will not be considered.  
 
Receipts of the applications will be acknowledged, and the applicant will be kept continuously informed of the progress of the application.  
 
The further process  
Shortlist: After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorised recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointment Committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert assessment committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself. You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk.  
 
Assessment: The selected applications will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities and the University of Copenhagen’s guidelines 2013. The Assessment Committee makes a non-prioritised assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.  
 
Please note that the applicant will be contacted if the assessment committee requires further documentation.  
 
The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.  
 
For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.

This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

https://employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=147596

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Disciplines

Health

Medicine

Study Levels

PhD

Opportunity Types

Fellowships

Eligible Countries

International

Host Countries

Denmark