PhD fellowships in Cardiac (patho-)Physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

University of Copenhagen

We are offering 2 or more PhD fellowships in Cardiac Physiology laboratory, 1 commencing on the 1st of November 2026 or soon after, and the others no later than 1 June 2027.

Project description

We are looking for a dedicated PhD student, who will be working on understanding mechanism of cardiac pathophysiology. The PhD student(s) recruited for this project will work with several of the many translational modalities in the Cardiac Physiology, spanning from long-term porcine and rodent models of cardiac diseases, ex vivo (human) tissue analyses, electrophysiology, biochemistry, histology, and cMRi, to disclose the underlying mechanisms of cardiac disease from molecule to beating hearts.

Cardiac Physiology laboratory

Our research team is headed by Prof. Dominik Linz and Prof. Thomas Jespersen, as well as a number of junior research group leaders, ensuring both highly specialised knowledge on our fairly broad research focus, as well as delivering competent and present research leadership and supervision to the younger researchers in the team. ()

We are a team of ~35 researchers all highly dedicated to moving the boundaries of the known within the cardiac field, with the overall aim of improving understanding and thereby health of the heart. All our research is based on team efforts, where we all are willing to go the extra mile – sometimes evenings and weekends, but always in the best of spirits with colleagues who are continuously inclusive and positive.

Principal supervisor will be either Thomas Jespersen or Dominik Linz and always backed up by the junior research group leaders.

Information regarding the position can be directed to Thomas Jespersen ( Se e-mailadresse på jobportal.ku.dk ), or Dominik Linz ( Se e-mailadresse på jobportal.ku.dk ).

Start:                  1st of November 2026, and no later than 1 June 2027.

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 translational cardiac research – the exact project will be matched with the competences of the candidate.
• Completing PhD courses and 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 undergraduate students 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 methodological experience, including data science and omics,
• Other professional and complementary skills,
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in cardiac biology,
• Both good in driving projects forwards as well as collaborating with peers and external partners,
• High proficiency in English

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.

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 November 1st 2026, and others no later than 1 June 2027.

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 31,600 DKK/Roughly 4,220 EUR (April 2026 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:

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: . 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: 30 August 2026, 23:59 pm 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:

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 38-40.

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