Declaration of Interest Regarding PhD Project
The Department of Psychology at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) is advertising an open PhD position in ecological anxiety and climate emotions. The PhD student will be part of the project, “What is Eco-Anxiety? Capturing Feelings of the Climate Crisis,” funded by the SDU Climate Cluster. This interdisciplinary project combines methods from philosophy, psychology, and literature studies to investigate experiences of climate anxiety and related emotions. We are seeking a candidate with a background in Environmental or Health Humanities, which may include philosophy, psychology, comparative literature, anthropology, or sociology, among other disciplines. Some knowledge of qualitative research methods and experience with interdisciplinary collaboration across the humanities and social sciences is an advantage. The project is fully funded for three years, with a start date of August 15th, 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter.
Project Description
Today, the concept of ‘ecological anxiety’ is widely used in academic, political, medical, and public discourse. The emotions this concept captures, however, remain ambiguous, since the concept is used to refer to a wide variety negative affective states, both pathological and non-pathological. This lack of clarity undermines research into the prevalence and severity of eco-anxiety and other climate emotions, as well as how these emotions link to behavior. Considering this shortcoming, the aim of the project, “What is Eco-anxiety? Capturing Feelings of the Climate Crisis”, is to develop a nuanced conceptual mapping of climate emotions, focusing on emotions commonly included under the label of ‘eco-anxiety’. Upon completion of the project, we will have refined existing emotion constructs and developed new constructs that can be operationalized for use by researchers carrying out empirical studies of climate emotions (e.g., in psychometric assessments and other larger scale studies). To achieve this aim, the project uses an innovative combination of methods from philosophy, psychology, and literature studies.
The project builds upon an existing data set, consisting of hundreds of short stories about climate futures written by high school students in Denmark. The PhD student will be able to incorporate these stories into an analysis that investigates the variety of climate related emotions they express. The PhD student will also be expected to generate a new data set by conducting qualitative interviews with people who report experiencing climate anxiety or other climate related emotions (training in qualitative interviewing can be provided). The recruitment population is open, and the PhD student may carry out interviews in their native language (although English or a Scandinavian language is preferred). The interview transcripts will be analyzed through a combination of qualitative and philosophical methods, with the aim of establishing a taxonomy of climate-related emotions experienced by the study participants.
Supervisory Team and Research Environment
The candidate’s primary supervisor will be Anthony Vincent Fernandez, Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy and Theoretical Psychology. The co-supervisory team includes Bryan Yazell, Associate Professor of Anglophone Literature; Anita Wohlmann, Associate Professor of Contemporary Anglophone Literature; and Kirsten Kaya Roessler, Professor of Health and Environmental Psychology.
The position will be based at the Department of Psychology, which has strengths in clinical psychology, community psychology, health psychology, and cognitive psychology. The PhD student will be a member of the research group in Applied and Interdisciplinary Phenomenology. The group includes several postdoctoral researchers with backgrounds in philosophy, qualitative health research, and clinical psychology who carry out research on topics such as pain, psychotherapy, social anxiety, and depression, among other topics. The PhD student will also be affiliated to the SCC Elite Center for Mobilizing Post-Anthropocentric Climate Action (PACA) and SDU’s Climate Cluster. Depending on their disciplinary background and interests, they may also affiliate to other groups and centers, such as the Centre for Uses of Literature and/or the Narrative Medicine research group.
Qualifications and Expectations
Required Qualifications
Master’s degree* in humanities or social science, with an emphasis on environmental or health humanities
Experience with, or interest in, carrying out interdisciplinary research and working as part of an interdisciplinary, collaborative team
English proficiency
*Note that the candidate must have completed the equivalent of 300 ECTS to enroll. If the candidate has completed a 1-year (rather than 2-year) master’s degree, then they will typically have had to complete a 4-year bachelor’s degree to attain the required ECTS. For further information on eligibility, please see General assessments for specific countries and Assessment database.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience designing, conducting, and analyzing qualitative interviews
Background in phenomenology, as either a philosophical or qualitative tradition
Background in emotion theory or history of emotions
Additional Expectations During the PhD
Work on campus at least three days per week, participating in regular group meetings and positively contributing to the life of the research group
Carry out an international research stay (up to one semester, depending on availability of funds)
Regularly engage with researchers from a wide variety of disciplines, especially via the SDU Climate Cluster
For further information about the project or position, please contact:
Anthony Vincent Fernandez
Department of Psychology
University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
E-mail: afernandez@health.sdu.dk
Salary and Working Conditions
PhD students employed at SDU are employed as PhD fellows according to the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations in public employment (AC) agreement.
Salary and any salary supplement are paid according to your seniority level and as negotiated with your union representative. The base salary (excluding 18.07% pension contribution) is DKK 374,912.98.
Applications must include:
A letter stating your interest, motivation, and qualifications for the project (max. 2 pages)
An outline of your ideas or plans for how you would like to carry out the project, specifying both your existing skills and skills you would like to develop (max. 2 pages)
A detailed CV, including personal contact information
A certified copy of diploma and transcripts (Master’s degree in a relevant field)
One writing sample, up to 10,000 words (e.g., a course paper, conference presentation, published article, or selection from your master’s thesis)
Contact details for two references
All application materials should be in English. For diplomas and transcripts in foreign languages, a certified translation should also be included. Please do not use generative AI to draft your application documents; the point of the documents is to get a clear sense of your own ideas and abilities.
Shortlisting and interviews may be used in the assessment process.
Further information about the PhD-study can be found at the homepage of the University.
Applications must be submitted electronically using the link "Apply now". Attached files must be in Adobe PDF format. We strongly recommend that you read How to apply for a position at SDU before you apply.
Incomplete applications and applications received after the deadline will neither be considered nor evaluated.
Closing date January 31st 2026
The successful candidate will be asked to send an application to the PhD Secretariat, Faculty of Health Sciences, to be enrolled as a PhD student.
The PhD program will be carried out in accordance with Faculty regulations and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Program at the Universities (PhD order).
The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.
The project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Data Science Ascending Investigator grant titled "CHEETAH: CHallenges of Evaluating Teams and Algorithms" and is led by Full Professor Veronika Cheplygina.
Project description
Machine learning (ML) competitions are often touted as drivers of algorithm development in healthcare but face limitations in real-world applications. An example competition is detecting lung cancer in chest images, where the team correctly identifying the most images with cancer wins the competition. Such competitions attract many international teams with monetary or prestigious incentives. While competitions are said to spur innovation, they often result in too similar algorithms that only excel on a specific accuracy metric, but are not robust and fail to generalize to diverse, real-world data.
I posit that a single performance metric such as accuracy is insufficient to capture algorithm robustness, for example how the algorithm performs on rare patient cases. Having a single performance metric also leads to too similar algorithms which do not bring added value despite their high training costs and carbon footprint. Furthermore, as research on women and other underrepresented groups in computer science shows, competition may deter them from entering or staying in the field.
I therefore propose to design competitions with multiple metrics, both in what the metric measures (e.g. accuracy or sensitivity) and which subgroups of patients this is measured on. We will first develop novel methods to evaluate and increase the diversity of the evaluation data (RQ1). We will then design how to evaluate similarity of algorithms, and develop methods to combine them, such that robustness can be increased without the disproportionate carbon footprint (RQ2). Finally, we will study competitions in education and at conferences, to investigate how the novel design affects underrepresented groups in data science (RQ3).
The advertised postdoc positions will be focusing on RQ3.
The candidates
The project aims to hire 2 postdocs who will both focus on RQ3, and work closely with team members already working on RQ1 and RQ2.
Ideal candidates for the positions will have:
- A finalized or close to completion PhD degree in human-computer interaction, computer science, data science, psychology, mathematics education, or another discipline which includes both quantitative and qualitative research
- Experience with mixed methods research (surveys, semi-structured interviews), evidenced by publications in recognized journals or conferences, including but not limited to CHI, FAccT, AIES, ICER, SIGCSE, CSCW, relevant conference workshops)
- Experience with data analysis in Python or R
- Experience with co-supervising students is advantageous
- Enthusiasm about interdisciplinary research in a diverse team
Research environment
The successful applicant will join the PURRlab team consisting of Full Professor Veronika Cheplygina, two PhD student and a postdoc working on medical imaging and meta-research.
The project involves collaboration with the Center for Computing Education Research, and Human-Computer Interaction and Design groups at ITU. The larger project also includes collaborations with Emory University School of Medicine (US), University of Bern (CH), and offers other opportunities for collaboration and networking within and outside Denmark.
Data, Systems, and Robotics section
We are all part of the DSAR (Data, Systems, and Robotics) section at ITU. The DSAR Section at the IT University of Copenhagen conducts research in various aspects of infrastructure of data science, scalable and efficient systems supporting the data lifecycle, meta-science, artificial intelligence, robotics, and evolutionary computation, as well as a range of applications. Its faculty is responsible for many courses in the ITU BSc and MSc programs for Computer Science, Data Science and Software Design. The section currently has 12 faculty and 15 PhDs and postdocs.
General information
The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) is a teaching and research-based university specializing in information technology (IT) and the opportunities it offers. The IT University has more than 160 full-time Faculty members. Research and teaching in information technology span all academic activities which involve computers including computer science, information and media sciences, humanities and social sciences, business impact and the commercialization of IT.
Working at the IT University
Located in modern architecture, a 6-minute metro ride from the center of Copenhagen, the IT University offers an informal working environment, a varied everyday life, and a highly motivated, innovative, skilled, and diverse international faculty, with PhD degrees from 17 different countries. The IT University is an equal opportunity employer and prides itself in actively pursuing an improved gender balance among students and among faculty.
Working in Copenhagen
Copenhagen has a solid educational system, a rich cultural life, universal healthcare, good childcare, and well-functioning infrastructure. Copenhagen is consistently ranked among the world’s most livable cities according to the Economist Global Liveability Index. Living and working in Copenhagen will typically be a great experience for you and your family.
Salary and terms of employment
The applicant will be employed at the IT University for a period of 24 months.
Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the Ministry of Taxation’s agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) and job structure for academic staff at universities.
Qualification Requirements
The following qualifications are required:
- Candidates are required to have academic qualifications at PhD level
Application
The application and all other documents ought to be in English and must include:
- A motivation letter (1-2 pages A4) which describes
- suitability for the position
- motivation to work with the project team
- A full CV, including name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment, project experience, and academic background
- A list of publications (including preprints, but not including papers in preparation), and any additional skills (for example science communication)
- A research statement (2-3 pages A4, excluding references) describing your initial research ideas for the project, and connections to your previous work. The goal of the statement is to show your evidence of independent thinking and a grasp of the research field.
- Documentation of academic degrees (copy of degree certificates etc.) If the PhD is within 3 months of completion, please attach an official statement from the supervisor about the expected graduation
Please do NOT include reference letters at this stage. We may ask for references later in the process. Early contact with the project leader (Dr. Veronika Cheplygina, vech@itu.dk) is strongly encouraged.
The applicant will be accessed according to the Appointment Order from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of 13 March 2012.
The IT University may use shortlisting in connection with the recruitment process. In case of shortlisting, the Chair of the hiring committee selects applicants for assessment in consultation with the hiring committee after the application deadline. All applicants are notified whether their application has been passed for assessment. The shortlisting of candidates for assessment is based on the criteria in the job posting.
Further information
Questions about the positions can be directed to Full Professor, Veronika Cheplygina, IT University of Copenhagen, vech@itu.dk.
Questions related to the application procedure may be directed to HR, hr@itu.dk.
Application procedure
You can only apply for this position through our e-recruitment system. Apply by pressing the button "Apply for position" in the job announcement on our website.
The IT University might upon request in the interview process contact 1-2 references.
Application deadline: 31 January 2026 at 23:59 CET.
Applications/enclosures received at ITU after the application deadline will not be taken into consideration. If you submit an application, it is your responsibility to ensure that it arrives before the deadline so please allow sufficient time for upload of publications and other documents.
At The IT University of Copenhagen, we have an international environment and view diversity as a valuable resource. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive working environment for all our employees and encourage all qualified applicants, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, or ethnic background to apply for the position.
As ITU works with research in critical technology, which is subject to special rules for security and export control, open-source background checks may be conducted on qualified candidates for the position.