This is a 3-year full-time PhD position with enrollment in the PhD program at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The successful candidate will contribute to research that seeks to improve the quality, accuracy, and clinical utility of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, the PhD project will focus on developing and validating PET emission-derived AI-based attenuation correction methods that enable artifact-free, time-matched attenuation estimates and support ultra-low-dose PET imaging and improved quantitative analysis.

Tasks include:

• You will work at Rigshospitalet, Department of Nuclear Medicine
• You will join the DEPICT AI and image analysis section, and work with our group of computer scientists, engineers, physicists and medical doctors.
• You will join Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network PREFERENCE, including international mentoring and exposure to both academic and industrial research environments.
• You will work with advanced AI models to address PET quantification related to motion artifacts and attenuation correction.
• One-month secondments are planned with University of Bern to work on integration into AI-based reconstruction and with University of Amsterdam to work on repeatability studies with different tracers. A secondment at Siemens Healthineers, Knoxville is planned for reconstruction integration.

Qualifications:

• A master’s degree in computer science, physics, biomedical engineering or equivalent
• Ability to work independently
• "Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English"
• Good programming skills; Python experience is a plus
• Experience with AI development with focus on deep learning and images
• Strong collaboration skills
• Knowledge of medical image data will be an advantage
• Willingness to travel and flexibility

What We Offer
We provide an opportunity to be part of an ambitious research group within a clinical department with focus on state-of-the-art PET/CT scanners utilizing the new and emerging lines of long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT’s. The PhD project is fully funded under the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network program, and you will be part of a network of doctoral students working towards developing innovative LAFOV PET/CT image analysis tools and performing groundbreaking clinical LAFOV PET/CT research. You will have a strong supervisor group with both technical and medical background.

The position will be in our new facilities at our AI section, DEPICT, at Rigshospitalet, and you will be referring to Professor Flemming Littrup Andersen at Department of Nuclear Medicine.

General Eligibility Criteria
Mobility Rule: The fellow may not have resided in Denmark, where the research training activities take place, for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment date (and may not have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Denmark).

Early-Stage Researcher: The fellow must be — at the date of recruitment — an ‘early stage researcher’ (i.e. in the first four years (full-time equivalent) of his/her research career and not have a doctoral degree).

Application Process
The application deadline is November 1, 2026, and applications should be submitted online via the job advert link. Applicants are encouraged to submit a CV and a motivated application, detailing relevant coursework, previous research experience, education and practical skills.

We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or ethnicity.

Terms of Employment
The position is full-time for a period of three years and is available from November 1, 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter. Employment will be in accordance with the collective agreement within the Capital Region of Denmark. Salary will be negotiated according to the collective agreement for academic personal, see link.

Further information:
PREFERENCE.

Rigshospitalet.

DEPICT.

Project contact: Flemming Littrup Andersen, Clinical Professor, Department of Clinical physiology and Nuclear Medicine. For further inquiries, please contact Flemming Littrup Andersen ([email protected]) or Claes N. Ladefoged ([email protected])

About Centre of Diagnostic investigation, Rigshospitalet
The Centre of Diagnostic Investigation comprises a collection of highly specialized departments, including Diagnostic Radiology, Clinical Biochemistry, Pathology, Clinical Immunology, Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Microbiology, and Clinical Genetics & Centre of Genomic Medicine.

The centre has approximately 1.550 staff members and an annual turnover of DKK 1.2 billion. Each year, the centre performs approximately 10 million laboratory analyses and 650.000 imaging examinations, based on 1 million contacts with patients and donors.

The centre’s core activities include high-level research, strong educational environments, specialized diagnostics and patient treatment. Its 36 professors and other researchers publish more than 700 scientific articles annually in international journals.

Application deadline: Apply no later than 1. November 2026

Lokation: Rigshospitalet