Assistant Professor in Nutritional Epidemiology with a Focus on Cognitive Health and APOE

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS) at Karolinska Institutet is seeking an Assistant Professor to develop research on diet, metabolism and cognitive health. In the Personalized Diet and Medications for Cognition research group, we combine population studies, clinical interventions and biomarkers to investigate whether associations between diet and cognition differ across biological subgroups. You will have the opportunity to develop an independent research programme while collaborating with researchers in nutrition, epidemiology and neuroscience.

Your role

You will conduct and develop research on how dietary composition interacts with APOE genotype, metabolic processes and cognitive outcomes in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. The work will involve clinical dietary intervention studies and longitudinal cohort studies. Topics of particular interest include lipid metabolism, glucose–insulin regulation and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. The group also conducts related research on personalized medication strategies, creating opportunities for joint projects.

Part of the role involves independently reading and interpreting Swedish-language study material from clinical intervention studies and coordinating the work orally and in writing in Swedish with the studies’ staff and researchers.

Your responsibilities include developing research questions, designing and analysing studies, publishing findings, applying for external research funding and contributing to supervision. You are expected to drive new dietary interventional trials and seek external funding to conduct them. You are also expected to develop independent scientific responsibility within the subject area and collaborate with clinical and experimental research environments.

The employment as Assistant Professor is time limited for 6 years with the right to apply for promotion to Senior Lecturer.

Eligibility requirements

For employment as Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet, the eligibility requirements are stated in the Instructions for the Appointment Procedure and these are applied in relation to the subject area of the established recruitment profile.

To be eligible for an employment as Assistant Professor, in addition to holding a Degree of Doctor, PhD, or having equivalent scientific expertise, the applicant must have demonstrated good scientific expertise and good pedagogical expertise . The requirements for each level of expertise are specified in the Appointment Procedure for Teachers.

See the Instructions for the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet (ref no 1-408/2026).

Priority is given to those who were awarded a PhD (or attained equivalent competence) no more than seven years prior to the expiry of the deadline for the application. Those who have been awarded a doctoral degree or attained equivalent research competence earlier will also be considered if there are special circumstances for absence from research (deductible time).

Special grounds refer to leave of absence due to illness, parental leave or other similar circumstances that can be substantiated through written verification from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, another Swedish or foreign authority, or an employer.

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

It is a requirement that you have completed 3 weeks of courses on teaching in higher education, as indicated in the recommendations of the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institution. If you lack such education at the time of employment, you must undergo such education during the first two years of employment.

Assessment

Assessment criteria

For employment as Assistant Professor at Karolinska Institutet, the eligibility requirements and assessment criteria stated in the Instructions for the Appointment Procedure are applied in relation to established profile of employment.

See the Instructions for the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet (ref no 1-408/2026).

KI’s assessment criteria will be applied in relation to the research profile of the position. Particular weight will be given to documented experience in designing clinical intervention studies and applying for and securing external funding to conduct them. A substantial contribution with documented responsibility for the project will also be considered when another researcher was the formal principal applicant.

In addition, documented experience in the following areas will be considered meritorious

• research on diet, metabolism and cognition or dementia, particularly analyses of APOE or other biological variation as a potential effect modifier;
• conducting or analysing clinical dietary interventions and longitudinal population studies;
• quantitative methods for dietary data, repeated measurements and causal inference;
• writing about and presenting research in Swedish;
• ability to teach in both Swedish and English.

These merits form part of an overall assessment; none is an individual eligibility requirement.

After an overall assessment of the expertise and merits of the applicants in relation to the subject area, Karolinska Institutet will determine which of them has the best potential to contribute to a positive development of the activities at KI.

We are committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in our workplace and welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and with different experiences and perspectives.

What do we offer?

A creative, international and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet (KI) is one of the world's leading medical universities. Here, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several good benefits through our collective agreement.

Location

Flemingsberg

Choose to work at KI - Ten reasons why

Read more about the research group here

An application must contain the following documents preferably in English (or Swedish): Resumé, qualifications and description of planned research, presented in accordance with  Karolinska Institutet's qualifications portfolio.

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T

Particular assessment for promotion to Senior Lecturer

An Assistant Professor employed in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 4 Section 12a shall be promoted to Senior Lecturer if he or she is eligible for an employment as Senior Lecturer in accordance with the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet and is assessed to be suitable for such employment in accordance with the assessment criteria that KI has decided should be applied when being promoted to Senior Lecturer. The assessment criteria stated in the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet that was valid at the time of appointment as Assistant Professor will be applied when applying for promotion to Senior Lecturer.   Current assessment criteria is found here . Such promotion results in a permanent position as Senior Lecturer.

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!