Postdoctoral Researcher in Affective Neuroscience at the Donders Institute
Specifications
Location Nijmegen
Function types Postdoc positions
Scientific fields Behaviour and Society
Hours 26.6 − 38.0 hours per week
Salary maximum € 4551
Education University Graduate
Job number 30.04.15
Job description
We seek a highly talented and motivated postdoctoral researcher to join a unique large-scale fMRI project on neuroendocrine mechanisms in fight/flight decisions of police officers. The project is part of a larger longitudinal project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO-VICI-project: “Police In Action"). The overarching aim of the project is to investigate stress resilience and stress vulnerability factors, including automatic fight-or-flight tendencies that may differentially prime for anxious versus aggressive stress symptoms. In collaboration with the National Dutch Police Force, 300 police recruits will be tested before and after exposure to their first armed service during emergency response, one of the most stressful phases during their training. Besides functional neuroimaging the testing involves creating genetic and endocrine profiles of each subject. Your duties will be supervising the data collection, conducting advanced fMRI analyses (including brain connectivity analyses), machine learning and reporting on the results. There will be ample opportunity to develop your own research questions and focus within this large-scale multidisciplinary project. In addition, you will have the opportunity to supervise two PhD students and one RA, who will conduct the data collection. You will be joining the ’Affective Neuroscience’ PI group led by Prof. Karin Roelofs at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands). Our group investigates brain systems that support the cognitive control of emotions and emotional actions. In addition we seek to understand how these networks interact with hormonal and major neurotransmitter systems in healthy subjects and patients with anxiety and aggression related disorders (see www.roelofs-epan.nl/). You will be given the opportunity to regularly present your work at international conferences and meetings. Also, in order to develop your own research agenda, we will encourage and support you in applying for competitive career development fellowships towards the end of the project.
Requirements
You should have a PhD degree in a field related to cognitive neuroscience (e.g. experimental psychology, cognitive science, biology, or neuroscience). Candidates with a strong background in affective neuroscience and experience with psychophysiological measures and advanced fMRI connectivity analyses, computational modelling and machine learning are particularly encouraged to apply. Selection will be based on records of published research, conceptual expertise in affective neuroscience and familiarity with neuroimaging techniques. You will work in an interdisciplinary environment, sharing technical know-how and ideas
Conditions of employment
you will be classified as a Postdoctoral Researcher (Onderzoeker 3) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO);
the position will be available from May 2015, but the start date of the contract is flexible;
successful candidates from abroad are eligible to apply for the attractive Dutch tax incentive scheme for foreign employees.
Contract type: Temporary, 4 years
Organisation
Radboud University
Strategically located in Europe, Radboud University is one of the leading academic communities in the Netherlands. A place with a personal touch, where top-flight education and research take place on a beautiful green campus in modern buildings with state-of-art facilities.
Department
Donders Institute, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour consists of the Centre for Cognition, the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, and the Centre for Neuroscience. The mission of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging - where our group is based - is to conduct cutting-edge fundamental research in cognitive neuroscience. Much of the rapid progress in this field is being driven by the development of complex neuroimaging techniques for measuring activity in the human brain - an area in which the Centre plays a leading role. The research themes cover central cognitive functions, such as perception, action, control, emotion, decision making, attention, memory, language, learning and plasticity. The Centre also aims to establish how the different brain areas coordinate their activity with very high temporal precision to enable human and animal cognition. The internationally renowned centre currently hosts more than 100 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from more than 25 nationalities, offering a stimulating and multidisciplinary research environment. The centre is equipped with four MRI scanners (7T, 2x 3T, 1.5T), a 275-channel MEG system, an EEG-TMS laboratory, several (MR-compatible) EEG systems, and high-performance computational facilities. English is the lingua franca at the centre.
No commercial propositions please.
Additional information
Karin Roelofs, Principal Investigator and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology
+31 24 3612673
k.roelofs@donders.ru.nl
www.ru.nl/donders/; www.roelofs-epan.nl/
Radboud University
Short link www.academictransfer.com/27140