Assistant Professor in Chemistry for Life Sciences

Are you ready to shape the future of research and education? At Uppsala University, your ideas matter. We welcome top talents in Science and Technology to a world-class environment driving innovation and collaboration. Push the frontiers of science. It starts with you. 

The department of Chemistry for Life Sciences offers an outstanding interdisciplinary research environment, competitive funding, good conditions for establishing a new research group and conducting cutting-edge research. It also offers a start-up package that covers your own salary for a five-year period, the salary of two doctoral students, and a start-up package to establish experimental laboratory work.

We have a long tradition of cutting-edge research in life sciences, and expect applications that are competitive at an international level.

Much of the research conducted at the department focuses on understanding the chemical processes and molecules that occur in living organisms. Our purpose is to understand the mechanisms behind various disease processes, to develop new methods for studying and diagnosing diseases and to identify new drug candidates and target proteins. Development of new synthetic methods is also an important field of research, partly to create new molecules for use in, for example, pharmaceutical development, and partly to be able to replace existing synthetic methods with more efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives. We also work on developing methods and techniques for the analysis of complex biological samples and molecules, and we are particularly strong in mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The department hosts three infrastructure facilities: NMR Uppsala, the SciLifeLab platform for biophysical screening and characterization, and a local platform for mass spectrometry-based proteomics. In addition, the Centre for Chemical Mechanisms of Life, an excellence initiative of the Swedish Research Council, is led by professors of our department.

You can find more information about us here.

Subject area

The subject area of the position is chemistry in the life sciences with a focus on experimental organic chemistry. The broad scientific field includes, for example, synthetic method development, organometallic chemistry, and catalysis.

Duties

You will work with:

• Teaching. Teaching includes course responsibility, course administration and supervision of doctoral students. The teaching assignments will focus on organic chemistry.
• Research. To establish an independent and internationally recognized research profile in organic chemistry. To establish collaborations with research groups at the Department of Chemistry for Life Sciences and within the Faculty of Science and Technology. Actively applying for and securing external grants.
• Administration. To participate in the general academic duties of the Department of Chemistry for Life Sciences. This includes serving on committees, taking on responsibilities beyond your own research and teaching assignment, contributing to the evaluation and development of teaching and research activities, working collaboratively with colleagues, and providing support and constructive feedback to colleagues.
• Keeping up to date in your subject area and following developments in society that are relevant to your work at Uppsala University.

In choosing between eligible candidates, emphasis will primarily be given to research and teaching expertise, according particular weight to research expertise.

Qualifications required

You must have:

• a Ph.D. in chemistry with a focus on organic chemistry, or in related fields, such as inorganic chemistry or chemistry with focus on nanoscience. Preference will be given to applicants who have completed their PhD or attained equivalent expertise no more than seven years before the deadline for applications.
• research expertise in organic chemistry. In addition to academic qualifications, research qualifications from other activities may also be taken into account, such as development of technology and capacity for innovation.
• had your main employment and conducted your research activities outside Sweden for at least the past four years immediately prior to the application deadline. Shorter stays in Sweden of a total of no more than twelve months may be accepted.
• teaching expertise, according particular weight to teaching and supervision. In addition to academic qualifications, educational and teaching qualifications from other activities may also be taken into account, which include, for example, supervision, internal training or mentoring programs. The ability to link teaching to research is important.
• completed at least five weeks of teacher training for higher education of relevance to the organisation and its activities or be considered to have acquired the equivalent knowledge. The required training for teachers in higher education may be completed during the first two years of employment if there are exceptional grounds.
• documented ability to teach in Swedish or English.
• ability to work with other people and otherwise meet the demands of suitability required to perform the duties well.
• documented experience in teaching organic chemistry.
• Documented skills and expertise in productive research collaborations and in successfully leading projects.
• Documented ability to successfully compete for and secure external research funding.
• published work in the most prominent interdisciplinary and chemical journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Chemistry, Angewandte Chemie or Journal of the American Chemical Society.
• teaching expertise and research expertise that are relevant to the subject area and the duties that the position involves.

Other desirable qualifications

It would be an advantage if you have

• established your own independent research.
• been awarded larger research grants in competition, such as a starting grant for a period of at least 3 years from a university or from external research funder.
• your PhD and postdoctoral experience from an internationally leading university/research institute.

For more information on assessment and assessment criteria, see the Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University and the Faculty of Science and Technology’s Guidelines for the Appointement and Promotion of Teachers.

All qualifications must be documented in a manner that makes it possible to assess both their quality and their scope.

When the University appoints new academic staff, candidates will be selected based on a qualitative overall assessment of their competence and expertise, taking into account their potential to perform and develop the duties of the position and to contribute to the positive development of the department.

Application

Parental leave, part-time work due to childcare, trade union responsibilities, military service, or similar activities are treated as work experience and should be listed in the CV.

Instructions for applications for employment

Period of employment 
The position of Assistant Professor is fixed-term for up to six years and is intended to provide qualifications for a permanent teaching position with higher eligibility requirements. During the appointment, there is the possibility to apply for promotion to Associate Professor. If the requirements are met and suitability is confirmed, the appointee may be promoted to a permanent position as Associate Professor.

About the employment

Fixed-term employment for a maximum of 6 years. The scope is full-time. Starting date by agreement. Location: Uppsala

Further information about the position is available from: Mate Erdelyi, +46 72 9 999 166, mate.erdelyi@kemi.uu.se

We look forward to receiving your application by March 6 2026, UFV-PA 2026/112.

In the event of any disagreement between the English and the Swedish versions of this announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

We offer you

Sweden offers good working conditions, including comprehensive social benefits such as generous family-focused policies that make healthcare, childcare, and children’s education available and highly affordable. At Uppsala University, we offer the opportunity for new international staff to learn Swedish through our language courses. If you have family, they will get new contacts and support through the Uppsala International Citizen hub.

If you are an international candidate, you will find a lot of information about working and living in Sweden at http://www.uu.se/joinus.

Uppsala University’s tenure track system grants assistant professors the possibility to be assessed for promotion to the position as associate professor. The university provides support in various areas, such as scientific and educational development, leadership development as well as patent and innovation support.