4y postdoc semantic web and federated 'big' data science in biomedicine

Department Genetics
Work location Groningen
Apply no later than 25 August 2019
Job description

The postdoctoral fellow will perform cutting-edge research in methods and applications related to data science. In particular, we would like you to lead our ‘FAIR’ (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data science research group towards semantic web, linked data, and data science of large cohort analysis and multi-center studies. ‘Big’ data holds huge promise to accelerate research in human health and disease, but biomedical data is very heterogeneous and fragmented impeding integrated analysis. You will research models and methods and develop smart data integration tools for large scale retrospective data integration and ‘federated’ analysis, considering the fact that health data is often privacy sensitive and involve security/anonymity constraints. You will work in multi-discplinairy teams involving researchers, doctors, programmers and data managers, have the opportunity to supervise PhD students, and apply for your personal grants which should enable you to publish 6+ publications, present at international conferences and develop yourself into a PI. You can build on our large (inter)national research projects (e.g. EUCAN-Connect, LifeCycle, BBMRI, ELIXIR, Solve-RD, CORBEL) and the MOLGENIS open source software (Java/Python/Javascript/Html/REST/R) to further science and improve health care.

We offer an exciting multidisciplinary environment with many international collaborations in the area of area of biobanking, cohorts, (rare) disease, multi-omics and data science/bioinformatics. The position is part of the Genomics Coordination Centre (GCC), the ‘big data’ research & service hub of the Department of Genetics, University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG) and University of Groningen (rank 66 worldwide, 3rd best place to work in EU). Our mission is to accelerate scientific discovery in health data with innovative methods and tools that expedite medical research and improves people's lives. GCC is at the heart of the exciting big data transformation in life sciences with large population biobanks and patient cohorts and new biotechnologies producing terabytes of epidemiological genetic, molecular and imaging data offering unprecedented possibilities to diagnose disease and improve health status. You will be part of a social and ambitious team of 1 professor, 2 postdocs, 4 project/team leaders, 1 community manager, 8 programmers (2 scrum teams), 4 data managers and 4 Phd students, as well as the larger Genetics department (350+ people) all on a mission to enable large scale integrated health data analyses towards better understanding and prediction of disease and health.

What do we need

The ideal candidate has a PhD in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Medical Informatics, Computer Science or a related field who:

• Has extensive experience in and passion for semantic web, ontologies and linked data technology

• Has familiarity with FAIR principles

• Can program in Java, Python, R, Javascript or other language

• Loves to translate theory into software solutions that can be widely used in practice

• Thrives in international collaborations and with researchers from other disciplines

• Has pro-active, can do, collaborative, open attitude

• Communicates easily in English speech and scientific writing (with good publication track record)

• Can recruit and supervise students and data managers

• Is prepared to travel (inter)nationally

We appreciate knowledge in one of the following topics: (distributed) machine learning, knowledge engineering, natural language processing, research data management, open data, data quality, mathematics, statistics.

The UMCG has a preventive Hepatitis B policy. The UMCG can provide you with the vaccination, should it be required for your position.

In case of specific professions a ‘Certificate of Good Conduct’ is required.

What do we offer

An appointment of 0.8-1.0 FTE as a postdoctoral fellow for four years; embedded in a dynamic department of top researchers (including a Spinoza prize winner), opportunity to lead one or more of our research projects, benefit from a large group of programmers and data managers that provide many materials to publish on, a service desk that gives access to a wide range of researchers, and the opportunity to work in multiple large international networks.

Your salary will be a maximum of € 4.481,- (scale 10) or € 5.226,- (scale 11) gross per month, depending on your qualifications and relevant experience, based on a full-time appointment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The terms of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centers (CAO-UMC).

More information

For more information about this vacancy you may contact:
Prof. Morris Swertz, head of the Genomics Coordination Centre, telephone +31 (0) 50 361 7100, e-mail: m.a.swertz@rug.nl (please do not use e-mail address for applications)

Applying for a job

Please use the the digital application form at the bottom of this page - only these will be processed.
You can apply until 25 August 2019.
Within half an hour after sending the digital application form you will receive an email- confirmation with further information.