PhD fellowship: A life course approach to identifying predictors of loneliness and social isolation in early old age using machine learning and causal discovery methods
Department of Public Health, Section of Social Medicine invites applicants for a PhD fellowship identifying predictors of loneliness and social isolation in a large Danish quantitative data base applying machine learning and causal discovery methods.
Start date is (expected to be) 1st June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.
The project
The project aims to identify predictors of loneliness and social isolation across the life course using contemporary machine learning techniques and causal discovery methods. The analyses will be based on the unique Danish Lifecourse Aging database Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank which includes measures of loneliness and social isolation in midlife and early old age among ~10.000 Danish men and women born in the period 1949-1961. The infrastructure includes information from birth or young adulthood until early old age across several domains including demographic, socioeconomic, social, psychosocial, psychological, health related, and ageing related factors based on clinical-, test-, survey- and register based information. The project will provide suggestions for modifiable risk factors to include in future targeted intervention initiatives towards loneliness and social isolation.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for excellent candidates with a background from public health, sociology, health data science, social data science or medicine. Comprehensive skills within advanced quantitative methods will be needed.
Our group and research - and what do we offer?
The PhD student will be employed at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The PhD student will be affiliated with the Section of Social Medicine which contributes to the development of health promotion, prevention, and rehabilitation nationally and internationally with a focus on social inequality and psychosocial risk factors for poor health e.g. social isolation and loneliness. We investigate life course social, psychosocial, psychological, physiological and behavioural determinants of health and function, as well as the socioeconomic and psychosocial consequences of disease and functional decline. The phd-project will be co-supervised by leading researchers in machine learning and causal discovery methods at the Department of Public Health, see below.
Principal supervisor is Professor Rikke Lund, Section of Social Medicine, Department Public Health, rilu@sund.ku.dk phone +45 35327992
Co supervisors are professor Samir Bhatt, Section of Health Data Science & AI, assistant professor Anne Helby Petersen, Section of Biostatistics, associate professor Morten Scheibye Knudsen, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and associate professor Charlotte Juul Nilsson, Section of Social Medicine.
Job description
Responsibilities and tasks in the PhD programme are:
We are looking for highly motivated applicants with the following competences and experiences:
Employment as PhD fellow is full time and for maximum 3 years.
The employment 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. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,700 DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April 2024-level) plus pension.
Application and Assessment Procedure
Your application including all attachments must be in English and submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.
Please include:
1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page) including motivation for applying for the specific PhD project
2. Curriculum vitae including information about your education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
3. Original diplomas for Bachelor of Science or Master of Science and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in another 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.
4. Publication list (if possible)
5. Reference letters (if available)
The deadline for applications is March 1st 2025 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.
The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.
Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant can comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.
You find information about the recruitment process at: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/
The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.
General information about PhD Programme at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences’ website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/
The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.
Arbejdstid: Dag
Ansøg her
Tilbage til søgning
Department of Public Health, Section of Social Medicine invites applicants for a PhD fellowship identifying predictors of loneliness and social isolation in a large Danish quantitative data base applying machine learning and causal discovery methods.
Start date is (expected to be) 1st June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.
The project
The project aims to identify predictors of loneliness and social isolation across the life course using contemporary machine learning techniques and causal discovery methods. The analyses will be based on the unique Danish Lifecourse Aging database Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank which includes measures of loneliness and social isolation in midlife and early old age among ~10.000 Danish men and women born in the period 1949-1961. The infrastructure includes information from birth or young adulthood until early old age across several domains including demographic, socioeconomic, social, psychosocial, psychological, health related, and ageing related factors based on clinical-, test-, survey- and register based information. The project will provide suggestions for modifiable risk factors to include in future targeted intervention initiatives towards loneliness and social isolation.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for excellent candidates with a background from public health, sociology, health data science, social data science or medicine. Comprehensive skills within advanced quantitative methods will be needed.
Our group and research - and what do we offer?
The PhD student will be employed at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The PhD student will be affiliated with the Section of Social Medicine which contributes to the development of health promotion, prevention, and rehabilitation nationally and internationally with a focus on social inequality and psychosocial risk factors for poor health e.g. social isolation and loneliness. We investigate life course social, psychosocial, psychological, physiological and behavioural determinants of health and function, as well as the socioeconomic and psychosocial consequences of disease and functional decline. The phd-project will be co-supervised by leading researchers in machine learning and causal discovery methods at the Department of Public Health, see below.
Principal supervisor is Professor Rikke Lund, Section of Social Medicine, Department Public Health, rilu@sund.ku.dk phone +45 35327992
Co supervisors are professor Samir Bhatt, Section of Health Data Science & AI, assistant professor Anne Helby Petersen, Section of Biostatistics, associate professor Morten Scheibye Knudsen, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and associate professor Charlotte Juul Nilsson, Section of Social Medicine.
Job description
Responsibilities and tasks in the PhD programme are:
- Conduct an independent research project under supervision.
- Complete PhD courses totaling approximately 30 ECTS / ½ full time year equivalent (FTE).
- Participate in collaborative and active research environments, including a stay at another research institution, preferably abroad.
- Engage in teaching and knowledge dissemination activities.
- Write scientific papers aimed at high-impact journals within the field of research in collaboration with colleagues.
- Write and defend a PhD thesis based on your project.
We are looking for highly motivated applicants with the following competences and experiences:
- To be eligible for the regular PhD Programme, you must have completed a degree programme, equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (180 ECTS/3 FTE BSc + 120 ECTS/2 FTE MSc) related to the subject area of the project, e.g. Public Health, Sociology, Medicine, or related fields with excellent results. For information of eligibility of completed programmes, see General assessments for specific countries and Assessment database.
- The candidate will be self-motivated with the ability to work independently as well as competent to collaborate as part of an interdisciplinary research team
- Excellent communication skills in both spoken and written English
- Communication skills in spoken and written Danish is an advantage
- Comprehensive skills and and hands-on experience in the following areas are needed: Advanced statistical or epidemiological analyses
Employment as PhD fellow is full time and for maximum 3 years.
The employment 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. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,700 DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April 2024-level) plus pension.
Application and Assessment Procedure
Your application including all attachments must be in English and submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.
Please include:
1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page) including motivation for applying for the specific PhD project
2. Curriculum vitae including information about your education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
3. Original diplomas for Bachelor of Science or Master of Science and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in another 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.
4. Publication list (if possible)
5. Reference letters (if available)
The deadline for applications is March 1st 2025 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.
The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.
Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant can comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.
You find information about the recruitment process at: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/
The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.
General information about PhD Programme at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences’ website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/
The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.
Arbejdstid: Dag
Ansøg her
Tilbage til søgning