LEAD AI Postdoctoral Research Fellow within AI enabled structure-based drug design

Organisation/Company: University of Bergen

Department: Department of Biomedicine

Research Field: Medical sciences

Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)

Positions: Postdoc Positions

Country: Norway

Application Deadline: 11 May 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Oslo)

Type of Contract: Temporary

Job Status: Full-time

Hours Per Week: 37.5

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow position within Artificial intelligence enabled structure-based drug design at the Department of Biomedicine.

At the Department of Biomedicine (https://www.uib.no/en/biomedisin) in the group of Prof. Dr. Ruth Brenk (https://www.uib.no/en/rg/brenk) there is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research fellow position within Artificial intelligence enabled structure-based drug design. The position is for a fixed term of three years and is associated with the LEAD AI project co-funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101126560 and the University of Bergen.

About the host research group and research theme:

The overall research goal of the Brenk lab is to improve methods used for structure-based drug design and to apply these methods to design inhibitors for enzymes with biological relevance. A key point in our research is the interplay of theoretical and experimental methods. More information can be found on our homepage https://www.uib.no/en/rg/brenk/98283/research-brenk-lab.

Currently, large research efforts are ongoing to develop AI methods suitable for De novo design, scoring functions to predict the affinities of the designed compounds, and docking methods. The validation of the AI methods is often very limited. Therefore, in this project we will work on validation of AI-based De novo design, scoring and docking methods using both retrospective and prospective predictions.

About the LEAD AI fellowship programme

LEAD AI is the University of Bergen's career and mobility fellowship program for training 19 postdoctoral fellows in artificial intelligence. The program has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101126560.

The LEAD AI program offers high-quality inter- and transdisciplinary research and training opportunities in the area of artificial intelligence supported by dedicated supervision and mentoring, encouraging inter-sectoral exposure.

• Academic freedom
• Benefits from knowledge and skills transfer between disciplines, organisations and sectors
• Applicants must hold a Norwegian PhD or an equivalent degree within medicinal chemistry or computational chemistry with a specialization in cheminformatics, structure-based drug design or a related field. PhD-students may apply if defence of the PhD-thesis is completed by 1.11.2025. It is a condition of employment that the PhD has been awarded.
• Applicant should have a genuine interest in AI, and the research proposal must be related to artificial intelligence.
• Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB and they cannot be employed by any other institution for the time of the fellowship.
• Research experience in ligand- or structure-based drug design is required.
• Basic knowledge of a scripting language is required.
• Experience with RDKit is a distinct advantage.
• Experience with AI-related research and/or innovation is an advantage.
• Experience with protein expression, binding assays and X-ray crystallography is an advantage.
• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner and have the ability to cooperate with others.
• Applicants must have excellent skills in oral and written English (self-assessed in the CV and demonstrated in the application).
• The application and relevant documents must be in English.

Special requirements for the position

The University of Bergen is subjected to the regulation for export control system. The regulation will be applied in the processing of the applications.

About the position of postdoctoral research fellow:

The position of postdoctoral research fellow is a fixed-term appointment with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. You cannot be employed as a postdoctoral fellow for more than one fixed term period at the same institution.

The position may be extended by up to one year (maximum 4 years in total) if the appointee is granted externally financed research stays abroad.

For all LEAD AI fellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) will be developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 3 of the fellowship.

We can offer:

• An engaged and professionally stimulating working environment.
• Position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 624 500 upon appointment. For applicants with a medical specialization, salary NOK 657 300.
• Welfare benefits and social benefits including pension-saving in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, occupational injury insurance, full salary during sick leave for 52 weeks, and paid parental leave.
• Extension of the position term due to sick leave and parental leave.
• Norwegian language courses free of charge.
• High standards for working hours, holidays, place of work, health, and safety.
• Access to specific training activities exclusively provided within the framework of the LEAD AI programme.

How to apply:

Before starting the online application process, please familiarise yourself carefully with our application requirements in the Guide for Applicants and Application templates.

Your application must include:

• Research proposal (5 pages, using a template based on the evaluation criteria), must be relevant to the AI-related research themes defined by LEAD AI host research groups in the call.
• A CV detailing the full scientific track record, relevant other achievements and career breaks.
• Mobility declaration with supporting documentation.
• Table of potential ethics and security issues that might apply to the research proposal (self-assessment).
• An initial self-assessment of opportunities for mandatory and recommended open science practices.
• Scanned copy of the PhD diploma or documentation of formally delivered doctoral thesis.
• References. Letters of recommendation from the graduating university or previous employers are encouraged.

The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded at Jobbnorge.

Evaluation

We anticipate the whole evaluation procedure to take approximately 4 months from application deadline. Eligible applicants will be evaluated by three internationally renowned experts.

General information:

For further details about the position, please contact:

Diversity is a strength that enables us to solve our tasks even better. UiB therefore needs qualified employees regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, worldview, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and age.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

We encourage applicants with disabilities, immigrant backgrounds, or gaps in their CV to apply.