Reference: 461_26_LS_CB_R0

Job title: Undergraduate student Computational Biology (R0)

About BSC

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission

The Computational Biology group, led by ICREA Professor Alfonso Valencia, is seeking an undergraduate student to work on the analysis of multi-omicrons data to better understand disease co-occurrences, specifically those between central nervous system disorders, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Work will take place in a high-performance computing (HPC) environment using the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, allowing the candidate to handle large-scale datasets and generate reproducible, high-impact results. Biological and functional interpretation of results is a core part of the role, with opportunities to contribute to active research lines within the group. The candidate will join an international, multidisciplinary team within the Computational Biology laboratory at BSC.

Key Duties

• Analyze and preprocess biomedical datasets, including databases, genomic and transcriptomic data.

• Develop, implement, and optimize computational pipelines and tools for disease research.

• Apply computational methods to a specific biomedical case study and generate interpretable results.

• Document and present results in internal meetings and contribute to research outputs.

• Participate in internal group meetings and other scientific discussions.

Requirements

• Education

  • Enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Life Sciences (e.g. Biochemistry, Biotechnology), or a related field.

• Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

  • Basic programming skills in Python and/or R.
  • Familiarity with UNIX/Linux environments.
  • Understanding of bioinformatics or computational biology workflows.
  • Ability to interpret scientific literature.

• Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

  • Familiarity with genomics, transcriptomics, or multi-omics data analysis.
  • Prior experience developing computational pipelines or tools.
  • Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments.

• Competences

  • Analytical thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.
  • Effective communication and presentation skills.

Conditions

• The position will be located at BSC within the Life Sciences Department

• We offer a full-time internship (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure

• Duration: Until 31/01/2027

• Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona

• Starting date: asap

Applications procedure and process

All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:

• A full CV in English including contact details

• A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

• Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
• Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es. For more information, please follow this link.

Deadline

The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.

OTM-R principles for selection processes

BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc. BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law. For more information follow this link