Systemic approaches to improve cardiometabolic and brain health during lifespan

Systemic approaches to improve cardiometabolic and brain health during lifespan (SYS-LIFE) is an exciting new postdoctoral fellowship programme that seeks to deliver urgently-needed breakthroughs in the field of cardiometabolic and brain diseases (e.g. heart attacks, strokes, depression and diabetes), promote scientific renewal in this field and develop its future leaders of tomorrow.

It is based at the University of Turku (UTU) in Finland and supported by partners in different sectors. UTU’s Collegia have a record for excellence in research and for developing their researchers for leadership roles.

SYS-LIFE applies their bottom-up, 'Institute for Advanced Study' model to build on UTU’s outstanding expertise and unique facilities for cardiometabolic and brain health research.

It will recruit 11 experienced postdoctoral researchers (ERs) in 2023 and 2024 (22 in total), each for 36 months, through an open, international, competitive, merit-based selection process dependent on external peer-review, in line with the European Charter and Code. Projects that are interdisciplinary, intersectoral, longitudinal or systemic are encouraged.

At UTU, such approaches have resulted in major advances in cardiometabolic and brain health.

SYS-LIFE offers • Scientific excellence: Fellows will be free to design and pursue novel, high-quality research projects that seek to improve health outcomes in this area, connecting and strengthening research and resources at UTU and beyond; • Career development: SYS-LIFE offers mentoring and a new range of options for non-tenured researchers to develop as future leaders, enabling them to move freely between sectors to acquire unique skills and experiences; • Innovation: SYS-LIFE (i) enables knowledge and technology to circulate freely at regional, national and international levels, (ii) connects intellectual excellence with the practical know-how and infrastructure needed to realise new concepts; (iii) offers dedicated Proof-of-Concept funds.