Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Data Science and Precision Medicine

About the position

At the Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, there is a full-time position available as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

We invite applications for a 3-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for an ambitious researcher with a relevant PhD to join an international, interdisciplinary team at the forefront of AI-driven precision neuroscience. The position is part of a collaborative effort between University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, UC San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), and affiliated partners, focused on integrating multimodal brain imaging, genomics, and clinical data to advance understanding and prediction of dementia and related psychiatric disorders. The postdoctoral position is part of the “ResiliDem” project and the “Talent Utland” program funded by the Research Council of Norway. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the development of next-generation AI tools for large-scale, longitudinal, and federated datasets – bridging computational innovation, biology, and clinical applications. 

More about the position

The Centre for Precision Psychiatry is dedicated to research on severe mental and neuropsychiatric disorders. The Centre runs a series of multidisciplinary studies involving hospital departments in Oslo, research groups at the University of Oslo, and international collaborators. The main goal is to develop tools and knowledge for precision medicine in brain disorders, building on advanced statistical methods and AI-tools for analysis of large-scale human genetic and neuroimaging data, to better understand how biological, psychological, and environmental factors contribute to severe mental and neuropsychiatric disorders, their treatment, and outcomes. The Centre has access to a large database of biomarkers, clinical, and cognitive variables, genotyping and sequencing data, and MRI brain imaging data on patients with neuropsychiatric and severe mental disorders. In addition, we work closely with national population cohorts (Tromsø, HUSK, HUNT), and collaborate with Nordic partners to leverage the registry and biobank information across countries, as well as large international consortia, including the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), the ENIGMA consortium, and data from ADNI, NBDC, UKBiobank and others. We have close collaboration with international partners at UC San Diego and the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), and work with leading industry partners, such as Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft.

For more information about the Centre, please visit our website: Centre for Precision Psychiatry

The postdoctoral fellow hired for this position will work with a multidisciplinary team including clinicians as well as with experts in statistics, applied mathematics, AI-methodology, and computer science. Further, the candidate will work with the Centre’s datasets, analytical methodology, and computational tools, including state-of-the-art data storage and research infrastructure, hosted at the USIT TSD service (https://www.uio.no/english/services/it/research/sensitive-data/index.html).

The main purpose of the fellowship is to qualify researchers for work in higher academic positions within their disciplines.

Our research environment is international, friendly and inspiring, and the position represents a unique opportunity for career development for a hard-working candidate. 

Main responsibilities 

• Develop and apply machine learning and statistical modeling techniques, including novel AI architectures, for the analysis of complex traits and precision prediction in psychiatry using multimodal longitudinal data (genetic, imaging, clinical, and behavioral).
• Perform quality control, harmonization, and imputation of registry, biobank, and imaging datasets – leveraging large international resources (e.g., UK Biobank, NBDC, All of Us, HUNT, HUSK, and other Norwegian and Nordic cohorts).
• Design and coordinate federated analytical infrastructure, ensuring secure and efficient integration of data across computational environments and research partners.
• Collaborate closely with clinicians, neuroscientists, and molecular biologists to interpret AI-based findings and translate models into clinically actionable tools for early diagnosis, risk prediction, and patient stratification.
• Develop and execute the scientific components of the ResiliDem project, including study design, analytical strategies, and publication plans.

Qualifications

Required

• PhD in applied mathematics, computer science, AI/ML, medicine, statistical genetics, psychology, molecular genetics, or a related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in machine learning, deep learning, or advanced statistical analysis applied to complex, multimodal data.
• Hands-on experience with high-performance computing (HPC) or cloud-based big-data pipelines.
• Experience with large-scale human genomic, omics, or brain imaging datasets.
• Strong programming skills in Python, R, or MATLAB, with emphasis on data analysis and AI model development.
• Research experience in biomedicine or health data.
• Excellent proficiency in written and spoken English.

Preferred 

• Research experience related to Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or neurodegenerative disorders.
• Background in or close collaboration with the healthcare or biomedical research sector.
• Experience with AI frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn), AI Agents, Foundation Models, and data engineering workflows.
• Experience with Federated Learning methods (e.g., nvflare) and working within Trusted Research Environments (TREs)
• Experience with tools and pipelines for Image Analysis (e.g., FreeSurfer and FSL) and Genetics (e.g., PLINK)
• Participation in international or multi-site collaborations, ideally involving secure or federated data infrastructures.

Personal attributes

• Highly organized, self-driven, and goal-oriented, with strong productivity and attention to detail.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary research teams.
• Strong motivation and a genuine interest in developing AI tools for precision medicine and brain health research.
   

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We need different perspectives in our work 

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues—could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports.

More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

We hope you will apply for the position with us. 

We offer

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• A pleasant and stimulating work environment.
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities. 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK 600 000 - 680 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.

Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.

Application

Your application should include:

• Application letter.
• CV.
• A complete list of publications.
• Transcripts and certificates.
• Contact information for 2-3 references.

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews. 

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we cannot, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO.

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.