PhD fellowship in Health Inequality

Copenhagen Health Complexity Center
Department of Public Health
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

A three-year position as a PhD Fellow is now available at the Copenhagen Health Complexity Center, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen. The Fellowship is expected to start on 1 June 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

About the Center
The PhD Fellow will be employed at the Copenhagen Health Complexity Center, which aims to build a strong scientific foundation for understanding and acting on complex public-health challenges. The Center leverages multi-layered nationwide social and health data combined with an interdisciplinary fusion of methods spanning data science, epidemiology, ethnography, econometrics, and systems science. Our research focuses on the complex interplay of health, social, and environmental factors that shape individuals, families, and networks over time. We emphasise interdisciplinary collaboration, offering the PhD Fellow an opportunity to actively engage as a collaborative partner in different projects depending on their interests and expertise. Learn more about the Center and our research, vision, and values here.

About the position
The Fellowship is nested within the LAYERS project, which investigates how multiple layers of childhood adversity generate health inequality over the life course and across generations; the aim is to break vicious circles of adversity and identify children and families who could potentially benefit from targeted support. LAYERS builds on data from the globally unique DANLIFE cohort, which includes comprehensive data on health, social, and environmental issues in over 2 million individuals across three generations. This infrastructure is combined with interdisciplinary methods from data science, epidemiology, econometrics, and systems science within a health-complexity framework to generate new knowledge on patterns of health inequality, their underlying mechanisms, and how they evolve over time. The LAYERS project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC).

The PhD fellow’s responsibilities will primarily consist of:

• Carrying out a research project on the lifelong health consequences of multiple layers of childhood adversity across individuals, families and neighbourhood scales and across generations under supervision.
• Using large quantitative data resources and combining methods from complex-systems science, data science, and causal inference.
• Contributing to and writing scientific publications and engaging in the dissemination of research results related to the LAYERS project.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent educational activities, corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in research-based teaching related to health inequality, childhood adversity, complexity science, epidemiology, or other related fields.
• Actively contributing to the development of organisational elements within the Complexity Center, such as networking activities, website/social-media postings, outreach initiatives, social engagements, scientific meetings, and more.
• Writing a PhD thesis based on the proposed research project.

Profile
We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic researcher with the following competences and experience:

• You have earned a Master’s degree in complexity science, medicine, epidemiology, data science, computational science, social science, or another related subject. Please note that your Master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree (two years).
• You have a curious mindset with a strong interest in public health, particularly health inequality.
• You have an active interest in complex-systems science applied to public health and epidemiology
• You have experience working with large and complex datasets.
• You have proficient communication skills and a sincere interest in interdisciplinary teams.
• You have excellent English skills, both written and spoken. Danish proficiency is a plus but not a requirement.
• You have the ambition and willingness to compete at a high international level to make impact.

Place of employment
The place of employment is the Copenhagen Health Complexity Center, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen next to the city lakes in Central Copenhagen.

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week. The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is 1 June 2026 or after agreement.

The employment is conditional 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 Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 27,800 DKK/roughly 3,700 EUR (October 2021 level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor, Professor Naja Hulvej Rod: nahuro@sund.ku.dk.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available on the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines  

Foreign applicants may find this link useful: www.ism.ku.dk (International Staff Mobility).

Application procedure
The candidate’s application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format: 

1. Motivated letter of application (max. 1 page)

2. Outline for a research project on the lifelong health consequences of multiple layers of childhood adversity across individuals, families and neighbourhood scales and across generations using data from DANLIFE and within the LAYERS project. (max 1-2 pages). The following preprint paper from the LAYERS project may be helpful for writing this proposal.

3. Curriculum Vitae, including education, work/research experience, language skills, and any other skills relevant to the position.

4. Certified copy of the applicant’s original Master’s degree diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorised English translation if issued in a language other 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 will be accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD Fellowship employment, the applicant’s Master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database  Please note that we may ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.

5. Publication list (if available)

Application deadline:  Wednesday, 4 March 2026, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right to not consider materials received after the deadline, and to not consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
Once the deadline for applications has expired, an authorised recruitment manager will select applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. The assessor will make a non-prioritised 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.

All applicants will be notified whether their application has passed the assessment by the unbiased assessor.

Once the assessment work has been completed, each applicant will be given an opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You can find more 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.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and encourages all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.