You will lead the data analysis for innovative research projects that investigate links between human genetic variants and brain and behavioral variability. This will involve large-scale datasets and genome-wide approaches, for example based on exome and genome sequence data, and polygenic scores. You will write up your research contributions for publication as first author. You may choose to give presentations about your work at international conferences.

In addition, you will contribute to the bioinformatics and data analysis for research led by others in the host team, such as for quantitative analysis of mRNA and protein expression in the mouse brain.

• You have experience or knowledge of neurogenetic research.
• You are a research scientist who holds, or shortly expects to obtain, a PhD in a field with direct relevance for applying bioinformatics and data analysis to large-scale datasets.
• You are proficient in coding/scripting and statistics.
• You are sufficiently experienced that you can readily apply such techniques as genome-wide or exome-wide association screening, and interrogation of diverse ‘omics’ datasets and resources.
• You are willing to learn new methods in bioinformatics, statistics and genomic data analysis, through guidance from colleagues, on-line resources, and training courses if needed.
• You have a critical and careful approach to science, and you strive for robustness and reproducibility of results.
• You are organized and adept in communicating project plans and outcomes to others, in both spoken and written form.
• You are interested in working together with researchers from a wide range of backgrounds.

Fixed-term contract: 3 years.

This position will ideally start between February-May 2024. The term of appointment is full-time (39 hours per week) for 3 years. The salary is according to the German TVöD (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst) and is classified in salary group E13, between EUR 4,628.76 and EUR 6,635.44 gross per month, depending on the experience of the applicant, based on full-time employment. This is excluding a yearly 8% holiday bonus and based on the salary table valid from 1 March 2024 onwards. Research staff have access to cutting-edge research and training facilities and technical infrastructure (including high-performance computing), and to funding for conferences/travel.

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is a world-leading research institute devoted to interdisciplinary studies of the science of language and communication, including departments on genetics, psychology, development, neurobiology and multimodality of these fundamental human abilities.

We investigate how children and adults acquire their language(s), how speaking and listening happen in real-time, how the brain processes language, how the human genome contributes to building a language-ready brain, how multiple modalities (as in speech, gesture and sign) shape language and its use in diverse languages and how language is related to cognition and culture, and shaped by evolution.

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 and inclusion, promote equity and challenge discrimination. We aim to provide a working environment with room for differences, where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Therefore, we welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

Our institute is situated on the campus of Radboud University and has 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 & Child Research Center. Staff and students at the MPI have access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.

The Language & Genetics department

More information about the research of the Language & Genetics department can be found on our website via his Link MPI.