PhD Fellowship i Kardial Elektrofysiologi - København Universitet

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

University of Copenhagen

We are offering a PhD fellowship in Cardiac Physiology laboratory commencing on the 1st of April 2026 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Project description

We are looking for a dedicated PhD student, who will be working on understanding mechanism of cardiac arrhythmia and ablation therapy. The PhD student recruited for this project will work on porcine models of cardiac diseases and study the electrophysiological consequences of this using advanced in vivo cardiac mapping technologies (high-density electro-anatomical mapping) and in vitro technologies (optical mapping, and protein expression studies).

Our groups and research
The research project is a collaborative project between associate professor Bo Hjorth Bentzen’s group that specializes in cardiac arrhythmia - bridging basic ion channel biology with ex vivo and vivo models of arrhythmia - and the Cardiac Physiology laboratory (https://bmi.ku.dk/english/research/cardiac_physiology_laboratory/) specialized in cardiac diseases and electrophysiology from molecules to large animal models to patients.

Principal supervisor isprof. Dominik Linz.

Information regarding the position can be directed to Bo Hjorth Bentzen (bobe@sund.ku.dk), prof. Thomas Jespersen (thojes@sund.ku.dk), or Dominik Linz (dominik.linz@sund.ku.dk).

Start: 1st of April 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Duration: 3 years as a PhD fellow

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at SUND are:

• Carrying out independent research projects under supervision.
• Being project-responsible for projects involving porcine cardiac models.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments, including a stay at another research team/institution.
• Gaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project.
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis based on your project.

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project, e.g. medicine, veterinary medicine or molecular/cellular biology. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).
Prior experience in working with cardiac electrophysiology and models of cardiac disease, as well as a solid understanding in cardiovascular physiology, is an advantage.

Other important criteria are:

• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in cardiac biology
• Language skills

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories at the Maersk Building, and a large shared zebrafish facility.

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 April 1st 2026 or as soon thereafter.

The employment is conditioned 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 Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 31,200 DKK/Roughly 4,180 EUR (November 2025 level) plus fully paid pension 18,07%.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

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

Application procedure
Your 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. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language 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 is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your 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/?set_language=en. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 4 January 2026, 23:59 CET

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

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized 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.

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

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://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.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 5-7.

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