We are offering a PhD fellowship in Immunology commencing from January 2025 or as close to this time as feasible.

Our group and research
The Allergic Inflammation group at the Leo Foundation Skin Immunology Research Centre within ISIM is led by Jonathan Coquet. Our interests revolve around understanding the fundamentals of allergic inflammation. Core questions for our group include: What makes inflammatory allergic responses pathogenic? What are triggers for allergic inflammation? How do environmental and genetic factors combine to mediate allergy? To explore these questions, we utilise mouse models of allergy and infection and combine them with understanding allergic inflammation in human tissues. The team is comprised of members from diverse backgrounds and participates in interdisciplinary work with national and international collaborators.

Project description

The project will focus on understanding allergic immune responses in the skin. Using mouse models and skin biopsies from patients with atopic dermatitis, we will analyse the precise phenotypes of T cells and other lymphocytes involved in skin inflammation to allergens. Gene-targeted mouse strains will be used to delete genes of interest in lymphocytes in order to understand how these might potentiate or regulate allergic inflammation.

Principal supervisor is Jonathan Coquet, Group Leader at the Leo Foundation Skin Immunology Research Centre, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, [email protected]

Start: January 2025 or as close as possible to this date

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student [+ 3 months as research assistant for enrolment, if relevant]

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying through an independent research project under supervision.

• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:

• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project, including previous experience performing wet lab experiments and presenting research work.
• Relevant work experience – This includes experience in handling and processing of human and mouse tissues (including blood, skin and other organs), multiparameter flow cytometry, animal handling, basic laboratory techniques such as ELISA/Cytometric bead arrays and qPCR.
• Other professional activities – Could include demonstrable experience in a lab environment, science communication, student/workplace groups
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in the immunology of inflammatory diseases. An interest in T helper cell biology or understanding cellular differentiation is of use.
• Good communication skills

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Leo Foundation Skin Immunology Research Centre, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research centre includes modern laboratories and access to core microscopy and flow cytometry facilities that are world class. We are situated in close proximity with other research centres, providing a vibrant and multidisciplinary work environment.

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is from the start of 2025, or as agreed.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant [during an initial three-month employment as a research assistant.]

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,716
DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April 2024 level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 24 September 2024, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in weeks 43-44.

The University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk