iCANDOC, people at lab and at large screen

New iCANDOC Precision Cancer Medicine doctoral researchers starting

A total of 93 doctoral researchers were recently selected in calls at the University of Helsinki, Tampere University, and University of Eastern Finland. 

The iCANDOC Precision Cancer Medicine (PCM) pilot is the largest Ministry of Education and Culture’s doctoral education pilots awarded a total of 152 positions nationally. The aim of iCANDOC is to within 3-4 years train doctorates to address the acutely growing need in both public and private health care sector. iCANDOC is based on the iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship of the Research Council of Finland with all Finnish Cancer Center FICAN regional cancer centers participating and with University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital as founding partners.  

The first 93 iCANDOC doctoral researchers have been selected at the University of Helsinki (79), Tampere University (10), and University of Eastern Finland (5) to pursue important open questions in Precision Cancer Medicine. There were more than 500 applicants altogether. The new doctoral researchers come from a broad range of backgrounds in clinical research, translational medicine, model organisms, and data sciences. Over a third of the researchers are international recruits coming from 11 countries from Europe, Asia, and North America. Many of the projects leverage the iCAN Flagship Project or recently launched iCAN National Program projects

The iCANDOC curriculum will include dedicated activities by each of the universities doctoral education bodies and also a dedicated post-doctoral program to support supervision activities. There is also a possbility for secondments at possible future employers facilitated by iCANDOC partners Pharma Industry Finland, HealthTech Finland, Finnish Bioindustries, and Finnish Cancer Institute as well as all participating hospitals.

Congratulations to all new recruits  and thanks in advance to all supervisors for committing to the new pilot! 

The second call for the remaining iCANDOC positions at the University of Helsinki will be open 27.8.-9.9.2024. Calls at Universities of Turku and Oulu will be announced as soon as they become available. 

Further information: 

• iCANDOC interim director Tomi Mäkelä, icandoc-info@helsinki.fi          

•  National iCANDOC pilot

• Selection process of the doctoral education pilot at the university of Helsinki