The University of Oulu is an international research and innovation university engaged in multidisciplinary basic research and academic education. It is one of the largest universities in Finland with 14 000 students and 3 000 employees. The University encompasses eight fields of study: Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Humanities, Education, Economics and Business, Science, Medicine and Dentistry, Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, and Technology. The University of Oulu researchers contribute to solving global challenges by combining multidisciplinary approaches, high level research and fruitful collaborations in the following five focus areas: 1. Creating sustainability through materials and systems, 2. Molecular and environmental basis for lifelong health, 3. Digital solutions in sensing and interactions, 4. Earth and near-space system and environmental change, 5. Understanding humans in change. Collaboration across scientific fields is strongly encouraged and supported within the University. More information http://www.oulu.fi/english/.

Digital Health (DigiHealth) research programme

Digital Health (DigiHealth) research programme and hub is part of the University of Oulu’s national profiling actions. It is designed to do world-class interdisciplinary research and become nationally the strongest research programme strengthening health care services, diagnostics and therapies in the new digital era. The primary aim of DigiHealth is to develop and validate novel digital technologies for data-driven health applications, valorizing University of Oulu’s strong expertise in medicine, wireless solutions, big data analytics and business. The programme’s focus is crucial as novel technologies and technological solutions (e.g., artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual/augmented/mixed reality, robotics, 5G/6G) are becoming more intelligent, invisible and ubiquitous to be utilized for data-driven health applications. Several international breakthroughs are expected within the DigiHealth related to development and applications of novel digitalized solutions to predict progression of diseases and in offering personalized therapies in a cost-effective and patient-centric way. New discoveries in the programme will build on interdisciplinary collaboration providing transformative knowledge aiming to strengthen the health technology ecosystem of Oulu.

Specific research areas of the DigiHealth are:

1) Next-generation data for digital healthcare focusing on bioinformatics and novel biosensors,
2) Wireless system level architectures for future digital healthcare,
3) AI-based solutions to support personalized clinical diagnostic or therapeutic decisions,
4) Systematic impact creation and health technology assessment

The DigiHealth includes four faculties (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Oulu Business School) and 31 Principal Investigators linked to four above-mentioned research areas.

In DigiHealth programme, we will open 4 tenure-track positions (including startup packages that includes funding for a postdoctoral fellow and a doctoral student) and 2 post-doc positions. These positions will form a cluster and hub that will fortify the DigiHealth research areas and their interdisciplinary research approaches for developing and validating digital technologies for data-driven health applications. The positions will be based at the above-mentioned faculties; the relevant host faculty will be identified based on the specific research area and the successful applicant’s expertise.

For DigiHealth programme, University of Oulu announces the following tenure track assistant, associate or full professor position for highly talented individuals who hold a doctoral degree and have excellent potential for a successful scientific career:

Tenure Track Assistant, Associate or Full Professors in Bioinformatics

Research Field and Environment

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate who will be, based on previous track record and interests, well connected with the multidisciplinary research environment of University of Oulu and its profiling themes. Particularly applicant shall consider utilization of resources provided by Northern Finland Biobank Borealis (https://www.oulu.fi/university/node/38474) and the Northern Finland Birth Cohorts (https://www.oulu.fi/nfbc/) as well as local, national and European infrastructure recourses for bioinformatic research (https://www.oulu.fi/biocenter/  https://www.biocenter.fi/   https://elixir-europe.org/  ) and for scientific computing, data management and analysis (https://www.csc.fi/). 

The successful applicant is expected to have experience in data mining, integration and interpretation of patient-generated data from primary sources (such as hospitals or biobanks) and from open access big data repositories. We appreciate previous experience in translational bioinformatics approaches integrating biomedical model development towards clinical practices and precision medicine. We also expect ability for hypothesis-generating research based on large datasets using experimental in vivo and in vitro modelling, and excellent teaching skills.

The new positions will be integrated in the Faculty of Medicine (http://www.oulu.fi/medicine/) or the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine (http://www.oulu.fi/fbmm/) at the Medical Campus of University of Oulu. The campus also encompasses Biocenter Oulu (http://www.oulu.fi/biocenter/), the Medical Research Center Oulu (http://www.oulu.fi/mrc/), and the Oulu University Hospital offering a unique scientific ecosystem with state-of-the-art research facilities, open access infrastructure services and special expertise for life sciences.

The tenure track positions will start 1.1.2020, or later by mutual agreement with the successful applicant. Researchers appointed to tenure track positions may advance their career through the tenure track process.

Responsibilities

A person at tenure track system is expected to conduct world-class scientific research, to be competitive in attracting external funding, to publish in leading scientific journals, to supervise doctoral students, to be an active member of the local and the international scientific community, and to create and teach relevant courses at both post- and undergraduate levels.

Required qualifications and career advancement at each tenure track level: Career advancement in the tenure track system is based on assessments of the candidate’s performance and merits.

Based on experience and competence, the successful applicant will be placed at the Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor level of the four-level tenure track system of the University of Oulu (http://www.oulu.fi/university/node/38379) and the candidates will be evaluated according to their career stage. The positions will be initially appointed for five years, followed by advancement/continuation according to the University of Oulu tenure track guidelines.

Required Qualifications at Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Full Professor Level of the Tenure Track:

Assistant Professor:

When appointing a person to the position of an assistant professor the applicants are evaluated based on the following criteria:

Only doctors who have finished their doctoral thesis less than ten years ago can be appointed to the position of an assistant professor. The applicant has a PhD in a relevant field and has research potential, (publications, especially internationally refereed publications; participating in acquiring funding / funding granted). The applicant is expected to have national and international networks and international mobility as well as experience in teaching and supervision of doctoral students.

Associate Professor:

When appointing a person to the position of an associate professor the applicants are evaluated based on the following criteria:

Publications on an international level (dissemination, quality of the publication forums, references to the publications), active role in the research training, acquisition of external funding, working in more than one research facility during one’s career (in most fields represented at the University of Oulu this signifies working abroad), an active role in the international scientific community, acknowledgements and awards.

Full Professor:

A person appointed to the position of a professor must have a high-level scientific competence, experience in leading scientific research, ability to provide high-level research-based teaching, and to supervise theses and participate in international co-operation projects in his/her field of expertise. When evaluating the competency of an applicant, his/her scientific publications and other research results with scientific value, patents, teaching experience and pedagogic training, ability to produce teaching material, other merits as a teacher, teaching demonstrations and supervised doctoral theses will be taken into consideration. Other factors to be taken into consideration are the activeness of the applicant in the international scientific community, practical experience in the field where applicable, success in acquiring external research funding, as well as academic work abroad and other international positions.

A six-month trial period will be effective in the beginning of a contract.

Salary and other benefits

The salary of the appointed researcher will be based on the demand level chart for the teaching and research staff of Finnish Universities. In addition to the basic salary of the appropriate tenure track level, supplementary salary will be given for personal achievement and performance, the sum rising to a maximum of 50% of the basic salary level for the post. The salary thus being roughly 3100 - 4350 euros per month for an assistant professor, 4400 - 5800 euros per month for an associate professor and 5400 - 8600 euros per month for a full professor. The successful candidate will receive also full benefits provided by the University of Oulu to all its employees.

A start-up package that includes funding for hiring one postdoctoral fellow and 1-2 Ph.D. students will be provided.

Applications

Applications, together with all relevant enclosures, should be submitted using electronic application system by 30.11.2019.

The application should be written in English and the following information needs to be included:

1) A letter of application with contact information. The application letter must include information on which tenure track level the applicant is to be evaluated, assistant professor, associate professor or full professor.

2) A curriculum vitae following the guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (Tutkimuseettinen neuvottelukunta). (The guidelines are available at http://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae  and a template at http://www.tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/CV_english_270613.pdf .

3) A complete list of publications, with the ten most important ones marked

4) A brief account of research merits (max. 1 page)

5) A brief account of teaching merits or a teaching portfolio (max. 2 pages)

6) Details regarding the acquisition of research funds

7) A brief research and action plan (max. 3 pages)

8) Contact details of 2–4 persons from whom recommendations would be available.

Evaluators

The selection procedure will be carried out by an Appointment Committee according to the University of Oulu Tenure Track guidelines (http://www.oulu.fi/university/node/38379).

Contact details

In order to receive the information and announcements concerning the official selection procedures to be followed in order to fill this post, applicants must inform the University of Oulu of their contact details for the whole duration of the selection process, they must specifically provide both their home and work telephone numbers, and their e-mail addresses and postal addresses.

For further information and enquiries about this post, and about the application and selection procedures, please contact:

Professor Jukka Hakkola
Research Unit of Biomedicine,
Pharmacology and Toxicology
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Phone: +358 294485235
email: firstname.lastname@oulu.fi

or

Professor Lauri Eklund
Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Phone: +358 294486073
email: firstname.lastname@oulu.fi

or

Human Resources Manager Tiina Hurskainen,
Kontinkangas Campus, University of Oulu
mailing address: P.O. Box 5000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland
phone: +358 40 704 02 70
email: firstname.lastname@oulu.fi

About the City of Oulu
The City of Oulu (https://www.ouka.fi/oulu/english) is Northern Finland’s largest and oldest city, with a population of over 200,000. Located by the Gulf of Bothnia and the Oulu River delta, the city has good access from anywhere. Oulu is a very safe and family friendly community with one of the highest qualities of life in all of Scandinavia. This modern city with a beautiful harbor and market area offers plenty of cultural activities as well as opportunities for exploring the northern nature. Open space and parks can be found all along the Oulu River and throughout the area and they are easily accessed by bike – the favorite mode of transport in Oulu. There is an entire range of outdoor and sports facilities to choose from, not forgetting Finland’s biggest spectator sport, ice hockey. Winter is a season that is highly celebrated and lit bike trails and bridges bring the city alive. As the world’s northernmost tech hub, Oulu has a highly educated and innovative workforce and the University has a strong role in the community. Oulu is a marvelous place to live, work and enjoy a vibrant academic community. Welcome to the home of science with Arctic Attitude!