The Department of Statistics is offering 1-2 postdoctoral scholarships within the project Next-Generation Latent Variable Models for Social Data Science. The scholarships are full-time for two years with start date [contact details available in the full listing], or by agreement. Application deadline: November 4, 2026.
Departmental specific information
The Department of Statistics at Umeå University is part of Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics. The department has around 30 members of staff and conducts theoretical, methodological and applied research, with emphasis on statistical methodology for large-scale and register-based data and on applications of societal relevance.
The successful candidate(s) will join a new research group developing statistical methodology for the social and behavioural sciences, where data are increasingly large-scale and high-dimensional, yet often noisy and subject to substantial measurement uncertainty. The group is particularly interested in latent variable modelling approaches to such settings, where the key quantities of interest are not directly observed and must be inferred from the data. The overall goal is to develop reliable and robust statistical methods that can contribute to scientific understanding and inform decision-making and public policy.
Project description
This project will respond to the increasingly large-scale and heterogeneous data of the social and behavioural sciences by developing a new generation of latent variable models. The project will focus on integrating quantitative and textual information, accounting for structural shifts in measurement processes over time, and developing scalable inference for high-dimensional settings.
The postdoctoral researcher(s) will join an international research environment at Umeå University, including Stat4Reg (www.stat4reg.se), which develops statistical and machine-learning methods for register data, and Umeå SIMSAM Lab, an interdisciplinary infrastructure for linked population data on health and welfare (www.umu.se/en/research/infrastructure/umea-simsam-lab/). The group which the postdoc will join has well-established collaborations with researchers across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, and has links to organisations in the educational testing industry and the non-profit sector, creating good opportunities for collaborative research and wider societal impact.
The postdoctoral researcher(s) will have the opportunity to:
- develop new theory, methodology and computational methods for latent variable models and apply them to questions of high societal importance;
- present their research at international conferences and submit papers to top-tier journals;
- build international collaborations;
- develop an independent research profile.
Qualifications
To qualify as a postdoctoral scholarship holder, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirement must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the decision about scholarship recipient.
Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated above, no more than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree earlier may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organisations, military service or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment or assignment relevant to the subject area.
The doctoral degree should be in statistics, mathematical statistics, mathematics, computer science, or another relevant quantitative discipline.
Additional requirements are:
- A strong foundation in statistical modelling and inference;
- demonstrated experience of developing new statistical methodology;
- very good programming skills;
- good written and spoken English.
Meriting criteria are:
- experience with latent variable models or closely related statistical models;
- experience with change-point methods, text analysis, or scalable statistical inference;
- published work in peer-reviewed statistical journals.
We are looking for candidates who can formulate and develop methodological research questions independently, approach new statistical problems creatively, and collaborate with researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds.
Application
The application should include:
- A personal letter that summarizes the applicant’s qualifications, competencies and interest in the position, including a description of how your experiences fit for working in the ongoing research project.
- A research plan (no more than three pages, references excluded) that outlines research interest in relation to the postdoctoral position. The research plan should be written in English.
- A Curriculum Vitae.
- List of publications and a maximum of three selected publications (including the Ph.D. thesis).
- Copies of relevant degree certificates and other documentation you wish to include in support of your application.
- The names, with contact details and e-mail addresses, of at least two reference persons.
The application should be written in English or Swedish, and attached documents should be in Word or PDF format. The application should be registered via Umeå University’s e-recruitment system Varbi and submitted by the deadline November 4, 2026.
Further information
If you have any questions, please contact PI Gabriel Wallin (gabriel.wallin@umu.se).
Read more about Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics here: www.umu.se/en/usbe/
We look forward to receiving your application!
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