PostDoc position in cognitive computational neuroscience

Offer Description

A funded 12-month postdoctoral position is available at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, under the supervision of Valentin Wyart, starting at the earliest in January 2027. The position is funded by the ANR project MONODEC, which investigates how motivation influence cognitive noise and improves human decision-making under uncertainty. The postdoctoral researcher will test the impact of cognitive noise and incentive on several variants of decision tasks in different contexts, and test whether these decisions rely on shared neural representations. The postdoc will combine behavioural experiments, magnetoencephalography (MEG), computational modelling of behaviour, Artificial Neural Networks, and neural decoding, including cross-condition generalisation and coding similarity analyses of MEG activity patterns. The project is closely articulated with a PhD project in the team on how abstract neural representations enable flexible human decision-making, and the postdoc will work closely with the PhD student on shared tasks, models and analysis pipelines. The position offers MEG recordings at the Paris Brain Institute (ICM), access to the behavioural testing facilities of the Department of Cognitive Studies (DEC) of ENS, funding for participation in international conferences, co-supervision of Master students. Applications (CV, cover letter describing research interests, and contact details of two referees) should be sent by e-mail to Valentin Wyart.

Where to apply

E-mail: valentin.wyart@ens.fr

Requirements

• Research Field: Neurosciences
• Education Level: PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Applicants should hold a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, experimental psychology, or a closely related discipline. They should have prior experience with the computational modelling of human behaviour and/or human neuroimaging (ideally MEG or EEG), strong skills in artificial neural netwroks, strong programming skills (MATLAB and/or Python), and solid knowledge of statistical methods. Experience in designing, fitting and comparing computational models of decision-making, or in multivariate analyses of neural data (neural decoding), would be an advantage. A track record of publications in peer-reviewed journals, good communication skills in English, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively are expected.

Specific Requirements

Candidates must have defended their PhD before the start date of the position (January 2027). A strong interest in human decision-making and cognitive variability is expected, as well as experience in carrying out behavioural experiments and analysing MEG/EEG data. Interest in contributing to the training of a PhD student and Master students in the team is appreciated.

• Languages: ENGLISH
• Level: Excellent
• Research Field: Neurosciences
• Years of Research Experience: 4 - 10

Work Location(s)

• Number of offers available: 1
• Company/Institute: LNC2/DEC/ENS-PSL
• Country: France
• City: Paris
• Postal Code: 75005
• Street: 29 Rue d'Ulm

Contact

• State/Province: Ile de France
• City: Paris
• Website: https://www.ens.psl.eu/
• Street: 45 rue d'Ulm
• Postal Code: 75230
• E-Mail: hrs4r@ens.psl.eu