PhD fellowship in Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
We are offering a PhD fellowship in Neuroscience commencing September 15, 2024.

Our group and research
Our group focus on how the nervous system controls and generates movement. We use various experimental techniques from electrophysiology using Neuropixels probe, optical methods and genetic tools. We also have a strong foundation in theoretical neuroscience and modelling.

Project description
The project entails virus injection, optogenetic stimulation, and electrophysiology in rodents performing behavioral experiments. The work will consist of training animals (rats) to perform a visual attention task in a modified Skinner box. When the rats have learned the task, they will undergo surgery to inject a virus that will express an opsin, to allow optogenetics to perturb the neural activity in brain circuits. The effects of this perturbation will be evaluated in the visual attention task. Further, the effects will be measured using electrophysiology (Neuropixels probes) in the cerebral cortex and other parts of the brain and nervous system. The Project also entail development of optical methods and testing new tools in neuroscience in connection with using viral strategies in neuroscience.

Principal supervisor is Associate Professor Rune W. Berg, Department of Neuroscience, [email protected], Phone: +4526977394

Start: September 15, 2024

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

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, general neuroscience e.g. rodent surgery and virus injection. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:

• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in neuroscience and animal behavior.
• Language skills, both written and spoken.

Place of employment
The place of employment is at the Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories, imaging facility and microscopy.

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 September 15, 2024.

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.

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 30,700 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: 5 May 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: https://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.

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

Københavns Universitet giver sine knap 10.000 medarbejdere muligheder for at udnytte deres talent fuldt ud i et ambitiøst, uformelt miljø. Vi sikrer traditionsrige og moderne rammer om uddannelser og fri forskning på højt internationalt niveau. Vi søger svar og løsninger på fælles problemer og gør ny viden tilgængelig og nyttig for andre.

Kontakt
Rune W. Berg
E-mail: [email protected]

Info
Ansøgningsfrist: 05-05-2024

Ansættelsesdato: 15-09-2024

Arbejdstid: Fuldtid

Afdeling/Sted: Institut for Neurovidenskab