Ph. D fellowship in Forensic Odontology

The Department of Forensic Medicine, Section of Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Science at University of Copenhagen is offering a Ph.D.- scholarship commencing 01.06.2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Project description
This Ph.D. project will comprise research into two important subject areas of forensic odontology at this department:
1) Validation (specificity, sensitivity and predictive values) of various pm imaging diagnostic tools for the use in forensic odontology -and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) casework. A key focus of this project is to explore the use of intraoral digital scans of the dentition as a reliable source of postmortem (PM) data. Additionally, the project seeks to establish postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) as a standardized radiological technique for age estimation and identification.
2) Investigations into the oral health status of asylum seekers whose ages have been estimated at our department. This analysis includes evaluating general pathology and mineralization disturbances. These findings will be combined with anamnestic information provided by the asylum seekers to investigate potential correlations. The key focus is to ascertain how evident dental pathology may serve as a record for childhood stress and growth disturbances.

Supervisor
This project will be carried out under the supervision of Professor, Ph. D. Niels Lynnerup, Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Science at University of Copenhagen

Start: 1st of June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter
Duration: 6 years as a part-time PhD student

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:
• Conducting an independent research project under supervision.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis based on your project.

Formal requirements of applicants
We are seeking highly motivated applicants with a Master’s degree in Dentistry, with the following competences:
• Danish authorization and permission to practice independently as a dentist
• Experience as a general dental practitioner
• Knowledge about and experience with workflow in forensic dentistry
• Good oral and written Danish competences
• Good oral and written English competences
• A flexible mindset in approach to tasks and to daily duties

It will be highly advantageous to have one or more of the following qualifications:
• Hands-on experience with forensic odontology, including forensic identification cases
• Experience with diagnostic postmortem Computed Tomography scanning
• Experience using an intraoral digital scanner
• Experience using the medical image processing software, Myrian, in a forensic context
• Knowledge and experience using the DVI software and DVI guide from INTERPOL

Place of employment
The Section of Forensic Pathology carries out medico-legal autopsies and clinical forensic examinations including age estimations for the judiciary and other public authorities. Based on this casework the section has a lot of developmental and scientific work within the fields of applied health research and disease and accident prevention. The Section of Forensic Pathology and clinical forensic medicine is one of three sections at the Department of Forensic Medicine (University of Copenhagen) carrying out research and teaching assignments according to ordinary university rules. The section has a wide range of collaboration with other fields – e.g., Police, Danish Patient Safety Authority, clinical departments and other university departments.

The section has about 80 employees, including 1 professor, 3 associate professors, forensic doctors, forensic odontologists, administrative staff, 8 PhD students, laboratory technicians, forensic technicians, forensic nurses, forensic anthropologist, and several thesis students. The Section houses a forensic odontological unit comprising two forensic odontologists. Work areas comprise performing dental identification of unidentified deceased, including assisting in DVI work, and forensic odontological evaluation of trauma on teeth and oral cavity, and age evaluation of unaccompanied asylum seekers.
The department is equipped with modern instruments, including an in-house CT-scanner Siemens and IT facilities. The section is accredited to ISO 17020.

Terms of employment

The employment as a PhD fellow is part-time (18,5 working hours per week on average) and for 6 years. The start date is 1st of June 2025, or after agreement.
The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s success¬ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant
The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree¬ment between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,800 DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April 2025 level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.
General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:
1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science
4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 25 February 2025, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.
The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills, and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.