The Department of Forensic Medicine, Section of Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Science at University of Copenhagen is offering a Ph.D.- scholarship commencing 01.06.2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This Ph.D. project will comprise research into two important subject areas of forensic odontology at this department:
1) Validation (specificity, sensitivity and predictive values) of various pm imaging diagnostic tools for the use in forensic odontology -and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) casework. A key focus of this project is to explore the use of intraoral digital scans of the dentition as a reliable source of postmortem (PM) data. Additionally, the project seeks to establish postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) as a standardized radiological technique for age estimation and identification.
2) Investigations into the oral health status of asylum seekers whose ages have been estimated at our department. This analysis includes evaluating general pathology and mineralization disturbances. These findings will be combined with anamnestic information provided by the asylum seekers to investigate potential correlations. The key focus is to ascertain how evident dental pathology may serve as a record for childhood stress and growth disturbances.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Conducting an independent research project under supervision.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis based on your project.

Formal requirements of applicants

We are seeking highly motivated applicants with a Master’s degree in Dentistry, with the following competences:

• Danish authorization and permission to practice independently as a dentist
• Experience as a general dental practitioner
• Knowledge about and experience with workflow in forensic dentistry
• Good oral and written Danish competences
• Good oral and written English competences

• A flexible mindset in approach to tasks and to daily duties

  It will be highly advantageous to have one or more of the following qualifications:

• Hands-on experience with forensic odontology, including forensic identification cases

• Experience with diagnostic postmortem Computed Tomography scanning
• Experience using an intraoral digital scanner
• Experience using the medical image processing software, Myrian, in a forensic context
• Knowledge and experience using the DVI software and DVI guide from INTERPOL

• Conducting an independent research project under supervision.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis based on your project