Karolinska Institutet (KI) recently completed its largest international recruitment campaign for assistant professors, announcing 20 positions across 20 institutions. The initiative attracted more than 2,700 applications from nearly 1,600 candidates representing almost 90 countries. The effort aimed to strengthen KI’s research excellence and respond to changing international research landscapes, particularly shifts in the U.S. funding environment.
Professor Sten Linnarsson, one of the initiative’s architects, highlighted that the recruitment focused on both high-quality projects and personal fit, emphasizing the importance of supporting candidates’ needs, including family considerations and relocation logistics. Institutions played a central role in the process, allowing candidates and departments to engage more personally and evaluate expectations and research environments.
Offers have been extended to the top 20 candidates, with several positions already filled. KI plans to continue this type of recruitment in the future, though scale and structure may vary. The long-term goal is to ensure that these appointments shape KI’s leadership and research output for decades to come.
Source: Karolinska Institutet
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