Postdoctoral scholarship (2 years) within Discrete Mathematics

The Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Umeå University is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within the project “Saturation in graphs and hypergraphs”. The scholarship is full-time for two years with a starting date no later than October 1, 2027. The deadline for application is December 21, 2026. Extremal Combinatorics and Mathematics in Umeå: The postdoctoral scholar will be an integral part of the Discrete Mathematics group here at Umeå. Discrete mathematics is one of the six main research areas in the Department, alongside Geometry, Computational mathematics, Mathematical statistics, Analysis & Modelling, and Mathematical foundations of Artificial Intelligence. The Discrete Mathematics group has nine permanent members whose research interests span a wide swathe of modern combinatorics. The group runs a weekly seminar and enjoys a frequent flow of research visitors. Areas of expertise include extremal combinatorics, discrete probability, combinatorial optimisation, discrete geometry, and computational combinatorics. Beyond Maryam Sharifzadeh, who will be the main supervisor, there are good opportunities for collaboration with other group members with research interests in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics, namely Victor Falgas-Ravry, Klas Markström and István Tomon. More information about Discrete Mathematics in Umeå may be found at: https://www.umu.se/en/research/groups/discrete-mathematics/ Project description: Within the project, the scholarship recipient will have the opportunity to work on problems in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics. More specifically, the project will explore saturation and weak saturation functions for various combinatorial objects. The first part will focus on graphs, while the second will investigate possible connections to hypergraphs and other combinatorial structures. There will also be flexibility to explore related questions in combinatorics. This postdoctoral scholarship is financed and administrated by the Kempe Foundation (JCSMK261-0055). The tax-free scholarship will be 750,000 SEK for two years, meaning 375,000 SEK per year. Life in Umeå: Umeå is a young, creative, and steadily growing city of about 135,000 people, where students make up a big part of everyday life. That mix gives the city an easy-going yet lively feel, with plenty of cafés, pubs, small venues, and cultural events, without the stress or pace of a big city. Day to day, though, Umeå is simply a comfortable place to live, safe, compact, and easy to get around, especially by bike. As the largest city in northern Sweden, it offers what you need while staying friendly, calm, and close to home. What people often appreciate most is how close you stay to nature here.

Last updated: 9 November 2026