PhD fellowship in solid state Pharmacy

We are offering a three-year PhD fellowship in solid state Pharmacy commencing on 15 June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Project description
One of the great challenges in oral drug development is to find strategies to improve the solubility and thus the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. Amorphous forms of drugs offer one of the best solutions to the solubility problem. However, i) amorphous forms are physically unstable, and ii) depending on the preparation method and experimental conditions used, different amorphous states and polyamorphs are obtained with distinct solubility, dissolution and stability properties, in a phenomenon termed amorphous variability. Although amorphous variability has a clear potential to design more stable and soluble drug formulations, its investigation has been neglected in the assumption that only a ‘single amorphous state’ can be formed when searching for amorphous forms. This project proposes to solve this dilema by developing amorphous engineering – a unique approach to investigate the use of amorphous variability as a tool in the sustainable design of better medicines. Here, the formation of distinctly different amorphous states and polyamorphs of relevant drugs will be explored and characterized using a combination of experimental techniques with computational methods.

Principal supervisor
Associate Professor Inês Catarina Batista Martins, Department of Pharmacy

Start
1st of June 2025

Duration
3 years as a PhD student

Our group and research
Research in the Pharmaceutical Processes and Products research group focusses on the solid state of pharmaceutical preparations, with a specific interest in the transformation of a drug from the crystalline state to high-energy amorphous forms. Using a supportive and inclusive teamwork and interdisciplinary approach, and embedded in an international and diverse network of collaborators, we investigate different types of amorphous pharmaceutical systems with respect to their physicochemical properties, their stabilization and their pharmaceutical performance.

Our department
The mission of Department of Pharmacy is to advance the pharmaceutical sciences by performing drug-related research and research-based teaching in topics including pharmaceutical technology and formulation, drug delivery, advanced drug analysis, and clinical and social pharmacy.

Information about the Department can be found at https://pharmacy.ku.dk/

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences are:
• Carrying through 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, preferably abroad
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching of undergraduate students in pharmaceutical sciences
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project, e.g. solid-state pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturing, drug formulation. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Relevant work experience
• Previous publications
• The grade point average achieved
• Other professional activities
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in amorphous drug formulation and characterization using combined experimental techniques (e.g., differential scanning calorimetry, microcalorimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR) with computational modelling
• Language skills

Place of employment
The place of employment is at the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories and access to the state of the art equipment (including through the center for advanced solid state analysis https://pharmacy.ku.dk/research/cpharma/), via a range of international research partners (https://www.pssrc.org/), as well as access to large infrastructure facilities).

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.
The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s successful 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 to the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences.

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.

The PhD student is expected to be affiliated to the graduate programme in pharmaceutical sciences, Drug Research Academy.

Salary, pension, and terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance 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.


Application procedure
Your application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking “Apply now” below and 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. Applicants with a Master´s degree from abroad should also enclose a short description of the grading scale used.

4. Publication list (if possible)

5. Other information to consider: References and recommendations (if possible)

The deadline for applications is 31st of March 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 authorised 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.

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

Interviews are expected to be held in week 19.

You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

Questions
For further information, applicants may contact the principal supervisor Inês Catarina Batista Martins, e-mail: [email protected], phone: +45 71470701 or PhD coordinator Marianne W. Jørgensen, e-mail: [email protected], phone: +45 3533 6449.

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/

For more information on working and living in Denmark visit http://ism.ku.dk (International staff mobility) and https://www.workindenmark.dk

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

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