Postdoctoral scholarship (2 years) in spatial statistics

The Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Umeå University is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within the project “Adaptive statistical models for region-based registered data: from health to society”. The scholarship is full-time for two years, starting September 1, 2026, or upon agreement. The last day to apply is April 15, 2026.

Project description
The project concerns the development of statistical methodology for the analysis of spatio-temporal areal data, where observations consist of aggregated measurements, such as counts, rates, or proportions, recorded over a collection of predefined geographic regions (e.g. municipalities, counties, or administrative zones) and observed repeatedly over time. Typical examples include the number of reported cases, incident counts, or resource demands within each region at successive time points. Such data are inherently structured by both spatial adjacency and temporal ordering and are often characterised by substantial regional heterogeneity and non-stationary temporal behaviour.

The central objective of the project is to develop adaptive spatio-temporal models that account for local distributional variation and temporal change at the regional level. Emphasis is placed on modelling distributional features that evolve differently across space, including region-specific variability, directional temporal trends, and shifts in the spatial configuration of high- and low-intensity areas. The methodological framework is intended to allow localised adaptation in both space and time, enabling inference for heterogeneous and potentially non-stationary spatio-temporal processes beyond global or stationary assumptions. The developed approaches are expected to be accompanied by open-access codes/software.

The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics in Umeå and will be financed through a personal scholarship from the Kempe Foundations. The stipend is tax-free and will be 750,000 SEK for two years, meaning 375,000 SEK per year.

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 the date a decision will be made about the scholarship recipient. Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the closing date of the application. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree before that 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/assignment relevant to the subject area.

The doctoral degree should be within a relevant field, such as mathematics/statistics. Further requirements include documented knowledge of spatial statistics, with particular attention to spatio-temporal areal data, and programming skills in R. Moreover, a candidate should have both good collaborative skills and the ability to work independently. Good knowledge of oral and written English is also required.

Application
A full application should include:

• A cover letter describing your research background, future research ambitions, and how these align with the advertised project (maximum two pages),
• A research plan describing your proposed research and how it addresses the statistical challenges outlined in the project description (maximum three pages, including references),
• Curriculum vitae (CV),
• A verified copy of the doctoral degree certificate, or official documentation stating the expected date of degree completion,
• Verified copies of other academic diplomas, together with corresponding transcripts,
• A publication list, including a brief description of your contribution to each publication, Copies of publications should be provided if they are not freely accessible,
• Contact information for two academic references.

The application should be written in English (preferably) or Swedish and should be registered via Umeå University’s e-recruitment System Varbi and submitted by April 15, 2026.

Umeå University strives to offer an equal environment where open dialogue between people with different backgrounds and perspectives lay the foundation for learning, creativity and development. We welcome people with different backgrounds and experiences to apply for this scholarship, and especially encourage female applicants.

More information
For more information, please contact Mehdi Moradi at mehdi.moradi@umu.se

More information about the department: https://www.umu.se/en/department-of-mathematics-and-mathematical-statistics/