Cancer Research School

Starting from spring 2025, Umeå University is offering admission to a new Cancer Research School focusing on life course health research on cancer, applying molecular epidemiological study designs and techniques. The Cancer Research School is a graduate school funded by the Swedish Cancer Foundation and offers an extensive course package for doctoral students.

Aims

The goal of the Cancer Research School is to provide a bridge between research at the bench and clinical implementation, offering cutting-edge expertise in epidemiology, etiology, prediction, and prevention.

After completion

The participants are expected to:

Have a basic understanding of clinical oncology and cancer epidemiology.
Have some proficiency in statistical and bioinformatic methods, and be familiar with various OMICs-based analyses, including GWAS, proteomics, epigenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics.
Be able to critically discuss the ethical aspects of using large quantities of biological data collected from human subjects.
Be able to conduct research on national registries and quality registries including, designing studies, requesting registry data, performing data management, analyzing data, and interpreting results.
Be able to plan observational studies making use of biobanks and registers available in Sweden.

Target group

The Cancer Research School is aimed at both clinical and pre-clinical doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in public health, epidemiology, bioinformatics, statistics, genetics, and biomedicine.

Contents

The research school spans over 10 weeks (15 credits), divided into three semesters.

5 courses
1 individual project
2 networking meetings (1 one-day and 1 two-day) at Umeå University
1 two-day presentation meeting at Umeå University

Benefit of participating in the program

Participants will have the opportunity to work with a large cohort of biobank and registry data in Sweden.
Participants will receive individual mentoring from the teachers at the Cancer Research School for their projects.
Participants will have the possibility of drafting an additional paper for their PhD at the end of the program.
Participants have the flexibility to complete the program by the end of their PhD studies at the latest.
Participants will receive credits for each course completed and are not obligated to complete the entire program.

Reimbursement to the participant

The Cancer Research School will organize accommodation for students travelling from long distances and lunch for all participants during the on-site courses and network meetings. The Cancer Research School does not provide compensation for students' salaries during the course periods. Any reimbursement for travel expenses is typically covered by the employer.

Application

The application should include:

Proof of admission, or offer of admission, to doctoral studies in the subject area.
Diploma of basic education (If the student has yet to begin doctoral studies).
A recommendation letter from the main supervisor.
A motivation letter expressing your reasons for applying to the graduate school.

For each admission cycle, around 10 students will be accepted. If the number of applications exceeds the available spots, selection will be based on letters of recommendation and statements of motivation.

The application period is 1 October – 30 November 2024. Please send your application to info.cancerresearchschool@umu.se.

Time frame

Spring 2025

Networking 1 and introduction, week: 6
Bedside-to-bench/Bench-to-bedside, week: 6
How to do research in cohorts with biobanks: a practical introduction, week: 11-23