The Department of Computing at the Faculty of Technology invites applications for a full-time Doctoral Researcher position. This role focuses on developing a nationwide, versatile foundation health model using Finland's national health databases. The fixed-term position starts based on mutual agreement, and ends 30.9.2029. There is a possibility of extension in the position.
Job description
This position is integrated into the high-impact research project, FINe-Health Foundry: Nationwide Foundation Health Model. As a PhD candidate, you will conduct deep-dive research into training pipelines and reasoning techniques for clinical foundation models. You will join an elite, interdisciplinary team, collaborating closely with leading academic experts and industrial partners across Finland and Europe.
The successful candidate will focus on one of the following pillars:
- Pretraining Foundation Health Model: Researching and building training pipelines for foundation models trained on nationwide health databases and structured longitudinal electronic health records.
- Medical Reasoning and Grounding: Developing advanced post-training techniques to ensure foundation health models reason accurately over medical knowledge graphs and clinical instructions while verifying factuality and safety boundaries.
- Agentic Methods for Virtual Labs: Constructing interactive "virtual laboratories" where medical professionals can interact with, audit, and align LLM-powered medical agents with clinical guidelines.
Responsibilities:
- Design, develop, and implement state-of-the-art foundation health models and clinical reasoning algorithms.
- Collaborate closely with top-tier partner universities and clinical/industrial partners.
- Participate in project implementation and reporting activities.
- Contribute to academic life by supervising MSc and Bachelor students, and assisting in teaching activities.
- Engage in training opportunities including high-impact scientific publishing, and collaborative research with international teams.
Who we are looking for
Requirements
- MSc degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or a closely related quantitative field.
- A solid foundation in Computer Science with a deep understanding of Artificial Intelligence and related algorithms.
- A strong interest in or prior experience with medical AI, Natural Language Processing, or clinical data analysis.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Interest in collaborative research with both academia and industry.
- Good communication skills in English (written and spoken).
- Programming skills and experience with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, Hugging Face, etc.).
Qualification requirements
The eligibility criteria for prospective applicants are defined in the University of Turku Rules of Procedure: university-of-turku-rules-of-procedure.pdf.
A person selected for the post of Doctoral Researcher is required to have a right to pursue a doctoral degree at University of Turku. In addition, when acquiring their degree or otherwise, they are required to have demonstrated the ability to undertake postgraduate studies and the capacity to complete a doctoral degree in accordance with the research plan.
Please note that before obtaining the study right for a Doctoral Program, the job title will be Project Researcher, and the employment contract will be made until 31.3.2027 at the latest. The candidate is expected to apply for the study right in the next available Autumn 2026 call to e.g. the Doctoral Programme in Technology.
Thus, please check the student information and application criteria Doctoral Programme in Technology - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants | University of Turku (please pay attention to the mandatory skill level in English).
Read more about the University of Turku's doctoral programmes and how to apply for study rights Join us for your doctoral studies at the University of Turku! | University of Turku
In exceptional cases, we may also consider applicants who have completed nearly all the studies required for a master's degree in a relevant field. In such cases, the job title at the start of the employment will be Research Assistant and the starting salary (OV1) is on average 2400 euros/month, depending on competence and experience.
We value collegiality and promote equality, diversity, and inclusivity. We encourage all qualified applicants with different backgrounds to apply for our open positions.
Benefits
We offer you responsible and interesting tasks and the opportunity to develop your professional skills in a versatile operating environment. You get a professional and inspiring team to support your work. We take care of your well-being at work and the functionality of your everyday life, e.g. with the help of flexible working hours and our well-being services.
Please read more about University of Turku as an employer from our Come work with us! pages.
The European Commission has awarded the University of Turku the right to use the HR Excellence in Research quality label. The label is a token of the University's commitment to continuous development of the position and working conditions of researchers according to the guidelines set forth in the European Charter for Researchers.
The university offers good support and orientation for international hires. Please learn more about the Finnish culture and relocation to Finland:
The University of Turku is among the top of the world’s universities in most rankings and among the best universities in the world in certain fields. Our high-quality basic research, a multidisciplinary research profile and close cooperation in research infrastructures creates the basis for international top research. Read more about University of Turku in international university rankings.
The University of Turku has several high-quality research infrastructures required for cutting-edge research. Learn more about the roadmap of research infrastructures and how the research infrastructure and expert teams offer tailored solutions for businesses and organizations.
Salary and trial period
The salary is determined in accordance with the university salary system for teaching and research personnel and will depend on the degree and qualifications of the applicant.
For a doctoral/project researcher (OV02-OV04), the salary will be in the beginning of the employment on average 2500–2700 euros/month, depending on previous experience and skills.
The amount of the salary is defined when the employment contract is prepared.
A six (6) month trial period applies to the position.
How to apply
Please submit your application through our online recruitment system. The closing date for applications is 17 August, 2026 at 16.00 (Europe/Helsinki).
Your application must include the following:
- A motivation letter
- Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- A list of publications
- Copies of Bachelor and MSc degree certificates with translation in English or in Finnish
- Other documents that may affect the decision-making (for example a research plan, awards, a valid English proficiency certificate, e.g. IELTS or TOEFL)
Further information
Home page of the research group: https://www.olaresearch.org/
For further information about the position, please contact: Assistant Professor Shaoxiong Ji, [email protected].
With questions about the application process, please contact: HR Specialist Nina Reini, [email protected].
University of Turku reserves the right for justified reasons to leave the position open, to extend the application period, reopen the application process, and to consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.
