Doctoral student in machine learning for medical image analysis

Help shape the future of vision–language models for medical imaging to solve real clinical challenges! This doctoral student position offers the chance to explore cutting-edge multimodal AI - integrating PET/CT images, radiology reports, and clinical data - to develop more accurate and trustworthy diagnostic tools. You will join a dynamic, interdisciplinary research group with extensive international collaborations and access to large, high-quality clinical datasets. About us  The Computer Vision Group  at the Department of Electrical Engineering conducts research in the field of automatic image interpretation and perceptual scene understanding. The group targets both medical applications, such as the development of new and more effective methods and systems for analysis, support, and diagnostics, as well as general computer vision applications including autonomously guided vehicles (particularly self-driving cars), image-based localization, structure-from-motion, and object recognition. The main research problems include mathematical theory, algorithms, and machine learning (deep learning) for inverse problems in artificial intelligence, as well as application to medical problems. About the research project   This doctoral student position is part of a new research project focused on developing next-generation AI methods for medical image analysis. The overall goal is to build vision–language models (VLMs) that learn jointly from medical images and the corresponding radiology reports, with the aim of improving diagnostic accuracy, disease localization, and model explainability. The research will explore how combining multimodal data - such as PET/CT scans, radiology text reports, and clinical information - can help AI systems better understand complex medical image patterns. A key idea is to use text as privileged information during training, enabling models that can provide reliable, image-only predictions at scan time. The project also includes developing weakly supervised methods for disease localization without requiring pixel-level annotations. The work spans several core areas: machine learning, computer vision, deep learning, and medical imaging. The successful candidate will design and implement new AI models, carry out large-scale experiments on clinical datasets, and collaborate closely with medical researchers and clinicians. Our research group is highly interdisciplinary and works with national and international partners in both academia and healthcare. Who we are looking for Mandatory qualifications: • Master’s degree of 120 credits or a Master’s degree of 60 credits* in a relevant field such as physics, mathematics or computer science. For students with education from outside Sweden, a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is accepted. • Strong verbal and written communication skills in English. • Solid programming skills in Python. • Experience in machine learning or deep learning implementation. Meritorious qualifications • Experience in image analysis. • Experience with large language models. • Participation in image analysis or computer vision conference challenges. • Experience working with medical images. • Teaching experience What you will do • Pursue your own doctoral studies as your main responsibility. • Develop your own scientific concepts and communicate your research results verbally and in writing, in both Swedish and English. • Set up and conduct experiments. • Read and stay up to date with relevant scientific literature. • Complete both mandatory and elective PhD courses related to your research. • Collaborate with clinical research partners. • Teach in Chalmers’ undergraduate programs or perform other departmental duties corresponding to 20 percent of full-time work. 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.  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  The application should be written in English and attached as PDF-files, as below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.  CV  Personal letter  • A brief introduction about yourself.  • A brief motivation as to why you are interested in this position.  Bachelor’s and, if available, master’s thesis together with the transcripts.  Use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form.     Application deadline:  2 January, 2026 For questions, please contact:   Associate Professor Ida Häggström, Computer Vision and Medical Image Analysis Email: idah@chalmers.se Please note: The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is complete. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Do not send an application via email. Only applications via the online system are accepted.  Contact details to references will be requested after the interview.