PhD candidate 'Environment-mediated genetic influences on the brain and mental health'

We are looking for two highly motivated PhD candidates to work on an ERC funded project entitled “Environment-Mediated Genetics: The Power of Biological Non-Determinism for Mental Health” (EM-POWER). The two PhD positions are fully funded for 4 years. The start date is flexible, between September 2025 and January 2026.

The PhD candidates will contribute to a project aimed at understanding mechanisms of gene-environment correlation and how they influence mental health, including mood, anxiety, behavioural problems, and general well-being. Mental health problems are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. It is known and intuitively well understood that genetic risk can interact with environmental factors, i.e. the same environmental stressor may have a more negative impact for one person than for another depending on each individual's genetic make-up. What is less investigated, and intuitively more surprising, is that environmental factors are themselves partly heritable. This heritability of environment blurs the boundary between nature and nurture, as it induces gene-environment correlations. These are usually considered a nuisance, a confounding element in epidemiology and in genetics. With the EM-POWER project, we instead consider the heritability of environment an opportunity to discover genetic mechanistic insights that are mediated by environment, and are therefore potentially modifiable by individual or societal adaptations or interventions.

The ultimate goals of the project are (1) to quantify the overall degree by which genome-wide associations with brain and mental health variation overlap with genome-wide associations with environment; (2) to gain insight into causal mechanisms and sensitive developmental windows of gene-environment correlations, and (3) to formulate hypotheses for future (personal and societal) interventions that can potentially alter the impact of genetic risk to the benefit mental health. The project thus takes a broad biopsychosocial perspective on mental health, and seeks to demonstrate and communicate the (environmental) modifiability of genetic influences on the brain and mental health.

Towards these goals, the PhD candidates will apply and contribute to a range of quantitative genetic and molecular genomics analyses of brain MRI measures, environmental and lifestyle measures, and mental health-related variables. Analytic methods will include novel data-driven multivariate genomic analyses, longitudinal cross-lagged designs, Mendelian randomisation, and twin- and pedigree-based modelling. Large scale discovery data-of UK Biobank and ABCD will be combined with deeply phenotyped longitudinal target data of the Generation R study, LifeLines, the Netherlands Twin Registry (NTR), along with extended pedigree data of the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study (GOBS).

The PhD students will, together with the local and (inter)national team, also think about and help communicate the broader (conceptual and possibly practical) implications of the findings, both for the scientific community (i.e. journal articles, conferences) and for societal partners and a general audience.

The tasks for the project will be matched to the two PhD candidates in a way that is best fitting with each of their (complementary) skills, interests and academic profiles, and the supervision team will consist of a combination of the collaborators mentioned above, in correspondence with the task division.

Our ideal PhD candidate has a Master’s degree in human genetics, behavioural genetics, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, psychology, neuroscience, epidemiology, biomedical sciences or related fields.
You have a keen interest to gain an understanding of the biological and psychosocial factors associated with mental health and a good foundational understanding of (advanced) statistical analysis, including multivariate statistics.

You have some experience with big data analysis and/or programming (e.g. Python, R, Shell/Bash), a strong motivation to expand on these computational skills, and a joy for the analytical and computational process. Fundamental knowledge of human genetics and good written and verbal command of English language are also required.

Optional (i.e. having 1 or more of the following is highly preferable):

• Knowledge of or experience with neuroimaging and/or neuroscience.
• Experience with twin or family/pedigree models (e.g. OpenMX, ACE models, variance decomposition).
• Knowledge of, or experience with neurodevelopment or developmental psychology.
• Experience with polygenic scores, GWAS, LD-score regression, mendelian randomisation, genomic SEM, or other GWAS/SNP-based statistical genetics analyses.
• Experience with structural equation modeling, principal or independent component analysis, cross-lagged panel models, or other multivariate and longitudinal analyses.
• Experience with working in a Unix environment and/or high performance computing.

Highly valued:

• Independent critical thinking.
• Personal and scientific integrity, a curiosity driven motivation.
• Perseverance, a solution-focused mindset, and flexibility to change approaches if required.
• Ability to work effectively in an interdisciplinary team.
• Good time management and organisational skills (e.g. demonstrated by the ability to produce an internship report or scientific article within a reasonable time-frame). The candidates are expected submit a high-quality dissertation (PhD thesis) for examination within four years of their appointment.

At Radboud university medical center, you build on your future. We are committed to providing the best care, education, and research. And we are true to our word, because we help you develop and seize opportunities and give you the room to grow. As an employer, we believe that employees should feel vital and happy at work in all stages of life. We are also committed to creating a healthy and safe working environment. Our employment conditions contribute to that. What we offer:

• Upon commencement of employment, you will start at scale 10A, step 0 (€ 3.017 based on a full-time appointment). Over a maximum period of 4 years, you will progress to scale 10A, step 3 (€3.824 based on a full-time appointment). You will also receive an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a 47% to 72% bonus for working unsocial hours.
• From 1 July 2025 an increase in salary with 3%.
• 176 vacation hours per year based on a 36-hour working week.

The PhD positions will be primarily hosted at the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands. You will join the interdisciplinary research group of Emma Sprooten within the Department of Medical Neuroscience and Dept of Human Genetics, and embedded in The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. You will work in close collaboration with Sourena Soheili-Nezhad (Radboudumc), Ryan Muetzel (Erasmus MC Rotterdam), Catharina Hartman (University of Groningen), Meike Bartels (VU Amsterdam), and David Glahn (Harvard University).

The project is highly interdisciplinary, intersecting the fields of human genetics, psychology, neuroscience, epidemiology and psychiatry. The PhD candidates will have ample opportunity to network and further develop knowledge and skills across these disciplines, by interacting with the above-mentioned collaborators of the EM-POWER project,as well as through local collaborations with the Dept. of Psychiatry, the Multifactorial Genetics group, and Neuroimaging groups.

Being part of the Donders Institute, the candidates will also have ample opportunities to meet fellow students, to participate in regular PhD-tailored and institute-wide social and scientific events, and they will enjoy the extensive career support provided by the Donders Graduate School (i.e. peer coaching, PhD council). Candidates will also have opportunities to attend international conferences and follow courses matching their needs and ambitions.

Radboudumc
Welcome to Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc), where scientific breakthroughs are born through the curiosity and passion of our collaborating researchers in a vibrant environment. We believe trust and excitement are crucial elements to achieving our goals, and we approach our research as teams and with the utmost rigor to make a significant impact on health and healthcare. Our researchers are driven by their fascination with the biological, psychological, and sociological mechanisms underlying health and healthcare. They collaborate with partners from all over the world to improve health outcomes for all. Radboudumc unites patient care, research, education, and corporate learning, which allows us to approach our mission to shape the health and healthcare of the future in an innovative and person-centered way.

Our ambition is to lead the way in the pursuit of prevention, sustainability, meaningful care. We believe that through our research, we can significantly improve the health and well-being of society. Join us on our mission to make a difference in healthcare. Become a part of our community of gifted researchers, professionals or patient partners who are dedicated to making a real impact on population health and healthcare.

Read what it is like to do a PhD at the Radboud University Medical Center.

Any questions? Or wondering what it is like to work at Radboudumc? Then email to Emma Sprooten, Associate Professor. Use the Apply button to submit your application.