UiT The Arctic University of Norway has established «The Arctic MSCA-PF program» (uit.no/project/arcticmsca) to recruit excellent young researchers planning to apply for a Marie Skƚodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) to pursue a career in research. We invite applications from promising young researchers within the field of Epidemiology and Environmental health. The selected candidate will write a proposal for a 24-month MSCA-PF at UiT together with Professor Charlotta Rylander. This is an opportunity to accelerate your research career while living in the urban research city of Tromsø, uniquely located at the top of the world surrounded by some of Europe’s last pristine wild nature.

This call is one of 70 from pre-selected supervisors at UiT The Arctic University of Norway through the “Arctic MSCA-PF program”. Successful postdoc candidates will be invited for a three-day MSCA-PF symposium June 4-6, 2024 (hybrid physical/digital event, see details at uit.no/project/arcticmsca/program-structure). At this event, the candidates will present their past research achievements, discuss future plans with their potential supervisor and learn how to write a successful MSCA-PF application. The selected candidates will, jointly with the supervisor, write the MSCA-PF application by the deadline of September 11, 2024.

In this call we search for talented, young researchers within the field of Epidemiology and Environmental health as presented by Professor Rylander:

Since the early 20th century, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, and PFAS have been accumulating in the Arctic, threatening the environment, wildlife, food safety, and human health. Many of these pollutants have been associated with various health effects, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, human POP concentrations are influenced by a large number of factors like birth year, diet, body composition, and reproductive history, complicating health effect studies. Despite a decline in legacy POPs since the 1980’s due to international regulations, emerging POPs are on the rise, and environmental concentrations may potentially be exacerbated by climate change. To address these complexities, we've leveraged the Tromsø study's unique design and have available data on repeated POP concentrations, clinical data, and self-reports from 250 individuals between 1984 and 2017. With over 50 different POPs, lipids, and hormones analyzed, and additional data on historical emissions and ambient temperatures spanning 50 years, we have unique data with great potential for further projects. We can study time trends of POPs in relation to demographics, historical emissions, climate change, and human half-lives of POPs. We can also examine the association of POPs with BMI, weight change, hormone levels, and type 2 diabetes risk, as well as the impact of fish consumption and changing environmental conditions on human time-trends of POPs. 

Please send your CV (max 3 pages) and describe a research project that will strengthen and complement the presented research (max 2 pages) to charlotta.rylander@uit.no by Feb 16th 2024. Mark your application "Arctic MSCA". Successful candidates will be contacted in late March 2024.