The University of Basel’s High Performance Computing (HPC) research group, led by Professor Florina M. Ciorba in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, is offering a fully funded PhD position as part of the SNF Bridge Discovery project “Family Gene Toolkit: A digital service to support genetic care in Europe.” This interdisciplinary project brings together experts in HPC, nursing, social sciences, and 14 clinical partners across Switzerland to advance digital tools for families affected by Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) and Lynch Syndrome (LS). The next-generation Family Gene Toolkit (FGT v3.0) will integrate cutting-edge AI and confidential computing to personalize patient care and support clinicians in long-term monitoring and decision-making.

As a PhD candidate, you will be responsible for designing and developing the secure technical foundation for FGT v3.0. Your work will include building confidential HPC pipelines, scalable training infrastructure, and fine-tuning large medical language models (LLMs) using clinical guidelines, evidence-based datasets, and real-world medical corpora. You will rigorously evaluate these models with established medical and multilingual benchmarks, and contribute to the development of prototype chatbot and retrieval systems for clinical partners. Integration of medical LLMs with multilingual models and contributions to robustness and confidential-AI evaluation workflows are also key aspects of the role.

Research activities will be closely aligned with the project’s objectives, and you will be expected to publish high-quality papers in leading conferences and journals in HPC and AI for healthcare. You will present your results at seminars, workshops, and international conferences, and actively engage with the HPC group and partner institutions. Additional responsibilities include assisting with teaching (one class per semester) and supervision (one student or more per semester).

The position is fully funded for four years (48 months) according to SNSF guidelines, with a gross annual salary of approximately CHF 50,000 and generous travel funds for international conferences. You will have access to powerful supercomputers, close research mentoring, and excellent working conditions in a stimulating and supportive environment.

Eligibility requirements include a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a closely related field by March 2026, an excellent academic record, programming skills in C, C++, Java, or Python, experience with parallel programming, Linux, machine-learning frameworks, and privacy-enhancing technologies, and fluency in English. Strong communication, problem-solving skills, and a collaborative mindset are essential, along with genuine curiosity and motivation for impactful research in computer science and healthcare.

To apply, submit a single PDF file containing your CV (with publication list), Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, at least one relevant publication (if available), transcripts, links to personal software contributions, a motivation statement, and contact information for 1-2 professors willing to provide recommendation letters. Applications are encouraged before 14 January 2026 via the provided application link. Evaluation begins 19 January 2026 and continues until the position is filled. Short-listed applicants will be contacted within three weeks to arrange an interview. For specific questions, contact Professor Florina M. Ciorba at [email protected].