Research Fellowship in Data-Driven Life Science in Biodiversity & Evolution

About the workplace
The Swedish Museum of Natural History (NRM) is a major research institute located in Stockholm (www.nrm.se). The NRM research activities combine venerable tradition and modern scientific methods, where state-of-the-art equipment and dedicated laboratories enable high-quality research on a broad range of natural history topics. NRM is also one of the main users of the world-leading research infrastructures at the Science for Life Laboratory in Stockholm, a centre for large-scale life-sciences. NRM has a close collaboration with nearby Stockholm University, which includes a joint research centre (the Centre for Palaeogenetics), multiple shared research projects, as well as joint supervision of PhD students. At an international level, the museum has taken a prominent role in several collaborative initiatives, such as CETAF, DiSSCo, GBIF, FishBase, CBOL and the IUCN.
The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) is a 12-year initiative funded with a total of 3,1 billion SEK from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The purpose of the program is to recruit and train the next-generation of data-driven life scientists and to create globally leading computational and data science capabilities in life science in Sweden.
The program will recruit 39 eminent early career group leaders as DDLS Fellows, launch over 210 postdoctoral positions and establish a research school for 260 PhDs, within both academia and industry. The program is coordinated by SciLifeLab, a nationwide research infrastructure and a hub for cross-disciplinary life sciences. The Fellows will be recruited to the 11 participating host universities/organizations, enabling them to link up with strong local research environments as well as with the national DDLS program. The DDLS program promotes collaborative interdisciplinary work and engagement with industry, healthcare and other national and international partners, such as WASP, with the aim of bridging the life science and data science communities.
The DDLS program will focus on four strategic areas of data-driven research: cell and molecular biology, evolution and biodiversity, precision medicine and diagnostics, epidemiology and infection biology. We are now looking for the first 20 early career group leaders to join us as DDLS Fellows.
Each DDLS Fellow will receive a recruitment package of 17 MSEK, which is meant to cover 5 years of his/her own salary, two PhD students and two postdoc positions, as well as running costs. The Fellow positions are tenure-track, and the universities/organizations will assume the long-term responsibility of their support as tenured faculty.
The future of life science is data-driven. Will you be leading that change with us? Then apply now!


Work tasks
NRM is looking to fill the position as DDLS fellow in Biodiversity and Evolution. The subject area concerns research that takes advantage of the massive data streams offered by techniques such as high-throughput sequencing of genomes and biomes, continuous recording of video and audio in the wild, high-throughput imaging of biological specimens, and large-scale remote monitoring of organisms or habitats. This research subject area aims to lead the development or application of novel methods relying on machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other computational techniques to analyze these data and take advantage of such methods in addressing major scientific questions in evolution and biodiversity.
More specifically, at NRM this research will be aimed at developing a deeper and dynamic understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem change, and to enable predictions on environmental change on global and local ecosystems. This research comprises analyses of, and/or developing methods to analyse, large-scale datasets within biodiversity or evolution. The scientific topics comprise the development and evolution of life, biodiversity, human evolution, environmental research or landscape ecology. From a methodological perspective, examples of such research include analyses of large-scale data within phylogenetics, population genetics or metagenomics, as well as image analysis or research on morphological and distributional data.


Qualifications
In order to qualify for the DDLS Research Fellowship, the applicant must have completed a doctoral degree in Sweden or an equivalent degree from another country. The position is primarily aimed at applicants who have received such a degree no more than eight years before the deadline for applications.
Since the DDLS Fellowships are aimed at early career researchers, having completed a PhD degree within the last eight years will constitute an important merit. During the selection process, special attention will also be given to research excellence within the field of DDLS in biodiversity and evolution. The applicants will also be evaluated on the basis of the planned research within the subject field, as well as experience in leadership and student supervision and track record in obtaining research grants.


Scope of employment
The candidate will be employed as researcher until further notice, but no longer than five years. The contract may be extended under special circumstances, such as due to sick leave or parental leave. The successful DDLS candidate will be offered the choice to be employed at the department within the museum that best fits the candidates research profile. The museums life science departments are Bioinformatics and Genetics (BIO), Botany (BOT), Environmental Research and Monitoring (MFÖ), Palaeobiology (PAL) and Zoology (ZOO).
The DDLS Fellows at NRM will, upon a successful evalutation of their project, be offered the opportunity for their employment to be transformed into a permanent researcher position financed by NRM. Researchers employed at the NRM, including DDLS Fellows, also have the opportunity to apply for promotion to full professor.
The first five years are funded through a grant from the Wallenberg Foundation. Each recruitment package from the Wallenberg Foundation has a budget of 17M SEK to cover salary for 5 years as DDLS Fellow, two PhD positions and two postdoc positions, as well as running costs. The positions are tenure-track, and the respective hosting universities/organizations take long-term responsibility of tenured group leaders. Further information can be found at https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven