PhD Position in Palliative Care within Doctoral Progam Clinical Science at the University of Zurich

University Hospital Zurich, Department of Radiation-Oncology, Competence Center Palliative Care

the University of Zurich 80-100 %

The Competence Center Palliative Care provides special medical care for adult patients with advanced, incurable diseases. It can be helpful through all stages of illness: making medical treatment more tolerable early on and, at later stages, reducing suffering as you live with a life-threatening illness, navigating difficult treatment decisions, and improve quality of life for both, patients and their caregivers. Our palliative care team consists of doctors, nurses, psychologists, chaplains, and social workers. Our department performs researches on palliative care covering a broad spectrum including psychosocial and biological aspects in patients with advanced incurable diseases and their caregivers.

You will work on research projects with focus on questions related to caregiver burden and bereavement-related distress. The death of a spouse is considered one of the most stressful and impactful life events and is associated with increased morbidity and premature mortality. This PhD project studies the impact of lifetime stress exposure and neuro-inflammatory sensitivity to psychobiological adjustment to bereavement among cancer caregivers. We aim to map profiles of individual differences in long-term adjustment to loss based on psychological and biological markers over time and to identify psychological and biological markers of individuals who are most at risk for poor health outcomes following bereavement. You will write a dissertation, consisting of research papers suitable for publication in peer- reviewed journals and are expected to present your research at national and international conferences. You get the opportunity to participate in the PhD program in Clinical Science and to be involved in teaching activities.

You have gained a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology or Medicine with excellent grades. You have proficient language skills in English language. We expect a self-dependent personality with a strong interest in psychoneuroimmunology and palliative care research, and who shows extraordinary initiative and motivation.

Our palliative care research program embraces an interdisciplinary team. The PhD position is secured for three years and the salary per year is approximately CHF 47'000 gross in the first year and CHF 50'000 gross in the third year. For clinical psychologists or medical doctors, there is the option to fulfill 20 % of clinical work within the employment as PhD Student. The PhD program in Clinical Science offers an interesting curriculum providing skills in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. A variety of additional courses e.g. on academic writing or presentation skills are available.

Rämistrasse 100, 8091 Zürich, Schweiz

The preferred employment start date is 1 September 2023 or to be mutually agreed. Please submit your application by July 1st, 2023. Interviews with candidates are scheduled for mid-July 2023.