Join us at Chalmers University of Technology for an exciting and excellent doctoral student journey to contribute to the future of carbon capture!
The Mijakovic lab is offering a doctoral student position to a motivated candidate with experience in biotechnology. You will work on developing new technologies for carbon capture, contributing to solutions that mitigate climate change. You will be part of a dynamic and supportive research environment, with great opportunities to collaborate both within academia and with partners in the private sector.
About us
At the Department of Life Sciences, we bring together biology and technology to develop sustainable solutions for the future — from food and medicine to energy — driven by curiosity, creativity, and scientific excellence.
The Mijakovic lab started out as a microbiology group, but as our ambitions and curiosity grew, we expanded into several other areas of life science, often using interdisciplinary approaches. Today, in addition to general bacteriology, we work with applications of various nanomaterials in biomedicine and biotechnology, metabolic engineering of microbial cell factories and experimental evolution. Our work is focused on societal challenges related to human and planetary health.
About the research project
In this doctoral student project, you will engineer bacteria to produce, display, and secrete carbonic anhydrases — enzymes that play a key role in biomineralization. Your work will include microbiology experiments, genetic engineering, protein purification, and biochemical analyses, as well as optimizing growth on waste biomass and conducting large-scale fermentations. You will be part of an interdisciplinary team at Chalmers and collaborate regularly with industry experts.
Who we are looking for
The following requirements are mandatory:
• To qualify as a Doctoral student, you must have a Master's degree (masterexamen) of 120 credits or a Master's degree (magisterexamen) of 60 credits* in biotechnology.
• Hands-on experience with bacterial cultivation and genetic engineering.
• Experience with sustainable extraction of biomass.
• >1 year of microbiology laboratory work experience.
• Ability to work as a part of an interdisciplinary team.
• Ability to plan and execute scientific studies from conception to implementation, including paper writing.
• You will need strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
*for students with an education earned outside of Sweden, a 4-year Bachelor's degree is accepted.
The following experience will strengthen your application:
• Experience with AI-based synthetic biology.
What you will do
• Develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing
• Microbiology assays and genetic engineering
• Protein purification and biochemical assays
• Optimization of growth on waste biomass and large scale fermentation
• The position generally also includes teaching on Chalmers' undergraduate level or performing other duties corresponding to 20 percent of working hours
Contract terms
• The Doctoral student positions are fully funded from start.
• The position is a fixed-term appointment of four years, with the possibility to teach up to 20%, which extends the position up to five years.
• A starting salary of 34,550 SEK per month (valid from May 25, 2025).
• Doctoral studies require physical presence throughout the entire study period. A valid residence permit must be presented by the study start date; otherwise the admission may be withdrawn.
What we offer
• As a Doctoral student at Chalmers, you are an employee and enjoy all employee benefits. Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.
• A dynamic and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg.
• Read more about Sweden's generous parental leave, subsidized day care, free schools, healthcare etc at Move To Gothenburg.
Chalmers is dedicated to improving gender balance and actively works with equality projects, such as the GENIE Initiative for gender equality and excellence. We celebrate diversity and consider equality and inclusion as fundamental aspects of all our activities.
If Swedish is not your native language, Chalmers offers Swedish courses to help you settle in.
Find more general information about doctoral studies at Chalmers here.
Application procedure
For information about the application procedure, please refer to the advert on Chalmers' website.
We welcome your application no later than December 15th, 2025.
For questions, please contact:
Prof. Ivan Mijakovic, SysBio,
[email protected]
We look forward to your application!
*** Chalmers declines to consider all