Job Description
Being a doctoral student means being admitted to a postgraduate education (doctoral training) where one follows an individual study plan. A doctoral student engages in a research project under supervision, supplemented by courses and other learning activities. A doctoral degree requires the equivalent of four years of full-time postgraduate education.
Research group
The Center for Drug Epidemiology (CPE) at the Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, is one of the largest academic centers for drug epidemiology in Europe. We offer a dynamic environment with a broad network within academia, healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. The CPE employs around 15 people (epidemiologists, physicians, statisticians, project managers, postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students) and several affiliated researchers. We have extensive experience in national and international projects in perinatal drug epidemiology. For more information about the CPE, see https://ki.se/meds/forskning/centrum-for-lakemedelsepidemiologi
The principal supervisor, Cathrine Axfors, MD, PhD, is a clinical researcher with broad expertise in medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, and evidence synthesis. She is a strong advocate for transparent, reproducible research and creative academic pedagogy. She contributes with developmental and responsive mentorship, innovative methods, and international interdisciplinary collaboration.
The doctoral project and the doctoral student’s tasks
Many pregnant women use prescription drugs. However, because pregnant people are systematically excluded from clinical trials, there is often no or very limited information about potential risks to the fetus. The overall goal of the doctoral project is to improve knowledge about drug safety during pregnancy through large-scale, data-driven surveillance using Swedish national health registries.
As a PhD student, you will build expertise in pharmacoepidemiology, biostatistics and evidence synthesis. You will gather strategic knowledge of national registry data and learn practical research skills ranging from independent data collection to systematic review methods and advanced biostatistics.
Your tasks will be to plan the studies together with the supervisor and perform large parts of the data management, analyses, interpretation of results and script writing. In addition, as a doctoral student, you will participate in research-related activities at CPE as well as in educational activities offered within the Department of Clinical Epidemiology (KEP) and Karolinska Institutet.
What do we offer?Â
A creative, international and inspiring environment filled with competence and curiosity. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. Here we conduct successful medical research and have the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI you will meet researchers with different research areas working together. It is this cross-border collaboration that contributes to KI’s world-leading position in research. As a doctoral student, you are offered an individual research project, a well-trained supervisor, a wide range of elective courses and the opportunity to work in a successful research group. Karolinska Institutet has collaborations with prominent universities all over the world, which provides opportunities for international exchanges. As an employed doctoral student, you receive a contractual salary, you are allowed to exercise freely in our modern health care facilities and you are reimbursed for medical care.
Eligibility requirements for doctoral education
To participate in the selection for a doctoral position, you must prove both the basic (A) and the specific (B) eligibility requirements before the application period closes.
It is your responsibility as an applicant to prove your eligibility by following the instructions on the Eligibility for Doctoral Education webpage.
A) Basic eligibility requirements
You meet the basic eligibility requirements for doctoral education if you:
- have completed an advanced level degree (Master’s or Doctoral degree), or
- have completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits are at advanced level,  or
- has otherwise acquired essentially equivalent knowledge.*
Follow the instructions on  the Eligibility for doctoral education webpage .
*If you consider yourself to have equivalent knowledge, you should follow the instructions on the website Assessment of equivalent knowledge for basic eligibility for doctoral education.
B) Special eligibility requirements
You meet the specific eligibility requirements for doctoral education if you:
– Certifies knowledge of English (equivalent to English B/English 6 at high school with a passing grade).
Follow the instructions on the  English language requirements for doctoral education website.
Document verification Karolinska Institutet checks documents to detect forgeries. Karolinska Institutet reserves the right to revoke admission decisions if forgeries or irregularities are detected. Submission of false documents is a violation of Swedish law and is considered grounds for legal action.
Skills and personal qualities
We are looking for a driven and well-organized student, who can work both independently and in a team. We are particularly interested in candidates with an educational background either in public health/epidemiology/statistics or from professional programs in the health field.
Eligibility requirements:
- A degree in public health, epidemiology, mathematical statistics or biostatistics, or from a professional program in the health field (e.g. medical, nursing, midwifery or pharmacy degree)
- Excellent knowledge of scientific English, both oral and written
- Very good knowledge of Swedish or another Scandinavian language, both spoken and written.
Also of merit are:
- Experience using statistical software (e.g. R)
- Experience in research work, such as protocol writing or data processing, particularly in epidemiology, statistics, perinatal health, or clinical medicine
- Educational interest through courses in pedagogy or teaching experience
- Involvement in or experience with meta-research, research transparency or reproducibility (e.g. pre-registration of studies)
Terms
The doctoral position involves employment as a doctoral student for a maximum of 4 years full-time.
Application
You apply for the doctoral position in the recruitment tool Varbi. Use the button at the top right and follow the instructions. We prefer that your application is written in English, but it is also possible to apply in Swedish.
Your application should include these documents:
– A personal letter and curriculum vitae
– Any degree theses and publications
– Other documents that prove the skills and qualities requested above
– Documents that prove the basic eligibility requirement (see A above)
– Documents that prove the specific eligibility requirement (see B above)
Selection
Selection among eligible applicants will be made based on their ability to benefit from postgraduate education. An overall assessment of the applicants’ qualifications and suitability will be made.
The following assessment criteria are applied at Karolinska Institutet:
– Documented subject knowledge of importance to the research area
– Analytical skills
– Other documented knowledge/experience that may be of importance to the current doctoral education
All applicants will receive information when the recruitment is completed.
Center for Drug Epidemiology, https://ki.se/meds/forskning/centrum-for-lakemedelsepidemiologi
