"PhD Position: Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Learning in Infancy at the Donders Centre for Cognition"

Job Description

Babies have so much to learn in such a short period, but how does learning itself develop? Join our research team to follow infants from 5 and 10 months to 2 ½ years to answer this pressing question. You will use a novel neuroscience tool, optically-pumped magnetometers, to understand how early learning develops. You will address how caregivers’ behaviour influences infants’ learning and how early differences in learning predict language and social skills later. Insights from this project can provide knowledge for early interventions to foster learning in infancy, with potential to support later skill acquisition. This research is located at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology.

We are looking for a PhD candidate to join the BabyBRAIN lab. In this position, you will conduct cross-sectional and longitudinal research to investigate how learning unfolds in early childhood. You will acquire and analyse behavioural and electrophysiological data of infants and young children under the supervision of Marlene Meyer, Robert Oostenveld and Sabine Hunnius. You will be a member of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and the Baby and Child Research Center.

Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time.

Requirements

• You hold a MSc in (Developmental) Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Science or related field.
• You have a strong motivation to conduct interdisciplinary empirical research at the intersection of developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
• You have experience with quantitative data analysis techniques such as Matlab or Python. Experience with neuroscience techniques (e.g. EEG) is a plus.
• You possess proven problem-solving skills and an ability to take a strong, positive and proactive approach to work.
• You have experience with experimental developmental psychology. Experience working with infants or young families is a plus.
• You possess excellent collaborative and communication skills.
• You are versatile, flexible and able to work in a team as well as independently.

Conditions of Employment

We will give you a temporary employment contract (0.8 FTE 5-year contract - 1.0 FTE 4-year contract) of 1.5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract) or 3.5 years (5-year contract).

You will receive a starting salary of €3,059 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,881 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P).

You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.

We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands.

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.

Additional employment conditions: 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.