PhD student or postdoc sought for research in suicide prevention at the Copenhagen Psychiatric Center – fixed-term position

Application deadline: Friday, October 30, 2026.

Do you have a passion for making a meaningful difference in mental health? At the Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention (DRISP) we are seeking a motivated PhD student or postdoc to join our team. You will have an excellent opportunity to work on an important research project in a stimulating and collaborative research environment.

You will be tasked with leading an independent research project on medicines used for suicide attempts. As part of the project, you will collect information from death certificates and police reports using text mining, perform statistical analyses, and summarize results in scientific manuscripts. The results from the project will be able to inform national measures on method restrictions.

Our ideal candidate has a background in health data science, public health, statistics, pharmacology or related fields.

The position is a fixed-term full-time position with employment at the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Region H (3 years as a PhD student or 2 years as a postdoc).

Main duties

• Retrieval and collection of data from death certificates and police reports
• Data management
• Extraction of structured data from unstructured data (text field data)
• Writing and submission of scientific manuscripts
• Communication of results at conferences and other communication platforms.

Desired qualifications

• Relevant academic bachelor's degree or relevant PhD training
• Experience with text mining/data science (i.e., machine learning and AI algorithms)
• Familiarity with Python
• Familiarity with pharmacology
• Strong written communication skills in English
• Danish-speaking (due to reading of certificates and reports)
• Experience with publishing scientific studies
• Ability to work independently while being part of a team.

Why choose DRISP?

High scientific level and relevant research: You will contribute to projects designed to save lives and support people who are at risk of suicide.

Collaborative environment: You will become part of a dedicated and welcoming work environment with access to international collaboration partners.

Professional development: You will strengthen your research skills while increasing your expertise in AI and health data science.

About DRISP

The Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention is a leading research group in suicide prevention in Denmark with a strong international profile. DRISP is under the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen and is housed at Gentofte Hospital.

Our research tasks include identifying risk factors, developing interventions and implementing tools to reduce the number of suicide attempts and to support affected individuals and their families.

Salary and terms of employment

The working week is 37 hours with flexible scheduling.

The position is a fixed-term appointment; 3 years as a PhD student or 2 years as a postdoc, with employment at the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen.

You will be employed according to agreements for academics employed in regions etc. - 33.01.1

Start date

We will agree on the start date: We would like to initiate the project at the end of 2026 / early 2027.

Application process

Submit your motivated application and CV via the electronic application system. By 30 October 2026 at the latest.

Attach information about your education, grade transcript, previous employments and relevant experience.

Please indicate 1–2 references from previous employments whom we may contact during the hiring process.

The first round of interviews will take place on Monday, 16 November 2026. For questions please contact Annette Erlangsen (e-mail: [email protected] ).

We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to our team.

About the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen

The Psychiatric Center Copenhagen is Denmark's largest psychiatric center, and part of Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, offering a wide range of general and specialized services. The center is known for being at the forefront of new treatment options, stemming from the recognized research conducted at the center.

The center has more than 1300 employees and a catchment area of approximately 430,000 citizens, covering the Copenhagen area: Østerbro, Indre By, Nordvest, Nørrebro, Frederiksberg and Vanløse. The center is organizationally placed in the Capital Region of Denmark, and geographically located at Bispebjerg, Gentofte and Frederiksberg Hospitals, as well as a number of outpatient units in the catchment area.

We treat affective disorders, schizophrenia, other psychoses, complex neuropsychiatric disorders and personality disorders. The center has a number of special areas such as: Psychotherapy, anxiety, OCD, affective disorders, sexology, neuropsychiatry, including psychiatric assessment in epilepsy surgery, liaison, geriatric psychiatry and military psychiatry.