Doctoral (PhD) student position in gender dysphoria, gender development, and endocrine disruptors - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Mental ill health is on the way to becoming society’s most daunting and costly problem. During the latest years, interest in questions regarding women’s mental health is growing. In 2020, Uppsala University initiated a centre for Women’s Mental Health during the Reproductive Lifespan, WoMHeR (https://uu.se/forskning/womher/?languageId=1). In the centre, multidisciplinary expertise is gathered to develop evidence-based knowledge relevant for women´s mental health. An important part of WoMHeR is a graduate school with 16 PhD projects, including this one.

Duties/Project description:
The PhD student will be part of the WoMHeR graduate school and drive an interdisciplinary project about factors that contribute to gender dysphoria in birth-assigned girls and women. The project is built upon collaboration between several scientific areas such as psychiatry, epidemiology, epigenetics, and gender research. The project combines quantitative and qualitative methods to explore links between prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, gender, sex, and neurodevelopment as well as social and epigenetic factors.

The PhD project mainly draws on biostatistical analyses of collected data in two ongoing studies; a population-based pregnancy cohort (SELMA), and a clinical cohort (SKDS), using a range of biostatistical modelling. Duties also involve qualitative data collection for generating hypotheses to be tested in the epidemiological data. The PhD student will analyse DNA methylation patterns in biobanked samples in the two studies mentioned above and use bioinformatic methods to analyse the resulting data. As well as developing their PhD thesis, the PhD student is expected to write scientific articles, present results at scientific meetings and conferences, teach on relevant courses, and actively contribute to the WoMHeR graduate school.

Requirements:
The candidate will have to meet the general entry requirements for doctoral/third-cycle/PhD education. This includes a completed advanced/second-cycle/Master’s degree, comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits have been awarded on the second-cycle/Master’s level. The candidate shall hold a degree in biology, biomedicine, health, public health or related fields.

 We are looking for an ambitious and motivated candidate who has a lively interest in and understanding of, the specificities and sensitivities regarding gender dysphoria. They also need to be interested in interdisciplinary approaches to research. Good oral and written communication skills in English as well as good collaboration skills are required.

Additional qualifications:
Experience in the field of gender dysphoria, endocrine disrupting chemicals and biostatistics and bioinformatic modelling as well as working experience in a clinical environment, with cohorts, or similar are an advantage. As qualitative interviewing might be included in the duties, good command of Swedish or the ability to learn the language within one year is meriting.

 In filling this position, the university aims to recruit the person who, in the combined evaluation of their documented qualifications, competences, skills and prior experiences, is judged most suitable to carry out and develop the work-in-hand and to contribute to a positive development of the department and WoMHeR.

Position:
The PhD student position is a 4-year appointment, and the candidate will primarily devote this time to their own research studies. Other departmental work, such as teaching or administration, may be part of the position (maximum 20%) leading to a corresponding prolongation of the PhD period up to 5 years. Salary placement is in accordance with local guidelines at Uppsala University. The applicant must be eligible for PhD studies at Uppsala University.

Information about PhD training can be found on the web site of the Faculty of Science and Technology, http://www.teknat.uu.se/Doktorand/.

Application:
The application should include 1) a letter of intent describing yourself, your research interests and the reasons why you are applying for this project, 2) a CV, 3) your Master’s thesis, 4) a copy of your degree qualifications (Bachelor, Master’s) and course grades, 5) copies of any professional qualifications, 6) the names and contact information of at least two reference persons (address, email address, and phone number), 7) any relevant publications.

Rules governing PhD candidates are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala university's rules and guidelines http://regler.uu.se/search/?hits=30&languageId=1&searchlanguage_en=English

Salary: According to local agreement for PhD students.  

Starting date: 16-11-2020 or as otherwise agreed.

Type of employment: Temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7.

Scope of employment: 100 %

For further information about the position please contact: Joëlle Rüegg, +46737121592, joelle.ruegg@ebc.uu.se

Please submit your application by 30 September 2020, UFV-PA 2020/2926.

 Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? If so, you will find a lot of information about working and living in Sweden at www.uu.se/joinus. You are also welcome to contact International Faculty and Staff Services at ifss@uadm.uu.se.