Would you like to become a One Health expert in Helminthology? Would you like to work on your doctoral thesis in a structured and interdisciplinary doctoral program in Berlin? Here is your chance!

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate who is interested in infectious disease research with focus on helminths and who shares our vision to improve the World’s health. Our mission is to train creative, responsible and self-confident young researchers.

The relevant project focusses on the economics of soil-transmitted helminthiasis control interventions. Infections due to soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are the most common neglected tropical disease in human populations. In countries where STH infections are a public health risk, key STH infection control interventions include improved sanitation, health education and mass drug administration (MDA), which involves the provision of anthelmintic drugs to at-risk populations regardless of STH infection status. Often, these interventions are implemented by government-led helminth control programs. Reviews of studies exploring the economics of STH control interventions highlight the wide variation in the methods used to measure costs and gaps in the availability of high-quality cost data. The aim of this project is to develop and implement a high-quality costing tool for estimating the costs of government-led STH control programs, using the National School-Based Deworming Program (NSBDP) in Kenya as a case study. The doctoral researcher (DR) will, in collaboration with the stakeholders of the NSBDP, develop and refine a best practice costing methodology, a set of data collection instruments and collect relevant cost data at different administrative levels of the NSBDP. She/ he will then develop an interactive software tool that will allow program managers to fully describe and visualize the costs of NSBDP activities under different STH control scenarios. In a final step, the DR will analyze the costs of NSBDP activities.

The successful candidate will be a member of the Research Training Group (RTG) 3096 “One Health Approach to Soil-Transmitted Helminths” and will work in an interdisciplinary manner within a structured program. All projects in RTG 3096 address the three “One Health” aspects: 1) human roundworm infections (close cooperation and fieldwork in Kenya / Africa), 2) roundworm infections in farm animals (chicken and pigs in Germany) and wildlife, and 3) environmental factors (sociological and economic field studies in Kenya and Germany). The RTG will thus incorporate human, animal, and environmental aspects into the research and training of all RTG 3096 DR to become “One Health” infectious disease specialists. After four years of training in the structured doctoral program and the acquisition of at least 30 credits, candidates have the opportunity to obtain a certificate for the successful completion of the PhD graduate school programme.

Project start will be as soon as possible. 

Candidates must hold a Master degree or equivalent in Health Economics or a related field and speak English. If you want to join us, please apply until March 29, 2026 via our online application platform. 

https://www.drs.fu-berlin.de/user/register?field_i_want_to_apply_for=732

Find more information about RTG 3096, how-to-apply / FAQ on: 

https://www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/en/einrichtungen/sonstige/grk3096/index.html