The Language Development Department at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands is offering a 5-year postdoctoral position from early 2022 (precise start date flexible). The successful candidate will act as project leader on one of the department’s new projects, described below. The successful candidate may also be expected to co-supervise PhD students working on related projects.

Job description
Early precursors to language development
Early auditory and visual information processing abilities are known to predict later language and cognitive development in infancy and childhood. However, we do not know

• whether these abilities reflect an underlying domain general processing ability,
• how the relationship between such processing abilities changes throughout development or,
• the role of genetic and environmental factors in the development of information processing abilities and language development. 

In this project, we will address these issues to determine the nature of these relationships. The first studies will focus on the role of resting state EEG and native phoneme discrimination data. Further studies will be developed by the team as the project unfolds, and may require travel abroad to conduct research on other languages.  

Essential

• A PhD in cognitive neuroscience or a related discipline
• Demonstrated cutting-edge knowledge of EEG, with a preference for candidates who have worked with children
• A track record of high quality research, including experience disseminating research through conference presentations and publications
• Experience managing confidential information provided by participants, dealing with ethical and administrative issues, and efficiently managing and cataloguing data.
• Excellent written and spoken English. The language of the institute is English, so knowledge of Dutch is not required

Desirable

• Experience supervising and/or teaching undergraduate or postgraduate students
• Experience working with longitudinal datasets
• An explicit interest in, and commitment to, Open Science

Fixed-term contract: 5 years.

The position is available from early 2022. Precise start date is negotiable.

• Full-time position (39 hours per week) with a term of appointment of 5 years. Part-time/job share applications also welcome.
• The salary is according to the German TVöD (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst) and is classified in salary group E13. Depending on the experience of the applicant, the salary is between EUR 4,113.41 and EUR 5,981.85 gross per month plus a holiday bonus of 8% of the gross salary. This equates to EUR 53,309.79 – EUR 77,524.77 per year, including holiday bonus.
• All research staff have access to state-of-the art research and training facilities and a generous conference and travel budget. 

Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psycholinguistics

The Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen is a research institute entirely devoted to the study of language. Our goal is to understand how our minds and brains process language, how language interacts with other aspects of mind, and how we can learn languages of quite different types. We are situated on the campus of the Radboud University, and have close collaborative links with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University. We also work closely with other child development researchers as part of the Baby and Child Research Centre. Staff and students at the MPI have access to state-of-the art research and training facilities (including audio-visual equipment, EEG, fMRI, eye tracking, virtual reality labs, molecular biology labs and a child-friendly child development lab).
We are part of the Max Planck Society, an independent non-governmental association of German-funded research institutes dedicated to fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunities employer. We recognise the positive value of diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. We therefore welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, colour, religion, belief, or sexual orientation (https://www.mpi.nl/page/equal-opportunities).