Who we are The department Cognitive Neuroscience (CN) is hosted at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) at Maastricht University (UM), and currently consists of 33 permanent staff members and about 60 temporary staff (PhD candidates and postdocs). We are a collaborative group that investigates the neural processes that underlie human cognitive functions, including perception, attention, emotion, memory, learning, language and neurocognitive development. CN takes a unique approach to this endeavor by combining a variety of approaches to measure brain activity (e.g., using magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], electroencephalography [EEG], psychophysics) and to manipulate brain activity and overt behavior through non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) and neurofeedback. The department combines experimental skills with methodological development and theoretical or computational perspectives to investigate the neural correlates of cognitive processes at a range of spatial and temporal scales. In addition to a fundamental approach, much of the research also links with applications, related to, e.g., the development of BCIs to help locked-in patients, the treatment of depression, and the remediation of dyslexia. Some more information about the department can be found
here.
Job description We are looking for an assistant professor with broad mathematical, statistical, and computational expertise in the analysis and modelling of cognitive neuroscience data. Specifically, we are looking for a staff member who can apply analysis and modeling to various kinds of neurocognitive data, varying from (f)MRI data, over EEG data, to data from invasive recordings (e.g., obtained with ECoG or depth probes). In general, your research interests should fit within the broad array of fundamental and applied topics covered within CN.
We expect that you are passionate about research and enjoy collaborating with other staff within and beyond CN. In particular, we look for someone who gets satisfaction from enriching the research of others by offering contributions in analysis and modeling. Note that these broad contributions to research in the department are explicitly recognized in the new Recognition and Reward HR policies instated at Maastricht University and are accepted as one of the means towards career development. In the staff member we hope to find, this open and helpful attitude is prioritized over having a strong empirical research line and being individually successful in grant acquisition.
We also hope you are an enthusiastic teacher, as the time commitment on the advertised positions entails 50/50 teaching and research. In 2024, FPN (together with the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Engineering) launches a BSc in Brain Science, where the majority of your teaching will take place. In particular, your data science expertise will be in demand for teaching mathematics, statistics and programming courses, and for contributing that expertise to content courses that are still in development. We expect that you have had formal training in mathematics and have experience in teaching topics ranging from algebra and calculus, to machine learning or biophysical modeling. For students writing a bachelor or master thesis with a strong data science or modeling component, you may be asked to be an internship or thesis (co)supervisor.
You are also expected to be a team player with an open communication and effective management style. Once you are settled in, you should be ready to fulfil administrative roles or committee work in the faculty.