Postdoctoral position in cognitive neuroscience

Postdoctoral position in cognitive neuroscience
Postdoctoral position in cognitive neuroscience

Published	Deadline	Location
17 Nov	11 Dec	Maastricht

A full-time Postdoc position is available at Maastricht University in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience (lab of Prof. Dr. Alexander Sack, https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/a.sack). All research will take place in the Cognitive Neuroscience Department (CN) at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. The planned research involves combining noninvasive brain imaging (EEG, fMRI) and brain stimulation (TMS, TCS) to study human cognition, and will provide access to state-of-the art neuroscience research facilities at the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/research/maastricht-brain-imaging-centre) and at Scannexus (www.scannexus.nl).
Job description

Who we are and what we do
We are a research lab in the field of noninvasive brain stimulation and applied cognitive neuroscience. Headed by Prof. Dr Alexander Sack, the team includes Associate Professor Teresa Schuhmann and Assistant Professors Inge Leunissen, Sanne ten Oever and Felix Duecker, as well as several PhD students. Together we are known as the Brain Stimulation and Cognition (BSC) group at Maastricht University. We work in the spirit of team science, in a very cooperative, collegial, and interdisciplinary work climate. Our group focuses on the neurobiological and psychological principles underlying attention, learning, memory, and cognitive control; combining various brain research techniques, ranging from psychophysics and eye-tracking, to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Electroencephalography (EEG), and Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS). We have funding available to develop and manage a larger scale international and interdisciplinary research project on the neural network dynamics underlying human cognition in healthy volunteers and to translate these findings into clinical applications for treating various neurological and neuropsychiatric brain disorders. 

What we hope to find in you
We are looking for a passionate and pleasant new team member. You should ideally be an experienced post doc researcher with expertise in EEG and/or NIBS and/or fMRI, or maybe even with experience combining NIBS with neuroimaging (however, the latter is not strictly required as we are also happy with a real expert specialized in one of these modalities) . The candidate should have good to very good data analysis and programming skills (Matlab, python e.d). Experience with computational modelling is a plus. Very good scientific writing skills are a must.

What we offer
The PostDoc position giving you a high job security and at the same time also offers a good degree of academic freedom to develop or continue your own basic research line. Having said this, we of course are looking for a team member whose research interests fit well within the research spectrum of the Brain Stimulation and Cognition group at Maastricht University (https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fpn/bsclab ).

As a PostDoc, you will be able to devote 90% of your time to conducting research with the remaining 10% reserved for some teaching and organizational activities at our faculty.

What else
Our group has pioneered the development of simultaneously implemented TMS-fMRI-EEG during cognitive behavior, allowing to apply brain-stimulation while recording the individual brain network (fMRI) and oscillation (EEG) responses of cognitively engaged participants. One aim for this PostDoc position is to further push this methodology to the next level, to hopefully address so far unaddressed question in cognitive neuroscience. But we are also open to new ideas regarding the exact topic of the project as long as it fits within the main research lines of our group. As this method combination is very challenging, you will be embedded in a larger team of seniors and you should therefore be a real team player with an open, effective management style, willing and excited to also collaborate and support existing and currently already running experiments in our research group. You will be supervised by a selection of the above-mentioned faculty members of our group and in turn may be provided the opportunity to supervise your own PhD students.

Specifications

• max. 38 hours per week
• €2960—€3247 per month
• Maastricht View on Google Maps

Maastricht University (UM)

Requirements

• You need a PhD in a relevant discipline such as Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Biomedical Sciences, Sciences, Engineering;
• You ideally have some experience as a PostDoc;
• You display outstanding quality in research and are open to an interdisciplinary approach;
• You have a clear connection to cognitive neuroscience methods, such as fMRI, EEG and/or  NIBS and a track record or potential for grant acquisition. International peer reviewed academic publications are imperative;
• You have very good data analysis and programming skills (Matlab, Python or others);
• Experience with computational modelling is a plus;
• Excellent scientific writing skills;
• You are expected to be a team player, have an open, effective management style.

Conditions of employment

The full-time position is offered for three years, with a yearly evaluation.
The first year will be a probation period, after a positive assessment the position will be extended for another 2 years.

Salary, social benefits, and overall working conditions are excellent in The Netherlands and among the best in academia worldwide.

Your salary would be € 2,960 gross per month in the first year, and growing towards up to € 3,247 gross per month in the third year according to salary scale 10.
Your salary is supplemented with an 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance. In addition to good primary employment conditions, UM also offers an attractive package of secondary employment conditions.

Preferred starting date:  February 1st, 2023.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information please consult www.maastrichtuniversity.nl  > About UM > Working at UM.

Employer
Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 22,000 students and 5,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
For more information, please visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl .

Department
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience (CN)

Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

The candidate will administratively be embedded in the Brain Stimulation and Cognition section of the CN department

Additional information

For more information about this position, please contact:

Prof. Dr. Alexander Sack
Email: [email protected]

To apply at this vacancy, press the button ‘apply now’ to see the application procedure.

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Apply via postal mail

[email protected]

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Application procedure

To apply, please submit:

• motivation letter
• CV
• 2 references

Send your application, stating the vacancy number AT2022.502, by email to:
[email protected]

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Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position.