Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychiatric Pharmacoepidemiology Full-time

Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychiatric Pharmacoepidemiology

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics conducts research in epidemiology and biostatistics across a broad range of areas within biomedical science. The department is among the largest of its type in Europe and has especially strong research profiles in psychiatric, cancer, reproductive, pediatric, pharmaco, genetic, and geriatric epidemiology, eating disorders, precision medicine, and biostatistics. Part of the success of our department is due to our collaborative spirit where one factor is that researchers at the Department share and co-finance common resources (e.g., IT and an applied biostatistics group). The department is situated at campus Solna. Further information can be found at ki.se/en/meb.

We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join a newly funded project investigating psychotropic medication use during breastfeeding. The project leverages high-quality Swedish register data and advanced causal inference methods to address clinically important questions on medication safety in lactation. The successful candidate will join the Psychiatric and pharmaco-epidemiology research group, led by Principal Researcher Zheng Chang. The position also provides opportunities for collaboration with leading research groups in Denmark and Norway.

Your mission

As a postdoctoral researcher, you will work on projects investigating the use and safety of psychotropic medications during breastfeeding, with a particular focus on maternal mental health and child health outcomes.

You will be involved in all stages of the research process, including study design, data management, implementation of register-based cohort studies, statistical analyses, and dissemination of findings through scientific publications. The work will involve collaboration within multidisciplinary and international research teams at Karolinska Institutet and with external collaborators.

The position also offers opportunities to develop independent research ideas, contribute to grant applications, and participate in supervision and teaching activities depending on interest and experience.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a Swedish PhD is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. Completion of your doctoral degree within the last three years is considered an advantage. If there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

The following are essential criteria:

• PhD in a relevant discipline, including but not limited to epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, psychiatry, psychology, pharmacoepidemiology, or another relevant medical science.
• Proficiency in statistical software such as R, SAS, or Stata.
• Strong skills in data management and experience working with large-scale register or longitudinal datasets.
• Experience writing scientific manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals, as well as excellent written and spoken English skills.

The following are meriting criteria:

• Previous experience in psychiatric or pharmacoepidemiology research.
• Previous experience working with pregnancy, breastfeeding, maternal mental health, or child health data.
• Knowledge of causal inference methods and advanced epidemiological study designs.
• Publications as first author in peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience writing funding applications, including applications to smaller foundations or competitive research grants.

We place great emphasis on personal qualities. The ideal candidate is self-motivated, curious, proactive, and able to work effectively both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary research.

What do we offer?

Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. At Karolinska Institutet, 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 benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Solna

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

• PhD certificate
• A complete resumé, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
• A complete list of publications
• A summary of current work (no more than one page)

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

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

Type of employment – Temporary position

Contract type – Full time

First day of employment – According to agreement

Salary – Monthly salary

Number of positions – 1

Full-time equivalent – 100%

City – Stockholm

County – Stockholms län

Country – Sweden

Reference number – STÖD 2-2090/2026

Contact – Lin Li, postdoktor, lin.li@ki.se Zheng Chang, senior forskare, zheng.chang@ki.se

Union representative – Bodil Moberg, OFR/ST, bodil.moberg@ki.se Ann Almqvist, SACO, ann.almqvist@ki.se Elizabeth Valenzuela, SEKO, elizabeth.valenzuela@ki.se

Published – 18.May.2026

Last application date – 08.Jun.2026

Login and apply