PhD in Science Studies

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is seeking a highly motivated and talented PhD Fellow to commence January 1, 2024, at the Medical Museion, part of Department of Public Health and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR), University of Copenhagen.

The PhD fellowship is part of the CBMR International PhD & Postdoc Program.

About us
Medical Museion
The PhD position is situated in CBMR’s Program for Metabolic Science in Culture, based at Medical Museion. The Medical Museion is a University Medical Museum at the Department of Public Health. It combines an interdisciplinary research group that looks at health and medical sciences in their cultural, historical, and philosophical context. The Center’s scientific research invokes fundamental questions about the relationship between medical science, clinical medicine, and human experience; and the Medical Museion’s starting point is that metabolic research is an integral part of culture and history. We produce exhibitions, events, collection projects, and online communication, all informed by both biomedical science and our humanities research program covering philosophy of science, history of science, medical humanities, STS, museology, and anthropology.

Department of Public Health
The Department of Public Health’s focus is to improve the health of the population and the connection between health and society. The Department provides the scientific foundation for efforts that aims to improve public health, both nationally and globally, and to create greater insight into the links between health, the individual and society as well as the ethical, equity and political implications. This is achieved through research, education and engagement with stakeholders and the public at large with a wide-ranging multidisciplinary research agenda covering most aspects of public health at a high international level. You can read more about the Department of Public Health here.

CBMR
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research’s vision is to strengthen interdisciplinary research that transforms our basic understanding of the mechanisms that underlie cardiometabolic health and disease, and to accelerate this knowledge toward new prevention and treatment strategies. We were established in 2010, and in 2017, we moved into new laboratories and offices in the Maersk Tower.

The Center has around 260 employees who work in an international, highly collaborative research environment across a range of biomedical disciplines. For more information, visit www.cbmr.ku.dk.

Our research
The PhD student will be overseen by Group Leader Associate Professor Karin Tybjerg and will be fully integrated into the Center and in the Medical Museion research environment. The project will also form part of an interdisciplinary group of researchers investigating diagnostic processes and views of the body in medicine from philosophical, historical, and anthropological viewpoints.

Project description
The project sets out to investigate the technological platforms at CBMR. The platforms occupy an intermediary role between experimental set-ups and instruments: they are under exploration, but also aim to standardize complex experimental methods. They thus occupy a role in between what Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, philosopher and historian of experiments, called epistemic things and technological systems respectively.

The project will explore the thesis that such platforms – with their double role of offering new types of data while applicable to a range of research questions – become interdisciplinary points of contact. They act as material lenses that both coordinate and distribute insight.

The project asks:

1. How do platforms mediate between different scientific disciplines, biological scales, and bodily systems?
2. How do platforms act as hubs of social interaction and interdisciplinary exchange in the center.

Methodologically the project will mix ethnographic methods of observation or interview within CBMR with conceptual work drawing on philosophy of science in practice or STS.

Subprojects will be developed in collaboration between the candidate, and staff at Medical Museion and the platforms at CBMR. They will depend on the skillset and interests the candidate brings to the project. Examples include:

• Investigate the role and potentialities of the single cell omics platform. The platform offers a technology that is becoming increasingly popular and is in the process of being standardized for instance through the development of cell atlases. What classificatory tensions emerge when integrating across different organs and scales?
• Investigate the connections between how platforms tie different research groups and different research questions together.
• Compare the case of technological platforms to cases of older technologies and their development from explorative technologies to standard instruments such as the thermometer, the isotope tracer method, or microarrays.

The project will open for exchange with international collaborators.

Principal supervisor is Associate Professor Karin Tybjerg, [email protected]

Start: January 1, 2024.

Duration: 1 year as Research Assistant followed by 3 years as PhD Fellow contingent on a positive evaluation of the 1st year.

Profile
The PhD fellowship is aimed at early-career researchers with a mixed background in science and science studies. We are looking for a highly motivated and accomplished research-student with the following competencies and qualifications:

• A master’s degree in a relevant humanities or social science discipline, e.g., philosophy, history, medical humanities, STS, public health or anthropology preferably with experience of working on topics of medicine, science or technology

or

• A master’s degree in biomedical, biological or health sciences preferably with experience of working with topics or methods from the humanities or social sciences
• Experience with studying science from the humanities or social science perspectives and with engaging with scientists and scientific literature
• An ambitious, independent, and critical mindset
• Confidence in designing own research methodologies
• Enthusiasm for public communication or museum work
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and oral

Eligibility
The PhD fellowships within the CBMR International PhD & Postdoc Program are open for applicants that hold a master’s degree equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years). The master’s degree has to be obtained before January 1, 2024. You are not eligible to apply for the program if you have been employed in a Research Assistant position for more than two years at the University of Copenhagen prior to the commencement of the fellowship.

Terms of employment
The employment consists of 1 year as a Research Assistant followed by 3 years as PhD Fellow contingent on a positive evaluation of the 1st year. Starting date is January 1, 2024.

The employment as PhD Fellow 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.

Questions
For further information about the position, please contact Associate Professor Karin Tybjerg at [email protected]. Questions regarding the CBMR International PhD & Postdoc Program must be directed to [email protected]. For questions regarding the recruitment procedure, please contact HR at [email protected].

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website.

The University of Copenhagen International Staff Mobility office offers support and assistance to all international researchers on all issues related to moving to and settling in Denmark.

Application procedure
Your online application must be submitted in English via the ‘Apply now’ link below. Furthermore, your application must include the following documents/attachments – all in PDF format:

• Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
• CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant to the position
• 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
• List of publications and/or a sample of writing
• References (name and contact details of at least two references)

Application deadline: July 2, 2023, at 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. 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 can read about the recruitment process at www.employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process.

The applicant will be assessed according to Ministerial Order No. 242 of March 13, 2012, on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of their personal backgrounds.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk