Doctoral student in data mining for health

Background
Recent growth in the research activities and the well-established educational programs at the School of Information Technology (ITE) at Halmstad University is enabling a significant expansion.

In 2018, the total research expenditures where over 70MSEK and the number of students exceeded 850. 

Description
The selected PhD student will carry out research on developing machine learning models, for prognostic purposes, based on individual trajectories of diseases, healthcare contacts, medications and sociodemographic conditions. The projects will focus on cardiometabolic disdeases (including myocardial infarction, acute heart failure and cardiac death), hospitalization burden (including surgical need and days of hospitalization) and mortality. The follow up periods range from more than 20 years (Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort), up to 10 years (Region Halland database) down to 1-2 years in some of the emergency department databases (Lund). The machine learning work will also include developing methods that can explain the decision made by the models (XAI). The selected PhD student will be responsible for conducting research with in the AIR Lund project and for participating in the required Ph.D. course activities. The employment also includes teaching responsibilities corresponding to a maximum of 20% of full-time.

This is a full-time position available from November 1st 2020 (or as soon as possible afterwards) for a period of four years (extended one year at a time, subject to satisfactory progress of the Ph.D. study). Enough resources to fund experiments and conference travels are available. 

Qualifications
The ideal candidate has a Master’s degree in computer science, machine learning, mathematics, physics, or a related engineering discipline. A strong background in machine learning is desirable. Excellent programming skills, analytical problem solving and organizational abilities are required. Prior practical experience in deep learning is a plus.

Students expecting to finalize their degree the coming month are also welcome to apply. Only persons who are being admitted, or already have been admitted, to doctoral studies at an institution of higher education may be appointed doctoral students. (The Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, § 3). The student’s ability to benefit from doctoral studies will be taken into account when we make the appointment. (The Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, § 5).

Salary
Doctoral students are employees of the University and paid a salary according to a uniform salary scale, adjusted in relation to the progress in education.

The position includes studies up to a doctoral degree and is annually extended in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, §7. The total employment period is four years but may be extended to a maximum of five years if the student performs 20% teaching or other tasks within the university.

Application
Applications should be sent via Halmstad University's recruitment system Varbi (see link on this page).

1. a cover letter stating the purpose of the application and a brief statement of why you believe that your background and goals are well-matched with the goals of this position,

2. a Curriculum Vitae that includes at least:
a list of previous degrees, dates, and institution, transcripts for higher-education studies until most recent available

3. copies of previous transcripts and degrees,

4. summary (1-2 pages) of the master’s thesis

5. a copy of previous publications and software samples, if any, and

6. contact information for three reference persons.

List of qualifications and other documents that the applicant wishes to refer to should be enclosed with the application. All copies must be attested.

General Information
We value the qualities that gender balance and diversity bring to our organization. We therefore welcome applicants with different backgrounds, gender, functionality and, not least, life experience.

The working language at Halmstad University is English and knowledge of the Swedish language not required to start working. Also for daily life, English is spoken widely and Sweden has the highest English Proficiency index in the world. Learning to speak Swedish will make it easier to interact with public and private services, to follow local and national issues, to participate in teaching junior students, and to participate in administrative and leadership roles. National Swedish language courses (SFI) are
available on campus. Read more about Halmstad University at http://hh.se/english/discover/discoverhalmstaduniversity.9285.html