Area of Research 
The objective of project CLASSICA is to clinically validate a novel AI-guided intraoperative decision support technology in the surgical care of cancer patients, across several clinics, surgical teams and countries.

The project delivers full clinical validation, including inter-clinic generalisation, biopsy optimisation and guided resection of this welldefined, specific patient cohort and, by doing so, establishes the clinical, legal and ethical precedent for AI support in surgical operations more broadly including use case considerations for both locked and unlocked systems based on surgical video acquisition, aggregation and analysis.

The postdoctoral candidate will be part of the legal, regulatory and liability research team, under the supervision of Prof. Timo Minssen and Assoc. Prof. Marcelo Corrales Compagnuci, to explore questions raised by AI-assisted surgery, (including video databanks), thereby addressing concerns surgeons may have to use such systems. The candidate will also collaborate with Sara Gerke and her research team from Penn State Dickinson Law.

The tasks will include the analysis of regulatory questions, in particular privacy and data protection concerning the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR – 2016/679), as well as other regulatory frameworks including, the EU Clinical Trials Regulation (536/2014), and the EU Medical Device Regulations (2017/745 and 2017/746).

Specific attention should be given to the question of how to deal with the regulatory approval of “locked” vis-à-vis “unlocked” algorithms and AI systems, data protection and security issues as well as the scope of informed consent and its withdrawal, information of data subjects, data sharing/control, transparency, explainability, international data transfers among others.

The tasks will also include looking at new legal developments in the field, such as the Commission’s recent proposal for a regulatory framework on AI. This task will focus on the ethical concern of bias and will explore how to mitigate such risks in AI-assisted surgery. In particular, AI-driven technologies in surgery should be developed using an ‘ethics by design’ approach. We will analyze ethical guidelines, such as the WHO guidance on Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health and the Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI developed by the High-Level Expert Group set up by the European Commission.

About CeBIL   
The overall aim and ambition of CeBIL is to contribute to the translation of groundbreaking biomedical research into safe, effective, affordable and accessible therapies by analyzing the most significant legal challenges to pharmaceutical innovation and public health from a cross-disciplinary perspective.

CeBIL is international and interdisciplinary. Anchored at the Faculty of Law, the Center collaborates with key national and international experts from academia, public bodies, patient organizations and industry. Some of the most renowned international academic capacities in biomedical innovation law are involved in the CeBIL-program as either Core Partners or Collaborators. The Core Partners of the CeBIL-program are listed here.

For further details, please visit our website.

Job Responsibilities 
The successful candidate is expected to play an active role in the daily life of the project. The main responsibilities of the postdoctoral researcher are: 

• develop and execute high-level research projects independently; 
• draft the project deliverables in close collaboration with the project partners;
• publish articles in high-impact factor journals;
• coordinate the development and execution of research projects in collaboration with other CeBIL researchers; 
• develop the academic field to the highest international level, including participation in international seminars and conferences;  
• contribute actively to the work of CeBIL and of the CeBIL research community; 
• participate in knowledge dissemination activities and debate with the general public.

Other obligations may be added as stipulated by the faculty. Applicants are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the CLASSICA project by visiting the following website.

Required Qualifications 
The position requires a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in law or in another social science, including regulatory science discipline (provided that the applicant can also document sufficient qualifications in law and experience in legal research). All applicants are expected to be able to use English as the working language (written and spoken). Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear potential to deliver high-quality, peer-reviewed research publications. This position is for research. In the assessment, emphasis will be placed on the applicants’ research and their ambition to develop and implement new research ideas, which may have an international impact. Furthermore, the faculty places emphasis on the applicants’ interest in, and preferably prior experience with, collaborative research and teaching activities in an international setting. 

UCPH wishes to encourage all qualified candidates interested in this post to apply, regardless of personal background.

Salary and Terms of Employment 
The postdoctoral position is full-time temporary appointment for a duration of two (2) years and three (3) months.  

The appointment is based on the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). Furthermore, a total contribution to your pension fund equal to 17.1% of your salary and annual increment is paid.  

The position includes 85% research and 15% administrative responsibilities. Teaching is not required.

Application  
Letter of motivation, appendices and the submitted research publications (including papers, articles and books), must be written in English. The application will be rejected if not all the required documents are submitted.

It is essential that you fill out all the mandatory fields in the electronic application even though the info is already stated in your CV, application, publication or other material you may find relevant to upload. The completed fields will be screened during the shortlisting and assessment process and in order to generate your final assessment, which we will send to you after the assessment work is finalized.

Click ‘Apply now’ below to be taken to the online application form. We advise you to have the following documents ready before you begin your online application. Please note that the application form does not have mandatory upload categories for all the below documents. You can upload the documents, that do not fit into an upload category, under “Other relevant documents” :  

• Cover letter (a one-page document explaining the reasons for applying and addressed to the Dean).
• Curriculum vitae.
• Diplomas (including PhD diploma or alternatively a document showing that the applicant submitted a dissertation).
• Publication list (numbered and with co-author declarations attached, if relevant).
• Reference list, (if available)
• Copies of publications (a maximum of five (5) publications, including the applicant’s PhD or JSD thesis and a maximum of one (1) monograph). 

In addition to the material which the applicant wishes to be included in the assessment, the Assessment Committee may require further material to assess the applicant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide such supplementary material, should this be requested. 

Application procedure 
An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application. Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email. Following the application deadline, the Dean selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointment Committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee. When the committee has completed its assessment, applicants have the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to them.  

Further Information 
For further information about the position’s academic content, please contact Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci at CeBIL: +45 28574473

For further information on the process please contact Human Resources at hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk 

Please refer to ID number 211-1437/23-2I. 

Application deadline 
The closing date for applications is 30 June 2023, 23:59 GMT.

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Likewise, incomplete applications (i.e. without all required documents) will be rejected.   

The successful candidate can commence from 1 October 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter.   

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.