CeMM International Postdoc Program

We are recruiting a group of postdocs who are eager to pursue ground-breaking biomedical research, and we will help them to establish themselves as future scientific leaders. This postdoc program is designed to prepare postdoctoral researchers for a successful ERC Starting Grant application or equivalent and for an independent research career in top research organizations in Europe and around the world.

The postdoc program is based at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, one of Europe’s leading centres for basic biomedical research – with clinical translation in mind. Our partners are LBI-RUD, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases in Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna and the Children’s Cancer Research Institute (CCRI) of the St. Anna Children’s Hospital. Selected candidates will join one of CeMM’s research groups for 3 to 6 years, addressing ambitious research questions in areas such as cancer, immunology, chemical biology, epigenetics, metabolism, and genomic medicine. Research projects will focus on medically relevant problems, including disease mechanisms, modern therapeutics and diagnostic strategies. On top of this, postdocs will receive extensive career development and leadership training from the entire CeMM Faculty and additional experts in a highly collaborative and supportive environment.

What we offer:

• A unique blend of a frontier research environment at top level with a strong medical and translational focus through the hospital setting and the connections to biotech and pharma
• An international group of highly collaborative colleagues that will help you achieve your scientific and career goals
• Top-notch environment with the ideas, projects, resources, infrastructure, collaborations, and mindset for ground-breaking research
• Excellent track record of past postdocs who have become internationally successful principal investigators, professors, entrepreneurs
• Strong focus on disease biology and translational research: cancer, metabolic disorders, inflammation/infection, aging, drug discovery
• Interdisciplinary projects connecting biology with medicine, experiments with computation, and discovery with translation
• Unique opportunity to engage close interactions with physicians and clinical researchers at the Medical University of Vienna on one of Europe’s largest medical campuses
• Opportunities to collaborate with industry (biotech/pharma) and to get involved in academic start-up/spin-off companies
• Training program in project management, scientific writing, visual communication, entrepreneurship, leadership and data science
• Special training for writing successful ERC Starting Grants as a ‘ticket’ to an outstanding academic career
• Mentoring Program within EU-LIFE, an alliance of 15 top research centres in life sciences to support and strengthen European research excellence
• Being part of a thriving academic and social community in Vienna, one the cities with the best quality-of-life in the world
• A competitive postdoc salary of EUR 4.061,50 gross monthly (following the recommendations of FWF), paid 14 times yearly
• The CeMM employment contract includes full insurance (health, accident, pension) and a one[1]off payment for moving from abroad
• CeMM’s HR department and administrative team offers support with relocation, visa applications, onboarding, family support, etc.

Whom we are looking for:

• Candidates who want to pursue innovative biomedical research and substantially advance their scientific career
• Candidates with international professional experience and enhanced potential to receive an ERC Starting Grant in the future
• Open to both PhD (natural sciences) and MD (medical sciences) holders
• From a variety of academic backgrounds: molecular biology, biomedical research, bioinformatics, biochemistry, bioengineering, etc.
• With the motivation, skills, experiences, and initial achievements (subject to academic age) to qualify for a competitive postdoc program
• Required are scientific quality and originality, as well as a collaborative and interdisciplinary mindset

The Institute

CeMM is an international research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a founding member of EU-LIFE. The mission of CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is to achieve maximum scientific innovation in molecular medicine to improve healthcare. At CeMM, an international and creative team of scientists and medical doctors pursues free-minded basic life science research in a large and vibrant hospital environment of outstanding medical tradition and practice. CeMM’s research is based on post-genomic technologies and focuses on societally important diseases, such as immune disorders and infections, cancer and metabolic disorders. CeMM operates in a unique mode of super-cooperation, connecting biology with medicine, experiments with computation, discovery with translation, and science with society and the arts. CeMM discovers and develops technologies to explore human biology with the purpose of defeating disease at its roots. Because Science is our Medicine! CeMM trains a modern blend of biomedical scientists and is located at the campus of the General Hospital and the Medical University of Vienna. More than 150 people from 45 nationalities are working at CeMM. CeMM promotes equal opportunity and harbours a mix of different talents, backgrounds, competences, and interests.

Eligibility Criteria:

• You must hold a PhD (or will have been awarded your PhD by the time of starting the Pre-ERC Postdoc Program in March 2023) and your PhD defence date must be no earlier than 2020
• You must have at least one first-author publication published by the time of starting the Postdoc

Application

Please apply online https://cemm.jobbase.io/job/2uy9hi2f with 1) a cover letter including a short summary of research interests and mentioning which research group(s) at CeMM you would be potentially interested in joining, 2) curriculum vitae (CV), 3) academic transcripts, and 4) contact details of three referees. Applications received by October 5, 2022 at 11:59pm CET will be considered. The preferred starting date is March 2023 or earlier.

Selection Process:

All submitted applications are reviewed by CeMM Faculty. Longlisted candidates will be contacted to submit a video explaining their motivation to join the CeMM Pre-ERC Postdoc Program. Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in online panel interviews with CeMM Faculty members, which will take place at the end of November 2022. At the end of the selection process, candidates will be asked to submit their preference regarding research groups they would like to work with, which may be identical or different from the original choice indicated in the cover letter.

Information session

At 10:00am and 5:00pm CET on September 20, 2022, CeMM will host an online information event where you will be able to find out more about doing a postdoc at CeMM and applying to the program as well as have the chance to meet and talk directly with current pre-ERC program postdocs. To take part in this event, please sign-up here Postdoc Open Day - CeMM or visit the postdoc program page of the CeMM website.