The new Center for Pharmaceutical Data Science Education, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, is seeking an associate professor or tenure-track assistant professor within computational drug discovery and formulation from 1 June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. 

About the Center 
The vision of the Center is to make pharmaceutical data science a catalyst for life science and healthcare strongholds. To achieve this, the Center will develop and deliver research-based education for the future workforce – spanning bachelor, master, PhD, and life-long learning. The Center is based upon grant funding of DKK 123 million from three Danish private foundations; the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, and the LEO Foundation. The Center is a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and encompasses seven departments. For further information on the Center, see www.cpdse.ku.dk.

Job description
The candidate is expected to conduct innovative research and develop research-based teaching in the broad field of computational drug discovery and formulation, with a particular focus on advancing and applying AI- and data science methodologies. It is expected that the candidate brings expertise in both modelling and advanced data-science methods based on ML methods. The new group leader is expected to establish a strong collaboration with existing faculty members at Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (IMADA) – see https://www.sdu.dk/en/om-sdu/institutter-centre/imada_matematik_og_datalogi

In terms of teaching, we expect the candidate to bridge our existing teaching and research within medicinal chemistry to pharmaceutical pre-formulation and furthermore be able to use the data science as a platform to integrate our ongoing research and teaching in medicinal chemistry and pharmacy. The candidate will bring in new methods of teaching and be an inspiration for other teachers in the pharmaceutical and chemistry educations across the department. The candidate will - together with the existing senior staff - ensure cohesive integration of data science elements into existing courses, in particular by teaching and developing data science elements at the bachelor and master levels (compulsory and elective courses) but also contribute to teaching at the PhD level and support life-long learning initiatives. 

The Center will finance a start package consisting of one PhD student (3 years) and one 2-year postdoc.

Tasks
•    Teach in educational programs at the department as well as developing new data science elements in these programs.
•    Establish a highly impactful independent research group.
•    Obtain external funding for independent research and collaborative research programs.
•    Mentor undergraduate, graduate, and research students.
•    Bridge-build between the various disciplines within the interdisciplinary Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy
•    Initiate and participate in public, media, and local school outreach activities.
•    Participate in the daily operation, administration and further development of the department’s strategy and education programs.

Skills
Preferences will be given to a candidate with a strong background in data science, encompassing exploratory data analysis and machine learning, combined with applications in pharmacy and/or chemistry. The applicant is expected to have a keen interest in developing and conducting research-based teaching in pharmaceutics.  

Additionally, we value candidates with good communication skills, a collaborative mindset, and strong ambitions to fostering creative teaching- and working environments that prioritize diversity, equality, and inclusion. 

The ability to communicate clearly and demonstrate creativity in teaching – preferably in Danish – is a prerequisite. For non-Danish speaking applicants, it is expected that teaching in Danish or another Scandinavian language will be possible after 2-3 years of appointment.

The deadline for applications: 11. April 2025.

Please see the full call, including how to apply, on www.sdu.dk