Positions as Assistant Professor in Medical Science

What does the funding entail?

The employment as Assistant Professor is time limited for six years with the right to apply for promotion to Senior Lecturer. The purpose of the employment as Assistant professor is to develop research as an independent researcher and acquire the scientific and pedagogical qualifications required for eligibility for appointment as Senior lecturer. The terms for the employment are to be negotiated with the employing department.

The host department will be assigned a framework amount of SEK 1,000,000 per appointment per year for a maximum of six years. The funds are intended to finance positions and are to be used for salary and salary related costs in connected to the position.

If a person who receives funds through the call for Assistant Professor has an ongoing employment as Assistant Professor (Swe: Biträdande lektor) at KI, the corresponding time will be deducted and the allocated funds will be reduced to a corresponding extent.

A start-up grant for research is awarded to applicants that are granted a position as Assistant professor from the announcement, with a total amount of 2 500 000 SEK (distributed 1 000 000 SEK in year one, 1 000 000 SEK in year two and 500 000 SEK in year three). 

For active clinicans:
According to current regulations, it is not possible to combine an employment as an assistant professor with a clinical employment. In the event that a clinician obtains employment as an assistant lecturer through the announcement, it is possible to be employed as an assistant lecturer of at least 20 percent at KI and at the same time have a separate employment at a leased unit / USV unit, provided that at least 50 percent of working hours dedicated to research at KI.

For more detailed information about the conditions regarding payment of funding, please check the links below.

Eligibility

The applicant should, in recent years, have conducted research of high quality, and demonstrate the ability to continue to conduct research of high quality.

Those eligible for employment as an Assistant Professor are individuals who have been awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence. Preference should be given to those who were awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence no more than five years prior to the expiry of the application period for the position as Assistant professor. We base the career age on the date you fulfilled all the requirements for a doctoral degree, such as mandatory courses, oral defense and an approved doctoral thesis. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date (date of completed studies) listed in Ladok applies. Those who have been awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence earlier may however be considered if special grounds exist.

Special grounds refer to:

• parental leave,
• positions of trust in trade union organizations,
• mandatory service in the total defense forces,
• long-term illness,
• general medical internship (maximum 24 months) or
• specialist medical internship for clinically active professionals (maximum 24 months)

Ground, dates and extent must be clearly specified in the application and verified with relevant documentation.

Bases of assessment

Scientific expertise will be most important when assessing applicants.

The applicant should have published in internationally leading journals in his/her field in recent years and occupy a prominent place in the list of authors, preferably as first author and/or last author. The applicant must have the capability, as the principal applicant, to obtain external financing.

Applicants will be assessed on their scientific expertise mainly based on two assessment criteria; the Applicant’s competence and the Scientific quality of the project.

Applicant’s competence

• Publications. An important criterion is the quality of the applicant’s previous publications and other scientific achievements in relation to the phase he/she is in in his/her career.
• Academic studies and research merits. Does the applicant have adequate experience of research, competence and a scientific network and degree of independence enough for implementing the proposed project?
• Funding. Has competitive funding been obtained?
• Distinctions. Are there awards and invitations that indicate national/international recognition?

Scientific quality of project

• Innovativeness/originality. Are there any particularly ambitious or unconventional aspects to the proposal (including multi- or interdisciplinary)? Will it open up new perspectives and opportunities for science?
• Goals. Does the project have clear and groundbreaking goals in relation to the latest scientific knowledge and techniques in the field?
• Relevance and potential. In what ways is the proposed project important to the field? What impact will it have if successful?
• Feasibility. Is the proposed project feasible? Is the proper expertise, group members and established partnerships available and in place? If relevant, are proposed research methods, infrastructure, equipment, and field work appropriate and available? Are the explanation and justification of the chosen method described in a relevant way and in relation to the scientific questions asked?
• Methodology. Does the project include the use of relevant methods or the innovative application of existing methods/techniques?

Assessment process

The Recruitment committee at Karolinska Institutet has been assigned the responsibility for preparing the announcement of the positions as Assistant professor and conduct the assessment process.

The applications will be assessed by researchers with expertise in a variety of fields in Medical science. The internal panel and the group of external reviewers are composed of researchers with expertise within different areas.

Applications will be assessed in four stages:

1. Assessment of eligibility

2. Review of publications 

An internal review group will review the publication list provided in the application.

3. Prioritization of the group of applications to be reviewed by external experts

Prioritization of the approximately 30-40 applicants that will be sent for external review will be performed by an internal panel. The selection will be done according to an overall assessment of applicants’ competence and project. Applications sent for external review will have no order of ranking.

4. Review by external experts

This review applies the two assessment criteria, Applicant’s competence and the Scientific quality of the project, and will be judged on a seven-point scale.

5. Interviews with applicants ranked highest by the external experts

When the external experts' score assessments are compiled into a ranking list, the highest ranked applicants are invited for an interview. About twice as many applicants as there are places are invited.

Interviews are made by an internal panel consisting of a chairman and internal KI members. The internal panel makes an independent assessment and does not have any access to or knowledge of the external experts' assessments prior to the interviews.

The interviews address:

• Applicant's competence (including independence)
• Quality of performed research
• Future potential and financing

Decision

The Committee for research decides which applicants are to be awarded a position as Assistant professor based on the external review (50 percent weight) and interviews (50 percent weight).

Applicants rewarded with a position are expected to negotiate the employment conditions with the head of one (or more) relevant department(s) at KI. The employment is to commence at the recipient department not more than twelve months after the decision has been made. The employment is to be agreed with the employing department, which is responsible for the salary and makes the final decision regarding employment. 

In the event an applicant who is rewarded with a position through the call already is employed as Assistant professor (biträdande lektor) at KI, the corresponding time will be deducted and the allocated funds will be reduced to a corresponding extent.

A person can only obtain an Assistant professor position for a period of at least four years and at most six years, as determined by the university prior to employment (Högskoleförordningen Ch. 4 § 12). 

Please see the Conditions regarding payment of funding for further information.

Application

Applications are to be submitted no later than August 12th, 2024, through the recruitment system Varbi. 

The application shall comprise the following documents, written in English:

• A personal letter
• Application form
• PhD certificate
• Relevant documentation regarding deductible time in Swedish or English.

Scientific publications:
Applicants affiliated to Karolinska Institutet can create a list of publications from the KI Bibliometric Verification Toolkit. Visit Instructions for creation of a publication list for internal applicants for more information.  

In the Application form, please present your publications with your name in bold text and indicate your shared authorships with a star (*). Authorship order should be same as in the published version.

In case you have any questions, please contact us.