Ochoa International Postdoctoral Call in Global Health (3 postdoc scholarships available!)

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) is a cutting-edge institute addressing global public health challenges through research, translation to policy and education, with a commitment to improve global health and promote health equity. ISGlobal has a broad portfolio in communicable and non-communicable diseases including environmental and climate determinants, and applies a multidisciplinary scientific approach ranging from the molecular to the population level. Research is organized in three main areas: Malaria and other Infectious Diseases; Child and Maternal Health; Urban Health, Climate and Non-Communicable Diseases.

ISGlobal is the first global public health centre to have received the Severo Ochoa distinction, a seal of excellence of the Spanish Science Ministry.

Thanks to the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence Accreditation, in this call we offer 3 posts for national and international postdoctoral researchers, who wish to work in any of the three main research areas (Malaria and other Infectious Diseases; Child and Maternal Health; Urban Health, Climate and Non-Communicable Diseases).

Each postdoc will be co-supervised by 2 PIs (a Principal PI and a Co-PI).

During the application process, applicants are requested to select a maximum of 2 topics, among the list provided at the end of the call text, section “Postdoc Research Topics”.

Eligibility Criteria

    1. Candidates can be of any nationality.
    2. Candidates must have obtained their doctorate during the 5 years prior to the deadline for applications (PhD obtained after 16 March 2016). In the case of applicants having been awarded several PhDs, the reference date is the award date of the first PhD. The reference date for calculating the eligibility period should be the date of the actual award according to the national rules in the country where the degree was awarded.

Exceptions are made for candidates with career breaks between the date of obtaining the doctoral degree and the call deadline (16 March 2021). In such cases, candidates may request an extension of the period in which the doctoral degree must have been obtained. To these effects, the following causes are considered as career breaks:

  • Illness or accident that has led to sick leave for three months or more. An extension may be applied for the number of justified months.
  • Parental leave. An extension corresponding to the documented time of parental leave actually taken for each child can be applied.
  • Mandatory military/civil service. An extension corresponding to the documented time of mandatory military/civil service can be applied.

All cases must be duly justified by means of an official supporting document (if the official document is not in Catalan, Spanish or English, applicants should also provide a translation in one of the above-mentioned languages). Request of extensions of the period in which the doctoral degree must have been obtained and the corresponding official supporting document must be sent to research.management@isglobal.org at the time of submitting the application. Requests submitted after the call deadline will not be taken into considerations.

  1. Candidates must hold at least 4 publications as first (or co-shared first) author or any publication in a top-ranking journal.
  2. Candidates must have good command of English.
  3.  Having received a MSCA Seal of Excellencefor a project proposal submitted for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship is an asset.
  4.  Mobility is an asset.

How to Apply

Applicants must fill in the request form and attach the following two documents:

  1.  Curriculum vitae in English, including the names and contact information for three references.
  2.  Motivation letter in English(1-page MAX, A4, Arial, size 11, single space), mentioning the number of the selected research topic/s from the list provided at the end of this call text (a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 topics can be selected), and the justification for its selection.

Please note that each submitted document must be named as: CandidateSurname_CandidateName_filetype (e.g. Smith_John_cv, Smith_John_letter). Candidates must ensure that all required information is submitted before the application deadline of 16 March 2021. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

Conditions

  • Number of offered postdoctoral positions: 3
  • Duration of each postdoctoral position: 2 years
  • Dedication: full time
  • Starting Date: from 1 May 2021
  • Salary: as per ISGlobal’s salary scale, and according to candidate’s experience and qualifications.

Selection Process and Selection Criteria

All applications are reviewed by an ad hoc Committee.

Candidates are selected on the basis of academic excellence, performance in research and adequacy of candidate’s experience to the selected research topic.

Short-listed candidates will be invited for a TC interview.

Selected candidates will be notified shortly after the interview period.

Key Dates

Call opening: 16 Feb 2021

Call deadline: 16 March 2021

Notification to candidates: 16 Apr – 30 Apr 2021

Expected incorporation date: from 1 May 2021

Contact

For any additional information, please contact research.management@isglobal.org.

Postdoc Research Topics

Please find the list of Postdoc Research Topics below. A minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 topics can be selected. When applying, don’t forget to mention the correct topic number in your cover letter.

Should you wish to know more about a research topic, you can contact the corresponding Principal PI/Co-PI.

  1. Use of participatory apps for valid inference on (respiratory) symptoms, environmental triggers and treatment effects: an application to the MASK-air APP

Principal PI: Josep M Anto (josepm.anto@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Xavier Basagaña (xavier.basagana@isglobal.org)

  1. Monitoring and management of heat stresses in outdoor workers subject to heatwaves

Principal PI: Joan Ballester (joan.ballester@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Guillaume Chevance (guillaume.chevance@isglobal.org)

  1. Exposure to high temperatures in outdoor workers: influence on cognition, fatigue and cardiovascular and kidney diseases

Principal PI: Xavier Basagaña (xavier.basagana@isglobal.org)

Co-PI : Cristina O’Callaghan (cristina.ocallaghan@isglobal.org)

  1. Quality of Life and emotional health in paediatric cardiac patients after treatment with image guided procedures: the role of environmental enrichment

Principal PI: Elisabeth Cardis (elisabeth.cardis@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Ximena Goldberg (ximena.goldberg@isglobal.org)

  1. Investigation of the role of microbiome as a modulator of immunity and treatment response in neglected infectious diseases

Principal PI: Climent Casals (climent.casalspascual@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Jose Muñoz (jose.munoz@isglobal.org)

  1. The early-life chemical exposome and respiratory health

Principal PI: Maribel Casas (maribel.casas@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Judith Garcia (judith.garcia@isglobal.org)

  1. Monitoring behavioural health in newly arrived migrants all along their acculturation process using digital technologies

Principal PI: Guillaume Chevance (guillaume.chevance@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Ana Requena (ana.requena@isglobal.org)

  1. Climate change and health: health impacts of changes in season timings and lengths

Principal PI: Ivana Cvijanovic (ivana.cvijanovic@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Cathryn Tonne (cathryn.tonne@isglobal.org)

  1. Extracellular vesicles as novel Biomarkers of infectious diseases with a focus on malaria and Chagas disease

Principal PI: Carmen Fernandez (carmen.fernandez@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Maria-Jesus Pinazo (mariajesus.pinazo@isglobal.org)

  1. Elucidation of the molecular machinery responsible for extracellular vesicle production in Plasmodium and Trypanosoma: discovery of new targets for drug development against malaria and Chagas disease

Principal PI: Xavier Fernandez (xavier.fernandez@isglobal.org)

Co-PI : Julio A. Padilla (julio.a.padilla@isglobal.org)

  1. Tailored monitoring and early prediction of individuals’ symptoms fluctuation among patients with COPD

Principal PI: Judith Garcia (judith.garcia@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Guillaume Chevance (guillaume.chevance@isglobal.org)

  1. Social determinants of mental health following COVID-19 lockdown measures: analysis of the human exposome based on a longitudinal study of 15,000 participants (the COVICATCONTENT cohort)

Principal PI: Ximena Goldberg (ximena.goldberg@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

  1. Federated privacy-preserving machine learning algorithms to predict neurological outcomes based on combined neuroimaging, genomics and exposome data

Principal PI: Juan Ramon Gonzalez (juanr.gonzalez@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

  1. Short and long-term effects of temperature on child brain development

Principal PI: Monica Guxens (monica.guxens@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Joan Ballester (joan.ballester@isglobal.org)

  1. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB and HIV services in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, focusing on Mozambique, Uganda and Spain, and how to ensure resilient health systems

Principal PI: Jeffrey Lazarus (jeffrey.lazarus@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Davide Rasella (davide.rasella@isglobal.org)

  1. Use genomics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify genetic sequences in malaria parasites molded by evolutionary pressures that can be exploited to advance the goal of malaria eradication

Principal PI: Alfredo Mayor (alfredo.mayor@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

  1. Effectiveness and impact evaluation of MULTIple doses of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) in Sierra Leone, Togo and Mozambique; a Lifesaving high Yield intervention (MULTIPLY project)

Principal PI: Clara Menendez (clara.menendez@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Davide Rasella (davide.rasella@isglobal.org)

  1. The role of artificial intelligence in detecting emerging vector borne diseases

Principal PI: Jose Muñoz (jose.munoz@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Rachel Lowe (rachel.lowe@isglobal.org)

  1. Air pollution and child health; using innovative exposure assessment methods to improve the understanding of early biological (omics) responses and child respiratory and cardiometabolic health

Principal PI: Mark Nieuwenhuijsen (mark.nieuwenhuijsen@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Martine Vrijheid (martine.vrijheid@isglobal.org)

  1. Environmental degradation and risk of emerging infectious diseases: a Planetary Health approach

Principal PI: Cristina O’Callaghan (cristina.ocallaghan@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Rachel Lowe (rachel.lowe@isglobal.org)

  1. Systems serology: data analytics platform to investigate the mechanisms of infection and vaccine-induced immune responses and identify predictors of protection

Principal PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Gemma Moncunill (gemma.moncunill@isglobal.org)

  1. Impact of a comprehensive clinical management platform (prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and educational actions) for the control of neglected tropical diseases in Latin America

Principal PI: Maria-Jesus Pinazo (mariajesus.pinazo@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Davide Rasella (davide.rasella@isglobal.org)

  1. Impact of the global economic recession due to COVID-19 on premature mortality in Low and Middle-Income Countries: from evaluation to resilience strategies

Principal PI: Davide Rasella (davide.rasella@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Denise Naniche (denise.naniche@isglobal.org)

  1. Improving migrant health through an innovative and personalized primary care-based multi-disease screening tool

Principal PI: Ana Requena (ana.requena@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Emili Letang (emili.letang@isglobal.org)

  1. Socio-economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: generating evidence from nationwide cohorts

Principal PI: Elisa Sicuri (elisa.sicuri@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Davide Rasella (davide.rasella@isglobal.org)

  1. Machine learning in paediatric oncology toward efficient and immediate characterization of exposures and outcome predictions

Principal PI: Isabelle Thierry-Chef (isabelle.thierrychef@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

  1. Wildfires and mortality in the Mediterranean region: linking observational epidemiology and future climate change impacts

Principal PI: Cathryn Tonne (cathryn.tonne@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Ivana Cvijanovic (ivana.cvijanovic@isglobal.org)

  1. Personal exposure assessment to microplastics and other emerging contaminants in drinking water and potential health effects

Principal PI: Cristina Villanueva (cristina.villanueva@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Guillaume Chevance (guillaume.chevance@isglobal.org)

  1. Combining exposomics, molecular omics and genomics data to predict cardiometabolic health trajectories during childhood, as a novel tool for early intervention and prevention

Principal PI: Martine Vrijheid (martine.vrijheid@isglobal.org)

Co-PI: Paula Petrone (paula.petrone@isglobal.org)

These positions will be funded through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023” Program (CEX 2018-000806-S) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

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