10 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Helsinki, Finland

The “Vertebrate Evolution, Development and Regeneration” group of Research Director Nicolas Di-Poi at the Institute of Biotechnology investigates a number of questions central to our understanding of craniofacial evolution and development in vertebrates. As an innovative approach, the laboratory takes advantage of squamate reptile models (lizards and snakes) to elucidate the developmental genetic basis of vertebrate craniofacial diversity but also to provide an evolutionary context to developmental disorders. Reptiles represent key emerging model systems in Evo-Devo as they display an exceptional array of life-styles, ecologies, morphologies, and regenerative capacities.

The Laboratory of Structural Biology, headed by the Institute’s Director, Prof. Juha Huiskonen, is seeking a post-doctoral researcher holding a PhD in biochemistry, molecular biology, or in a related field. In addition, the successful candidate will have a proven track record and research excellence in structural biology. Prior experience in membrane protein purification, cryo-EM, and/or tomography will be highly beneficial. Your role is to carry out research on the structures and organization of proteins creating cell-cell contacts. We offer you a highly supportive, collaborative, and international research environment. Our research is aimed at understanding the structure and function of cellular macromolecular complexes and enveloped viruses. We apply a range of methods, including cryo-EM, advanced fluorescence microscopy methods, and correlative imaging. We are also active in developing computational methods for cryo-EM data processing. The working language of the laboratory is English. For more information, please visit https://www.helsinki.fi/lsb.

The project is a comprehensive study of how resilient or eco-responsive host-microbiome interactions are to changing environments. Both biotic and abiotic factors can influence the bond between hosts and their associated microbes, and create an imbalance that may be linked to decrease in the host fitness and population dynamics in the field. The postdoc will have access to long-term data and yearly field samples to tackle related to microbiota / microbiome community change through space and time. The tasks of the postdoc will include field work, molecular work, and community analyses, and writing of manuscripts; and the details of the project will be adjusted to fit the research interests of both the PI and the postdoc.

We are looking for highly motivated and skilled postdoctoral researcher in material science. The postdoctoral researcher will be appointed for a fixed-term 30-month contract to work in a Bioeconomy in the North funded project entitled “From Forest to Functional Particles for Life Science” (FORFUN). The position is located in the Food Materials Science research group, led by Associate Professor Kirsi Mikkonen at the Department of Food and Nutrition, one of the six units of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.

The postdoctoral researcher will be employed at the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, for a period of up to 30 months. The researcher will work in a research project financed by the Academy of Finland. The projects studies the initial conditions and the processes of the Galactic star formation using a combination of observations and numerical modelling. The goals include the tracing of the matter flows from cloud scales down to individual proto-stellar cores and the characterisation of the physical and chemical evolution of the interstellar matter (gas and dust) along the star-formation process. The postdoctoral researcher will work on the modelling of interstellar clouds, with possible participation in the observational work. The tasks include the development of radiative transfer methods and the modelling of dust continuum and spectral line observations at infrared and radio wavelengths. The objects range from cloud complexes to cloud filaments, individual pre-stellar cores, and proto-stars. In addition to the purely theoretical and numerical work, the researcher will be engaged in the comparison between simulations (via synthetic observations) and actual astronomical observations. Direct contributions to observations and their data analysis are also possible.

We are looking for a highly motivated and interdisciplinarily orientated postdoctoral researcher in sustainability science to join HELSUS. The researcher will be employed for a minimum of 22 months at the University of Helsinki.  The position is located at HELSUS coordination unit at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The theme of the position is biodiversity loss, its mitigation and prevention. Strong societal impact is expected, including concrete collaborations with relevant societal stakeholders in co-creating, co-planning or co-designing new tools or elements for mitigating and preventing biodiversity loss. This position targets to allow testing solutions to prevent loss of biodiversity, in collaboration with societal change-makers be it political, municipal, company, NGO or other relevant actors. Via concrete cases, the research is expected to build wide systemic understanding of feasible solutions and potential positive and negative feedbacks included in any solution

We seek to recruit a early career post-doctoral researcher / university researcher (ca. 5 years from completion of doctoral studies) to develop knowledge on naturally occurring radionuclide (NOR) biogeochemistry and fractionation during mine bio-heap leaching. The work is part of the EU RadoNorm project. The project will be completed at the University of Helsinki in collaboration with scientists from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK).

The Generation AI project investigates children’s rights in the field of artificial intelligence. The research will utilise legal-dogmatic methods to – among other things – problematise the legal requirements of technology and identify the risks of AI for children’s rights from a protection and participation perspective. The legal framework will be compared with children’s attitudes and perceptions of their rights in relation to data use and algorithmic manipulation. The project will provide recommendations to governments, guardians and educators (e.g. schools) on how they can meet their obligations regarding AI and children’s rights.

Applications are invited for the post of a Postdoctoral researcher in Register-based Psychiatric Research working as part of a research team on the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant-funded project, “Effects of mental disorders on family members’ and friends’ wellbeing and prosperity (MENTALNET)”.

The aim of the MENTALNET-project is to examine (1) how mental disorders in children affect their parents’ and siblings’ wellbeing and socioeconomic resources, (2) the effect of mental disorders on the wellbeing and socioeconomic resources of the spouse, and (3) the effects of mental disorders on peer networks. The postdoctoral researcher will especially examine the effects of mental disorders on peer networks.