Vacant job

Sapere Aude – Dare to be wise – is our motto. Our students and staff develop socially important 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 vibrant region where we act as a driver for sustainable development in close collaboration with society.

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

Description

The Faculty of Health, Natural and Social 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 doctoral position is part of the research project SPLAIM (Security and Privacy of Locally-Run AI Models), funded by the KK Foundation. SPLAIM investigates how local large language models (LLMs) can be deployed in a secure, privacy-preserving, and efficient manner within organizations and companies.

As a doctoral student, you will work on the technical development of efficient, secure, and privacy-preserving local AI models. The work involves the design, implementation, and evaluation of local LLM-based solutions as well as the infrastructure required to support them. You will explore central issues regarding security and privacy risks in locally driven AI models, methods for privacy-preserving training and inference, and performance under resource constraints.

The work also includes the development and evaluation of methods such as parameter-efficient fine-tuning, "retrieval-augmented generation" (RAG), hardware-aware optimization, and benchmarking of local AI models. The research will be anchored in real-world use cases developed in collaboration with the project's industry partners to contribute to the development and evaluation of prototypes in realistic environments.

As a doctoral student, you will participate in several parts of the research process, from needs analysis and technical design to prototype development, experimentation, and evaluation. The role involves close collaboration with SPLAIM's industry partners, and the work will be conducted within the framework of the research group Privacy & Security (PriSec) at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Responsibilities

As a doctoral student, you will primarily focus on your own doctoral education. The doctoral education consists of 240 higher education credits (hp) for a PhD degree and 120 hp for a Licentiate degree. The doctoral position entails a paid employment that combines studies and work, opening the door to a career in the academic world. As a doctoral student, you work independently and are willing to contribute in various ways to the subject's and the department's work and development. You also get the opportunity to deepen your areas of interest in collaboration with others. It may become relevant, after agreement, to participate in teaching and administration, so-called departmental service. Such work can cover a maximum of 20% of full working hours. The work as a doctoral student gives you great freedom to plan and organize your tasks. This requires commitment, drive, and the ability to structure your work to successfully complete the doctoral thesis.

To contribute to a good working environment and the development of activities within the department, as well as your own personal development, you are present on-site at Karlstad University and participate in the daily work and community.

For eligibility requirements, admission and assessment criteria, as well as terms, see the full advertisement via the link.

Application

Applications are made through the university's web-based recruitment tool, Varbi. As an applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that the application is complete in accordance with the advertisement, that any documents in languages other than Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, or English are translated, and that your competence is documented in a way that allows for an objective, qualitative assessment. A complete application must be received by the end of the application period. A complete application must be received no later than on the last day of application. An incomplete application may result in your competence not being qualitatively assessed in all respects.

The application should include:

• A cover letter where the applicant describes the background to their interest in the position
• A curriculum vitae (CV)
• Degree certificate with a list of included courses, or a certified list of completed and passed courses with grades and dates
• A copy of the master's thesis, examination project, or equivalent
• If applicable, copies of publications or certificates of other merits
• Any letters of recommendation
• Two references, such as a teacher, supervisor, or previous or current employer.

All documents and publications that you wish to be part of your application must be attached to the digital application (not just links). Name each uploaded document so that its contents are clearly identifiable.

Documents that cannot be submitted in digital form can be sent to the following address:

Karlstad University
HR Department
HR Administrator
651 88 KARLSTAD

Last day for applications: 2026-07-31

Reference number: REK 2026/128

We look forward to receiving your application!