Kempestiftelserna

Umeå University and IceLab are advertising three multidisciplinary postdoctoral scholarships for a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship programme funded by Kempestiftelserna. One of the available projects is Project C: “Adaptive immunity as an evolutionary response to unforeseen stress”, supervised by Ryo Morimoto together with Eric Libby. The project sits at the interface of evolutionary immunology, theoretical biology, mathematical modeling, and complex systems science.

The research asks why adaptive immunity evolved despite its high biological costs, and will investigate it as an anticipatory stress-response system. The broader IceLab programme welcomes candidates with expertise in computational and mathematical modeling, statistical modeling, machine learning, network science, bioinformatics, applied mathematics, biophysics, systems biology, theoretical and evolutionary biology, community ecology, ecological modeling, molecular biology, biochemistry, dynamical systems, and related quantitative fields.

Funding: the scholarship provides 720,000 SEK over two years plus 75,000 SEK for research expenses; the scholarship is tax-free. Eligibility: applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent by the decision date, with preference for those who graduated within the last three years. Strong English skills, collaboration, communication, creativity, and analytical ability are required.

Application window: applications are open now and the deadline is 2026-09-17. Applicants must submit a cover letter, CV, degree documentation, diplomas and grades, thesis, publications, and reference contacts through Umeå University’s Varbi system. The post is based at Umeå University, Sweden, within the interdisciplinary environment of IceLab.