Vacant job

Sapere Aude – Dare to be wise – is our motto. Our students and staff develop socially significant knowledge that enriches the individual and the world. Our academic environment is characterized by curiosity, courage, and openness, with close connections between people, roles, subjects, and research. The foundation of our operations is gender equality, diversity, and a democratic perspective. We are located in Värmland, a nature-rich and culturally diverse region where we act as an engine for sustainable development in close collaboration with society.

Karlstad University has approximately 1,400 employees and 18,700 students distributed across two inspiring campus environments in Karlstad and Arvika. Read more about us at: kau.se/jobb (https://www.kau.se/jobb)

Description

The Faculty of Health, Natural and Technology Sciences is advertising a position within the doctoral education program leading to a PhD in Computer Science at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

The recruitment is part of the DRIVE project (Data-driven latency-sensitive mobile services for a digitalized society), a research profile funded by the KK Foundation: https://www.kau.se/cs-drive (https://www.kau.se/cs-drive). As part of DRIVE, we investigate communication systems that are secure, high-performing, and low-latency in close collaboration with the partner company Mullvad VPN.

The doctoral candidate will research optimized performance and reduced latency for communication systems based on the VPN protocol WireGuard and the anonymity network Tor, focusing on end-users connected via next-generation mobile and non-terrestrial networks. The research should be empirically grounded in internet measurements and utilize the testbeds, partner companies, and services provided by DRIVE and associated national and international projects. The work at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science will be carried out in close collaboration with researchers from the research groups Privacy and Security (PriSec) and Distributed Intelligent Systems and Communications (DISCO).

Responsibilities

As a doctoral candidate, you will primarily focus on your own doctoral studies. The doctoral education, consisting of 240 higher education credits (HEC) for a PhD and 120 HEC for a Licentiate degree, offers the opportunity for paid studies combined with work and a chance to start an academic career. As a doctoral candidate, you work independently and are willing to contribute in various ways to the subject's and department's work and development. You are given the opportunity to deepen your areas of interest together with others. Depending on agreement, participation in teaching and administration, so-called departmental service, may be relevant. Such work can comprise a maximum of 20% of full-time employment. The work as a doctoral candidate gives you great freedom to plan and organize your work, which requires engagement, drive, and the ability to structure the work in order to successfully complete a dissertation.

To contribute to a good work environment and support both the operations and your own development as a researcher, you are present on-site at Karlstad University and participate actively in the daily work and community.

For eligibility, assessment criteria, admission, and application requirements, see the full advertisement via the link.

Conditions

After admission to doctoral studies, an employment as a doctoral candidate will be offered (Swedish Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Section 3). The employment covers four years of full-time studies with research only. If teaching or other departmental service becomes relevant, the employment will be extended by the corresponding time, up to a maximum of five years full-time. The employment is fixed-term for the first year and can thereafter be extended by up to two years at a time (Swedish Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Section 7), with start date as agreed.

The salary for the doctoral candidate employment follows the local collective agreement with fixed salary steps.

Last day for applications: 2026-07-31

Reference number: REK2026/147

We welcome your application!