PhD fellowship in climate and health epidemiology

A 3-year PhD fellowship is available at the Work, Environment and Cancer group at the Danish Cancer Institute.
The position
We are seeking a PhD student to work on a large EU-funded consortium project, Understanding and Preventing Climate-Related Health Risks through Mediating Pathways (U-PATH).

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, yet evidence that separates direct heat effects from effects mediated by other environmental exposures, such as air pollution, aeroallergens, noise, and indoor overheating, is still lacking. U-PATH brings together 15 international research institutions to investigate how climate exposures relate to cardiovascular and respiratory disease, with a particular focus on the mediating role of environmental exposures.

The Work, Environment and Cancer group’s main tasks in U-PATH include:

• coordinating the harmonization of epidemiological data from cohorts in five countries
• contributing data and analyses from a Danish nationwide cohort
• conducting measurement campaigns of indoor summer temperatures, which will be used to develop a model for indoor heat exposure assessment
• coordinating analyses of associations between long-term residential indoor and outdoor heat events and risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease across the cohorts

The Work, Environment andCancer research group is a dynamic multi-national team of researchers dedicated to studying the effects of environmental and occupational exposures on the development of cancer and other diseases.

Your main responsibilities

• Conduct indoor temperature measurement campaigns
• Contribute to developing a model for indoor exposure assessment
• Link climate exposure data to Danish residential addresses
• Generate analysis-ready datasets with climate and environmental exposures, health outcomes, and potential confounders for the Danish population
• Analyze associations between climate and environmental exposures and risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease, in collaboration with key U-PATH partners
• Write scientific papers for international peer-reviewed journals
• Present results at U-PATH consortium meetings and international conferences

PhD enrolment
You will be enrolled as a PhD student at a Danish university and supervised by researchers from the Work, Environment and Cancer group. Enrolment is subject to approval by the relevant PhD school, and it is a prerequisite for receiving the stipend that you are enrolled as a PhD student.

Your progress as a PhD student will be assessed at regular intervals. As part of your PhD studies, you will be required, among other things, to complete PhD courses corresponding to 30 ECTS and to undertake a research stay of 3-6 months at a foreign research institution.

Qualifications
Required

• A master’s degree (completed or nearly completed) in public health, epidemiology, statistics, or related discipline
• Experience in statistical programming, preferably in SAS and/or R
• A systematic and well-organized work approach, with strong planning and collaboration skills
• Excellent written and spoken English

An advantage

• Experience with statistical analyses in quantitative epidemiological research
• Experience with large datasets and register-based data
• Experience with GIS software, such as QGIS
• Experience with contributing to peer-reviewed publications
• Interest in or experience with field data collection

We offer
An inspiring and dynamic working environment in an interdisciplinary research center (biologists, human biologists, public health scientists, medical doctors, data managers, psychologists, statisticians, etc.) where we work with many different epidemiological and biological topics.
The research department regularly hosts interdisciplinary seminars with external lecturers on biological and epidemiological research areas and internal courses on relevant topics. Also, we have a Postdoc network that arranges regular meetings and seminars.

Salary, pension, and conditions of employment will be in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement between the Danish government and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). We offer canteen, fruit scheme, sports- and art clubs as well as physiotherapy.

You will initially be employed as research assistants to allow time for enrollment as PhD students at the University. You are expected to write your PhD application with support from your supervisor.

The Danish Cancer Society of course has a no smoking policy during working hours.

Start date: The position is a 3-year full-time position and is open from January 1st 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

More information
For specific information about the project or the position, please contact Group Leader and Professor Mette Sørensen, [email protected], +45 3525 7626

Application and deadline
Submit your application no later than 15th of November 2026. Applications submitted after this date will not be considered.

We only accept applications through our electronic system at www.cancer.dk/job.

The application must include:

• A cover letter (maximum two pages) describing how your qualifications match the project
• A detailed CV
• A Master's degree diploma, or documentation of expected completion
• A list of publications, if any, including submitted manuscripts

Application deadline: Apply no later than 15. November 2026

Lokation: Hovedstaden