Postdoctoral Researcher: Computational Neuroscience of Curiosity at the Predictive Brain Lab

14 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Radboud University

Research Field

Physics

Researcher Profile

Recognised Researcher (R2)

Country

Netherlands

Application Deadline

14 Apr 2024 - 00:00 (UTC)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Not Applicable

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Humans build internal models of themselves and their environment to understand the past and predict the future. These models are constantly evaluated and updated based on new, surprising input. In this ERC-funded research project, you will investigate how surprise is linked to our intrinsic drive to seek information, i.e. curiosity.

Curiosity is a basic element of our cognition, but its neural underpinnings and computational mechanisms are still poorly understood. While we understand some of the drivers that intrinsically motivate us to seek information, there are currently no convincing models of information seeking. As a postdoctoral researcher, you will be part of a team that will address this question. Using a computational approach, you will build predictive models of human information-seeking behaviour, and test the behavioural and neural implications of these models.

Requirements
Specific Requirements

• You have a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• You have an affinity with programming and you possess demonstrable experience with quantitative data analysis techniques (e.g. in Matlab or Python).
• You are highly motivated to conduct interdisciplinary empirical research in the field of computational cognitive neuroscience.
• You have good collaborative and communication skills.

Additional Information
Benefits

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 2 years.
• Your salary within salary scale 11 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service . The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customised assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions . You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

Additional comments

You can apply no later than 14 April only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Floris de Lange.

The first interviews will take place on Monday 22 April. Any second interview will take place on Monday 29 April. You will preferably start your employment between May and July.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure . It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates. If you wish to apply for a non-scientific position with a non-EU nationality, please take notice of the following information .

Website for additional job details

https://www.academictransfer.com/339018/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Radboud Universiteit

Country

Netherlands

City

Nijmegen

Postal Code

6525XZ

Street

Houtlaan 4

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/339018/postdoctoral-researcher-computationa…

Contact

City

Nijmegen

Website

http://www.ru.nl/

Street

Houtlaan 4

Postal Code

6525 XZ

STATUS: EXPIRED