Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Neuroscience

The University of Oxford is a stimulating work environment, which enjoys an international reputation as a world-class centre of excellence. Our research plays a key role in tackling many global challenges, from reducing our carbon emissions to developing vaccines during a pandemic.

The Department of Psychiatry is based on the Warneford Hospital site in Oxford – a friendly, welcoming place of work with an international reputation for excellence. The Department has a substantial research programme, with major funding from Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and provides highly rated medical training in psychiatry. The Head of Department is Professor Belinda Lennox.

We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join the laboratory of Professor Jacinta O’Shea to work on a project, funded by a Wellcome Mental Health Award, investigating the causal role of neurocognitive processes in the generation of symptoms of repetitive negative thoughts.

What We Offer

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days annual leave
• A comprehensive range of childcare services
• Family leave schemes
• Cycle loan scheme
• Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans
• Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs

Due to the nature of the role, flexible working is not available for this post.

About the Role

The post is funded for 2 years (with possible extension to 3 years) and is based in the Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital.

You will collaborate with other researchers in designing, conducting and analysing behavioural tasks and neuroimaging/neurostimulation experiments for investigating the neural mechanisms underlying habitual behaviours and learning adaptation to uncertainty. You will use fMRI and neurostimulatory techniques (ultrasound neurostimulation and/or transcranial magnetic stimulation) to test the causal role of targeted circuits in cognitive processes.

You will design and conduct research into human behaviour (learning under uncertainty) that is of an international standard, and that is carried out expertly, rigorously and in accordance with ethical guidelines. You will also participate actively in the lab, including giving presentations in lab meetings and journal clubs and co-supervise and act as a source of advice to less experienced group members conducting other research projects.

About You

You will have or be close to the completion of a DPhil/PhD in Neuroscience, Psychology, Psychiatry or a closely related discipline and you will possess in-depth knowledge of cognitive neuroscience including learning, motivation, and decision-making circuits.

You will have strong quantitative and programming skills along with a track record of using computer programs to design experimental paradigms, particularly paradigms involving choice tasks with physiological measurements to analyse data, and to conduct computational simulations and/or advanced statistical analysis.

You will have excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for publication, present research effectively and represent the laboratory at conferences. Experience of collecting data from clinical participants, or non-clinical participants selected to have high symptom scores would be desirable.