Are you a Master’s graduate looking for fully funded PhD opportunities? Explore the range of funded PhD programs available at the University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Apply online now and kickstart your doctoral journey!
1. Fully Funded PhD Position in Behavioural Ecology
Summary of PhD Program:
While the ecological and evolutionary significance of behavioural plasticity is well recognized, we still know little about the physiological processes that facilitate flexibly switching between several, potentially conflicting behaviours – such as aggression and parental care. In this project, we will investigate how cognitive, hormonal, and neuronal mechanisms act together in flexibly balancing contrasting behavioural decisions. We hypothesise that trade-offs between aggressive and parental behaviours also manifest on a physiological level, and that short-term changes in steroid release and/or sensitivity may provide animals with a mechanism for adapting their behavioural responses to rapidly changing contexts.
Application Deadline: 30th July 2024
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in business administration (Operations Research)
Summary of PhD Program:
The University of Bern is one of the 150 best universities in the world. The professorship for quantitative methods in business administration represents the areas of operations research, analytics and operations management in research and teaching at the Department of Business Administration. We are filling a doctoral and assistant position as of August 1, 2024 or by arrangement. The aim of the research is to develop methods of operations research for use in project management.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
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3. Fully Funded PhD Position in Psychology / Neuroscience
Summary of PhD Program:
The aim of the doctorate is to provide scientific support for the weekly memory training of the memory clinic, to collect qualitative and quantitative data, e.g. on cognition, motivation and self-efficacy, and to test digital health interventions (DHI). The working group of Prof. Dr. Stefan Klöppel (Director of the University Clinic for Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychotherapy) is researching how non-drug therapies can improve memory performance in normal aging and in the early stages of dementia.
Application Deadline: 22.07.2024
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Heat Extremes and Health
Summary of PhD Program:
The goal of the PhD project is to provide and analyse a number of health-relevant heat indicators at high spatial resolution for Europe for the past, present and future that can then be combined with other geospatial information as well as with other hazards (e.g., air pollution) to address compound risks. The analysis will also address climatic drivers in combination with a large ensemble of climate model simulations. In addition, the project will zoom in to the city level for four case study sites (Naples, Lyon, Bern, Oslo) and address urban heat island effects.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
5. Fully Funded PhD Position in Space Science
Summary of PhD Program:
This research project focuses on preparing measurements by the mass spectrometers on board ESA’s JUICE and NASA’s Europa Clipper missions to study the plumes tentatively observed on Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons. Investigating Europa’s plumes is particularly exciting because these geysers offer a rare opportunity to sample subsurface liquid reservoirs that might harbor life, without needing to drill through kilometers of ice. Analyzing these plumes could provide unprecedented insights into the moon’s oceanic environment, its chemical composition, and its potential habitability.
Application Deadline: 31 July 2024
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in Neuropsychology / Health Psychology / Neuroimaging
Summary of PhD Program:
We are currently planning the PICO-5 study, a 5-year long-term study of all participants in the PICO study. In the PICO-5 study, we are asking how the cognition, psychosocial variables and, above all, the cerebral markers (structural and functional MRI) of patients with phenylketonuria develop in adulthood. The focus is on determining the longitudinal development of the “brain age” of patients and healthy study participants and the extent to which brain age is associated with cognition and biomarkers.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
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7. Fully Funded PhD Position in Public Management and Organization
Summary of PhD Program:
For the Swiss NSF-funded research project “Exploring the nexus of volunteer role identity and volunteer engagement: How does framing of beneficiaries matter?”, our Public Management and Organization research team at University of Bern’s KPM Center for Public Management seeks to recruit a PhD candidate for a 4-year position, starting in August 2024 or by agreement.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
8. Fully Funded PhD Position
Summary of PhD Program:
We are a committed research and teaching department in the areas of strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation. Our activities with continuing education courses, projects and events are part of the Bern entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Machine Learning for Digital Biomarker in Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry
Summary of PhD Program:
As part of this research, you will be significantly involved in designing, implementing and analysing a study on developing digital biomarkers using passive sensing. Your role will include the design of a comprehensive data analysis pipeline based on one or more available data streams. You will be responsible for pre-processing and analysing the data and developing machine-learning models to identify and validate digital biomarkers. This role requires a deep understanding of data-driven research methods and the ability to interpret complex data sets and develop innovative solutions to geriatric psychiatry and psychology challenges.
Application Deadline: 30.07.2024
10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Machine Learning for Digital Biomarkers in Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry
Summary of PhD Program:
As part of this research, you will play a key role in the conception, implementation and analysis of a study on the development of digital biomarkers using passive sensing. Your task will include designing a comprehensive data analysis pipeline based on one or more available data streams. You will be responsible for preprocessing and analyzing the data and for developing machine learning models to identify and validate digital biomarkers. This job requires a deep understanding of data-driven research methods as well as the ability to interpret complex data sets and develop innovative solutions to the challenges in the field of geriatric psychiatry and psychology.
Application Deadline: 30. July 2024
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in novel mechanisms of action underlying liver fibrosis progression
Summary of PhD Program:
The Hepatology group of the Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, is a leading international teaching and research institution in the field of chronic liver disease. The ongoing study is committed to examining novel mechanisms of action underlying fibrosis progression. The project aims to test hepatic cellular crosstalk and the immune response during liver fibrosis development, as well as to elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind the progression to liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension.
Application Deadline: 30th August 2024
12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Investigating efficacy and microstructural plasticity of LSD treatment in patients with alcohol use disorder
Summary of PhD Program:
The study is being conducted at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel under the direction of PD Dr. Felix Müller and at the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bern under the direction of Prof. Dr. Leila Soravia and Prof. Dr. Tobias Bracht. The aim of the study is to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of administering LSD for the treatment of patients with alcohol use disorder and to determine the relationship between LSD-induced long-term changes in structural connectivity in the brain. All magnetic resonance imaging measurements will take place at the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine (SITEM) in cooperation with the Neuroradiology Department at the Inselspital in Bern.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in Digital Pathology
Summary of PhD Program:
The Odyssey Digital Pathology Research Group at the University of Bern (Group Prof. I. Zlobec) takes a deep dive into the morphomolecular aspects and spatial biology of colorectal cancer using various computational, bioinformatics and tissue visualization techniques to gain insights into colorectal cancer biology, metastatic dissemination as well as to identify new predictive and prognostic (spatial) biomarkers. We use digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) to investigate the multi-faceted phenomenon of “tumor budding” and the tumor microenvironment. Our group is enriched by the multi-disciplinary background of our students, our numerous industry partners as well as national and international academic collaborators spanning the areas of pathology, immunology, oncology, machine learning and computer vision.
Application Deadline: 15.07.2024
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemistry
Summary of PhD Program:
You will synthesize a variety of large -conjugates with tailored functional groups for self-assembled nanostructures on surfaces and/or for studying in-depth photo-induced electron and energy transfer as well as their applications in (opto)electronic devices. Certainly, organic synthesis is a crucial tool for fine-tuning the electronic properties of such -conjugated systems, leading to novel self-assembled nanostructures. The project involves fundamental studies of molecules designed with unique electronic properties, developing methods to grow molecular structures where spin states can be manipulated electrically, and using on-surface reactions for 2D covalent networks.
Application Deadline: August 31, 2024
15. Fully Funded PhD Position
Summary of PhD Program:
The research group of the department (Prof. Dr. Dr. Christiane Zweier) focuses on the clinical, genetic and functional characterization of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including intellectual disability and epilepsy. Neurodevelopmental disorders are an important health concern affecting 2-3% of the population and are clinically and genetically extremely heterogeneous. Understanding the underlying causes and pathomechanisms is crucial to path the way for development of targeted therapies.
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Metabolic Physiology in Women’s Health
Summary of PhD Program:
The candidate will engage in a mechanistic trial adopting multi-dimensional metabolic profiling and apply novel analytical approaches to experimental and clinical data. Acquiring a variety of methodological and transferable skills through interdisciplinary training, the student will have the opportunity to present her/his work at international conferences, publish peer reviewed manuscripts and contribute to outreach activities, including exchanges with target populations. The candidate will be supervised by Prof Lia Bally and Dr David Herzig, and be part of an interdisciplinary and international research team working on the topic of Metabolic Health of Women, consisting of clinical experts, statisticians, data scientists, biomedical engineers, basic researchers and bioanalytical chemists.
Application Deadline: 30 August 2024
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in Tissue Engineering using Silk for Intervertebral Disc Repair
Summary of PhD Program:
The project is to develop a novel type of “patch” made of silk and engineered by the German partner institute in Dresden, Germany. The research will be on testing the cytocompatibility in 2D and 3D in-vitro on primary patient-derived cells (disc cells and mesenchymal stem cells) and in an in-house developed organ culture system using a two Degree-of-Freedom bioreactor using bovine coccygeal IVDs. Laboratory methods involve qPCR, Western blotting, ELISA, immune histology, microscopy, and biomechanical testing.
Application Deadline: August 30, 2024
