Professor Juan Pedro Arrebola, from the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) in 2023 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (for more information about the 2023 call, please consult:(http://sl.ugr.es/0d7F).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR) was founded in 1531 and is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. With over 51,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and almost 3,000 members of staff, the UGR offers over 90 undergraduate degrees, 160 master’s degrees (8 of which are international double degrees) and 28 doctoral programmes via its 124 departments and nearly 50 centers. Accordingly, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programmes in Spain.

The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the institution’s commitment to continuously improving its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also internationally renowned for its excellence in diverse research fields and ranked among the top Spanish universities in a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, and international funding.

The UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking - Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The 2022 edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 201-300th position in the world and as the 2-5 highest ranked universities in Spain (http://sl.ugr.es/0d7D), reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. The UGR stands out in the specialties of Library & Information Science (position 38); Food Science & Technology (30) and Hospitality & Tourism Management (51-75), according to the latest edition of this prestigious ranking by specialties (http://sl.ugr.es/0bSp). A little lower in the ranking, the UGR also stands out in Mathematics (76-100).

Additionally, the UGR has 9 researchers who are at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list (http://sl.ugr.es/0d7E), most of these related to the area of Computer Science. It is also well recognized for its web presence (http://sl.ugr.es/0a6i), being positioned at 42th place in the top 200 Universities in Europe.

Internationally, the University of Granada is firmly committed to its participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the last Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, the UGR obtained a total 120 projects with a total funding of around 29,4 million euros.  For the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, the UGR has obtained 38 projects, so far, with total funding around 11 € million.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group:

The University of Granada (https://www.ugr.es), with approximately 70,000 individuals (students + workers), is the 4th largest university in Spain. Research at the UGR is thoroughly multidisciplinary, as there are currently over 1,400 active research lines. The UGR belongs to the Biomedical Research Institute ibs.GRANADA (https://www.ibsgranada.es/), which also integrates the two University Hospitals of Granada and the Andalusian School of Public Health. This consortium represents a common scientific space for the development of joint basic and translational biomedical research.

Dr. Juan P. Arrebola leads a research group within the University of Granada and ibs.GRANADA, focused on identifying environmental factors that contribute to the risk of obesity-related chronic diseases. The group is highly interdisciplinary, consisting of experts in epidemiology, environmental science, basic and molecular research, health economics, social science, and clinicians. Their aim is to take a holistic approach to human exposure to low doses of chemical environmental pollutants and their health implications. The group leader has 20 years of experience committed to studying environmental epidemiology, specifically the impact of human exposure to chemical environmental pollutants. To date, the group leader has participated in 14 research projects funded by national and 6 international agencies (including four EU projects) and has generated <100 scientific papers in JCR-indexed journals.

Project description:

We are focused on investigating the (sub)clinical implications of long-term exposure to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals in the general population. Our particular interest is in addressing combined environmental exposures from a mixture perspective. The chemicals of interest include persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and trace elements, phthalates, pesticides, flame-retardants, bisphenols, and other non-persistent chemicals. Our main targets for chronic health outcomes are obesity-related diseases, such as cardio-metabolic diseases and cancer. We also focus on identifying biomarkers of early damage, such as oxidative stress, inflammation, or endocrine disruption, which will help detect early subclinical damage and facilitate preventive actions. Our study offers a unique opportunity to combine exposure biomonitoring, clinical, and molecular data within an epidemiologic context.

The researcher will work closely with our team members in analyzing already generated data, writing scientific articles, and developing new research lines. We are seeking a researcher who is interested in either working with relatively complex databases using several statistical approaches, including multipollutant and mediation analyses, health economy data or developing and testing novel biomarkers in ongoing epidemiological studies.

Some references:

• Mustieles V, Arrebola JP. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2020;74(5):401-407.
• Echeverría R et al. Sci Total Environ. 2019;670:1028-1036.
• Artacho-Cordón F, et al. Environ Int. 2019;133(Pt A):105118.
• Requena P, et al. Environ Res. 2023 1;216(Pt 2):114470.
• Mustieles V, et al. Environ Int. 2017;104:48-57
• Pérez-Carrascosa FM, et al. Environ Res. 2022;213:113609.

Research Area:

☒ Environment and Geosciences (ENV)

☒ Life Sciences (LIFE)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Juan Pedro Arrebola (jparrebola@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)