Postdoc in Microbial Bioinformatics - University of Copenhagen

A 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in microbial bioinformatics and modelling is available in the Microbial Interactions Research Group at the Section for Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Opportunities may arise for extension of the contract via fellowship and grant applications.

Description of scientific environment

The research focus at the Department is centred on plants, microorganisms, animals, and the environment, as a basis for sustainable production of food and other biological products. Research and teaching cover natural resources, agriculture, biotechnology and synthetic biology from the molecular level to the ecosystem scale.

The postdoc will be anchored in the Microbial Interactions Group led by Associate Professor Mette Haubjerg Nicolaisen. The position will be mainly associated with the INTERACT and Wheat Alliance projects funded by the Novo Nordisk foundation. The overall aim of the project is to understand community assembly processes as influenced by microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions.

Project description

To fully exploit the potential of plant-microbe interactions, currently being proposed as a fundamental part of the green solutions for sustainable agricultural production, a much deeper understanding of the complex and often transient interactions in the rhizosphere environment is needed. Our goal is to disentangle these interactions down to the molecular level and understand them in an ecologically relevant scenario. The knowledge will feed into an establishment of predictive models on plant performance under diverse environmental conditions.

We are seeking a highly motivated bioinformatician who is enthusiastic about the opportunity to develop own skills in an international research environment, where different disciplines work closely together to obtain a holistic understanding of microbe-plant interactions in the soil environment. The candidate will work closely together with other bioinformaticians and microbiologists at the section to develop tools for translating “omics”-data into causal ecological understanding of the plant-microbe-soil system.

Job description

The selected candidate is expected to:

• Contribute to the INTERACT and Wheat Alliance research programs and ongoing projects relating to plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions
• Further develop and strengthen the area of soil microbiome analysis through the handling of multi-omics data, including the integration of bioinformatics analyses for microbial community studies combined with meta-transcriptomics and metabolic network analyses
• Participate in the dissemination of research at both international and national conferences and in interdisciplinary research and publish in international peer-reviewed journals
• Participate in the acquisition of external funding
• Participate in teaching activities at the department including the supervision of BSc, MSc and PhD students

Qualification requirements

• A PhD degree in bioinformatics, microbial genomics, computational biology, molecular biology, microbiology, or related fields
• Strong computational skills and experience in analysing ‘omics’ data sets.
• Experience in handling large datasets (e.g., high-throughput sequencing data), programming and scripting (e.g. Python, R).
• Experience in meta-transcriptomics is an advantage
• Publication record within bioinformatics or microbiome studies
• An analytical mindset
• Well-developed collaborative skills
• Excellent written and spoken English

Inquiries about the position can be made to Associate Prof. Mette Haubjerg Nicolaisen (E-mail: menipetersonrandychristy57morganlong@knight.dkplen.ku.dkmorgan.dkjackson.dk, Telephone: +45 3533 2649).

The position is open from 1 January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The University wishes our staff to reflect on the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Terms of employment

The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

The application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

The dealine for applications is 1 November 2025, 23:59.

Please include

• Curriculum vitae
• Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
• Description of previous and current (if applicable) approach and experience within microbiome analysis
• Complete publication list

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.

You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.