PhD in Computational Neuroscience and Systems Biology at Karolinska Institutet

About the Position

The Stagkourakis Lab at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab in Stockholm is recruiting a PhD student in computational neuroscience. The lab is based at the Department of Neuroscience (Biomedicum) and is part of SciLifeLab, Sweden's national center for large-scale biosciences and data-driven life science.

Our mission is to uncover the neural and neurohormonal principles that govern instinctual and homeostatic behaviors, including aggression, fear, feeding, and social interactions.

Doctoral Student Project and Duties

We seek a candidate who will contribute to analyzing and modeling large-scale neural population recordings acquired during naturalistic behaviors in freely moving animals. The project integrates graph-theoretic, dynamical systems, and machine learning approaches to understand how distributed neural ensembles encode internal states and drive survival behaviors.

What We Offer

• A creative and inspiring environment full of expertise and curiosity.
• Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities.
• As a doctoral student you are offered an individual research project, a well-educated supervisor, a vast range of elective courses and the opportunity to work in a leading research group.
• Karolinska Institutet collaborates with prominent universities from all around the world, which ensures opportunities for international exchanges.
• You will be employed on a doctoral studentship which means that you receive a contractual salary.
• Employees also have access to our modern gym for free and receive reimbursements for medical care.
• A creative, collaborative, and well-resourced environment.
• Access to infrastructure at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab.
• Training in advanced computational neuroscience, network theory, and data science.
• Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration with experimentalists generating large-scale datasets.
• Active involvement in high-impact projects with translational relevance to neuropsychiatric disorder.

Eligibility and Requirements

In order to participate in the selection for a doctoral position, you must meet the following general (A) and specific (B) eligibility requirements at latest by the application deadline.

A) General Eligibility Requirement

You meet the general eligibility requirement for doctoral/third-cycle/PhD education if you:

• have been awarded a second-cycle/advanced/master qualification (i.e. master degree), or
• have satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the advanced/second-cycle/master level, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

B) Specific Eligibility Requirement

You meet the specific eligibility requirement for doctoral/third-cycle/PhD education if you:

• Show proficiency in English equivalent to the course English B/English 6 at Swedish upper secondary school.

Skills and Personal Qualities

Candidate Profile:
We are looking for a motivated and creative student with a strong quantitative background and a deep interest in neural computation and behavior. The ideal candidate enjoys formulating models from data, developing analytical tools, and integrating theory with experiment.

Required qualifications:

• Degree in Computational Neuroscience, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Bioengineering, or related field.
• Strong programming and data analysis skills (Python, MATLAB, or Julia).
• Experience with large-scale data analysis, signal processing, or statistical modeling.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary team.

Desirable skills (one or more of the following):

• Knowledge of dynamical systems, network science, or machine learning applied to neuroscience.
• Experience with neural population analyses (e.g., PCA, UMAP, GLMs, HMMs, or graph models).
• Familiarity with time-series analysis, state-space modeling, or causal inference methods.
• Interest in linking neural activity to behavior using multimodal datasets.
• Basic experience with version control (Git) and reproducible data pipelines.

Terms and Conditions

The doctoral student will be employed on a doctoral studentship maximum 4 years full-time.

Location

The lab is located at:
Biomedicum D8, Dept. of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solnavägen 9, Solna.
SciLifeLab Gamma 5, Tomtebodavägen 23A, Solna.

Application Process

Submit your application and supporting documents through the Varbi recruitment system. We prefer that your application is written in English, but you can also apply in Swedish.

Your application must contain the following documents:

• A personal letter and a curriculum vitae.
• Degree projects and previous publications, if any.
• Any other documentation showing the desirable skills and personal qualities described above.
• Documents certifying your general eligibility (see A above).
• Documents certifying your specific eligibility (see B above).

We strongly encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible.

Selection

A selection will be made among eligible applicants on the basis of the ability to benefit from doctoral education. The qualifications of the applicants will be evaluated on an overall basis.

Karolinska Institutet uses the following bases of assessment:

• Documented subject knowledge of relevance to the area of research.
• Analytical skill.
• Other documented knowledge or experience that may be relevant to doctoral studies in the subject.

All applicants will be informed when the recruitment is completed.

Key Details

Detail	Information
Type of employment	PhD placement
Contract type	Full time
First day of employment	flexible in 2026
Salary	Månadslön
Number of positions	1
Full-time equivalent	100
City	Stockholm
Country	Sweden
Reference number	STÖD 2-4733/2025
Published	2025-11-28
Last application date	2026-10-30

Contact

• Email: henry.wolling@ki.se
• Email: magnus.ana@ki.se
• Email: bjorn.meister@ki.se

Questions about this position, eligibility or the application process should be sent to the contacts above or raised through the channel given on the official announcement page.

Official Link

https://kidoktorand.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:879932/type:job/where:51/apply:1

Important Notes

• Application deadline: 30 October 2026 - late or incomplete applications are normally not considered.
• Listing details were recorded from the official source at the time of publication; always confirm the latest requirements on the official page before applying.
• Prepare the documents listed in the eligibility and application sections before starting the online form - transcripts, CV and references take the longest to collect.

About Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska Institutet is a medical university in Stockholm, Sweden. It offers education and research in medicine, health sciences and related fields, including doctoral training. Its researchers investigate human health and disease through experimental, clinical and public health approaches. The university's Nobel Assembly awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Official website: https://www.ki.se

How to Apply

Submit your application through the official portal before the deadline: 30 October 2026. Read the eligibility requirements carefully and prepare all requested documents — early applications are strongly recommended for competitive awards.

Open the official application page ↗

Application guides

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• How to Read a PhD Job Advert: Funding, Eligibility and Application Steps