The Department of Chemistry at Umeå Univeristy is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within Electrochemistry – development of electrochemical sensor surfaces. The scholarship is full-time for two years with access 1 April 2025 or by agreement. Last day to apply is 24 January 2025.

Project description 
The postdoctoral fellow will be engaged in a project titled: “Development of Electrochemical Sensor surfaces for Chemical analysis” where the main purpose is to immobilize specific receptors on different types of substrates for optimal interaction with targeted compounds. Compounds of interest include heavy metal ions and cytostatic drugs in environmental and clinical samples. Various modification strategies and different characterization/analytical techniques will be used in the development and application of the sensors. You will be affiliated with a research group, headed by associate professor Solomon Tesfalidet, and in which International MSc and PhD students participate.

Qualifications 

To qualify as a postdoctoral scholarship holder, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirements must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the decision about scholarship recipient.

Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree prior to that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organizations, military service, or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area.

Doctoral degree should be within analytical-, biophysical, or surface chemistry with good knowledge in electrochemistry.

Additional requirements are skills in one or more of the areas:

• Chemical modification of electrode surfaces including electrochemical grafting
• Characterization of modified surfaces using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)
• Characterization of modified surfaces using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)
• Metal analysis using ICP-OES or ICP-MS

Moreover, you must be able to progress in your studies independently as well as in co-operation with others, and have good skills in oral and written English.

Application  
A full application should include: 
- A cover letter summarizing your qualifications, your scientific interests, your motives for applying, and how you feel you meet the essential and meriting criteria (max 2 pages), 
- Curriculum vitae (CV) with publication list, 
- Copy of doctoral degree certificate or documentation that clarifies when the degree of doctor is expected to be obtained, 
- Copies of other diplomas, list of completed academic courses and grades, 
- Copy of doctoral thesis and up to 5 relevant articles, 
- Other documents that the applicant wishes to claim. 
- Contact information to two persons willing to act as references.

The application should be written in English or Swedish, and attached documents should be in Word or PDF format. The application should be registered via Umeå University’s e-recruitment system Varbi (https://umustipendie.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:773010/) and submitted by the deadline 24 January 2025.

Further information  
For more information, please contact Solomon Tesfalidet: Solomon.tesfalidet@umu.se

About us 
The Department of Chemistry is one of the largest departments within the Faculty of Science and Technology with approximately 200 employees and strong and expanding research. The Department has four major research areas: Biological Chemistry, IBEAM, Organic chemistry and Technical Chemistry. We are also a strong partner in the KBC, Chemical-Biological Center.

We look forward to receiving your application!