KI-SciLifeLab Clinical Translational Postdoc Program

Deadline

• Applications may be submitted until 7 January 2027, 14:00
• Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed

How to apply

To apply, you will need (to create) a Prisma account and strictly follow the instructions in the call text below to prepare your application together with your co-applicant. Each researcher can at most participate in two applications, please not that these must be with different co-applicants.

Application

The application shall consist of the following parts, of which most shall be uploaded as PDF files in the application form that is available in KI Prisma:

• Project description in English (max. 2 A4 pages including references and optional legends, main text font size 11). Figure(s) are optional and shall be uploaded separately.
• Motivation for how the project fulfills the purpose and stated aims of the call including a clear plan for co-supervision/leadership and integration of the postdoc into a collaborative research environment (max. 1 A4 page).
• Brief CV for each applicant (max. 2 A4 pages).
• Budget, specifying other sources of funding for the project (e.g., cost of research consumables, computational cost, rent and associated costs) (max. 1 A4 page).
• Letter of support from the co-applicant’s head of department stating that the department supports the application and that the co-applicant is active at KI.
• List of five publications or published outputs (e.g. pre-prints, data resource, protocols, etc.) with most relevance for the project, from each applicant. For each publication or published output, a brief statement of relevance and contribution of the applicant should be included. Include links or DOI for each item (max. 2 A4 pages per applicant).
• The application shall be signed in Prisma by the main applicant’s head of department. The head of department has seven days to sign the application in Prisma after the call closes.

Assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed by expert internal reviewers based on the following criteria: quality and feasibility of the research plan, the applicants’ competence, and the project's relevance for the aim of the call and for KI-SciLifeLab. Granting decisions will be made by the SciLifeLab Committee KI preliminarily in April/May 2027.

Reporting

The department must notify the coordinator of the SciLifeLab Committee KI when a postdoc has been employed. After the end of the grant period, you must confirm that the funds have been used in Prisma. Unused funds shall be repaid.

The project grant must be applied for by two co-applicants. One of the two applicants should be a KI group leader at SciLifeLab and one applicant should be a clinically active or clinical translational researcher with a clinical affiliation as well as an affiliation to KI. Either applicant may be the submitting main applicant. Every applicant may participate in at most two applications.

We encourage the establishment of new collaborations and will favor applications from researchers that have not published together in the past.

To be eligible to apply for the project grant, both applicants must have a doctoral degree and be employed by or affiliated to KI.

The grant is 1,000,000 kr/year for two years (2,000,000 kr in total). Up to five grants will be awarded in this call. The grant shall contribute to the funding of salary for a postdoc for 24 months (if at 1.0 FTE) and will be administered by the main applicant’s department. The grant is paid every quarter for two years starting with the first quarter after the grant decision. The grant may be used for up to four years from the starting date, allowing for part-time employment or breaks for any reason. 

The department of the main applicant is responsible for the recruitment of the postdoc but the announcement of recruitment for all the projects that are approved in the call will be made in a coordinated manner, preliminarily in summer 2027. The postdocs that are recruited to the approved projects will take part in the KI-SciLifeLab Clinical Translational Postdoc Program.

Since the grant is intended primarily for salary costs (incl. LKP and INDI), the applicants must guarantee other necessary funding for the projects. The source of this funding must be specified in the application.

Project grant call for recruitment of a postdoc with clinical translational focus in collaboration between KI and SciLifeLab 

Dnr: 4-1695/2026
Date: 2026-09-24

Karolinska Institutet (KI) is announcing this grant call for the recruitment of postdocs with clinical translational focus at KI and SciLifeLab. The purpose of the call is to support clinical translational research by enabling the recruitment of postdocs who will conduct research in collaboration between a clinical research group and a SciLifeLab research group.

The aim of the call is to bridge the gap between KI’s clinical and patient-centered research environments in Region Stockholm and KI’s advanced technology-driven molecular bioscience research and expertise at SciLifeLab, by enabling the strengthening and creation of collaborative research environments. The program particularly encourages collaborative projects where innovative technologies or expertise such as AI, proteomics, advanced molecular profiling, imaging, image analysis, or computational biology are developed and/or applied to address important clinical and translational research questions, e.g., with the aim of developing treatments or diagnostics for diseases.

The application is to be submitted by a team of two researchers who wish to recruit and supervise a postdoc together. The postdoc should be integrated into both researchers’ existing research environments, and the collaboration should enable the transfer of knowledge between them. 

This call is funded by KI’s SFO for Molecular Bioscience (SciLifeLab) and this is an initiative from the SciLifeLab Committee KI.

We warmly invite you to an information session on 16 October

For other questions, reach out to:

• Britta Bouwman
• Adina Feldman