PhD-student in medical science

Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37,000 students and about 4,700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. Notably, the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was made here. At Umeå University, everything is close. Our cohesive campuses make it easy to meet, work together and exchange knowledge, which promotes a dynamic and open culture.

The ongoing societal transformation and large green investments in northern Sweden create enormous opportunities and complex challenges. For Umeå University, conducting research about – and in the middle of – a society in transition is key. We also take pride in delivering education to enable regions to expand quickly and sustainably. In fact, the future is made here.

The Department of Diagnostics and Intervention at the Faculty of Medicine announces a PhD position in the subject Medical Radiation Physics. The employment period is four years and is full-time, starting on 1 May 2024 or by agreement.

Those admitted to research level education are part of the faculty-wide research education programme at the Faculty of Medicine. The programme comprises 25 credits and includes 25 credits over 8 semesters (4 years in total). More information about the programme can be found on the faculty’s website for third-cycle education. Utbildning på forskarnivå vid Medicinska fakulteten – handbok (umu.se)).

Project description and tasks

Radiotherapy plays a critical role in the fight against cancer and is used in about half of all cancer cases. Its aim is to precisely target radiation to cancer cells, while trying to minimise damage to surrounding tissues and organs at risk as much as possible.

Today’s radiotherapy presents several challenges, most of which relate to how treatment can be tailored to each individual patient. A key part of this is to accurately segment tumours and risk areas in images of the patient. Recently, artificial intelligence-based tools have revolutionised this traditionally time-consuming task by offering automated segmentation. However, there is still much to explore, such as how these models can be applied to real-time segmentation during patient movement, and how uncertainties can be calculated and used to develop more robust treatment methods.

This research project addresses these challenges and investigates what the next step is, i.e. how treatment plans can be created and verified in real time to adapt to the patient’s position and anatomy.

The employment aims at a PhD degree and the main task of the PhD student is to engage in own research training which includes participation in research projects as well as research training courses, journal clubs, seminars etc.

Your role in the project will be to develop and evaluate models and methods. You will work in an interdisciplinary environment with expertise in radiotherapy, image analysis and machine learning.

Admission requirements

To be admitted to an education at research level, the applicant must have both general entry requirements and specific entry requirements and be assessed as having the ability otherwise required to complete the programme.

General entry requirements 

Basic eligibility for research level education is granted to those who have completed a degree at second-cycle level, completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits (credits), of which at least 60 credits are at second-cycle level, or who have acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way within or outside the country (HF chapter 7, section 39§).

Specific eligibility criteria

To be admitted to a research level education, the applicant must have the necessary knowledge from higher education or equivalent education and/or professional experience that is assessed in relation to the research programme area, as well as the necessary language skills in English. Both written and verbal skills are considered. Assessment of these skills is made by a prospective doctoral student presenting his/her research plan in English to an assessment group appointed by the Head of department.

Other qualifications 

Previous experience in machine learning, programming, image analysis, radiotherapy and experience with medical imaging systems is an advantage.

The application

The application must contain:

The application must be written in Swedish or English. The application must be made via our e-recruitment system Varbi and be received no later than 1 March 2024.

Salary placement

Salary in accordance with the established salary scale for doctoral positions.

Other information

Further information about the position is available from Anders Garpebring, Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Umeå University ([email protected])

More information about the group’s research can be found on our website https://www.umu.se/personal/anders-garpebring/

http://www.umu.se/personal/tufve-nyholm/

Welcome with your application!