PhD candidate in Cognitive Affective Neuroscience

Are you passionate about making societal impact through scientific innovation? We invite applications for a PhD project in the field of cognitive and affective neurosciences.

This four-year position is part of a large Dutch consortium project (CONTEXT) funded by the National Science Agenda program of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The PhD project is locally embedded in the Cognitive Affective Neuroscience lab (Erno Hermans, Florian Krause) and Experimental Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience lab (Karin Roelofs) at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) in collaboration with the Behavioural Science Institute (Floris Klumpers). The position is funded for 48 months (starting date soon but can be flexible).

CONTEXT brings together a large team of scientists from neuroscience, developmental psychology, and forensic psychiatry to work together with societal stakeholders such as youth organizations and police to improve emotion regulation for individuals and moments that need it most. The project is a unique collaboration between eight academic institutions in the Netherlands and more than twenty societal partners, representing fields such as security, education, healthcare, and social services. The CONTEXT project develops personalized biofeedback methods that train youth and police to recognize -often unconscious- signals of stress. The project enables target groups to react more adequately in stressful moments by improving the early recognition of these signals in daily life and by training concrete context-appropriate emotion-control techniques for stressful situations through virtual reality. By preventing violent escalations, CONTEXT aims to enhance societal safety and resilience while fostering stronger connections between societal groups that often experience high-impact conflict.

As a PhD candidate, you will develop a novel experimental paradigm to investigate how acute stress affects regulation of emotion and defensive (aggressive) behaviors. Using psychophysiological and neuroimaging (functional MRI) methods, you will examine balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system as well as prefrontal control circuits during acute stress. Critically, you will investigate how biofeedback can be used to enhance this capacity. In collaboration with consortium partners, you will furthermore help extending these studies to target groups (e.g., police officers, youth at risk).

Ideal candidates will have a Master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience or an adjacent field (psychology, biology, biomedical sciences, computer sciences, or other relevant MSc) and a strong interest in fundamental research in cognitive and affective neurosciences and its application to stress, mental health, and psychopathology.

Furthermore, you recognize yourself in the profile below:

• Experience in applying human functional MRI (acquisition and analyses), including the use of Matlab, Python, SPM, FSL, and other software tools.
• Experience in acquisition and analysis of peripheral psychophysiological data (e.g., autonomic nervous system measures), ideally in the context of biofeedback.
• The capacity to participate in an interdisciplinary and translational research environment.
• Interpersonal and communication skills to effectively collaborate and communicate in academia.
• A proactive and goal-directed attitude and good organizational skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken English, preferably also Dutch.

Candidates who only partially meet this profile are nonetheless strongly encouraged to apply.

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 (€ 3.108 based on a full-time appointment). Over a maximum period of 4 years, you will progress to scale 10A, step 3 (€3.939 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.
• 176 vacation hours per year based on a 36-hour working week.

The project is embedded in the unique and excellent infrastructure of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. The Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging offers three 3 Tesla MRI systems, MR-compatible systems for recording EEG and peripheral psychophysiological measures, a 275-channel MEG system, an EEG-TMS laboratory, and state-of-the-art computational facilities. The Ernst Hahn Institute in Essen (Germany), a partner of the Donders Institute, provides access to a 7 Tesla system. All facilities are fully research-dedicated laboratories with excellent technical support. The Donders Institute furthermore provides a unique and stimulating learning environment for young researchers, including a high-profile graduate school and in-house methodological expert courses.

Research into stress and mental health is an important focus area at Radboud university medical center. Researchers working on this research program jointly organize regular discussion meetings and lectures to promote integration of research conducted within molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral, and clinical neurosciences as well as psychology and social sciences across campus.

The CONTEXT consortium is a nation-wide Dutch collaboration aimed at improving emotion regulation in groups regularly exposed to stressors, such as police officers and youth in contact with police. It brings together 13 leading researchers: Dr. Floris Klumpers (project coordinator & lead on Virtual Reality Biofeedback) and Prof. Dr. Karin Roelofs (lead on research in police) from Radboud University; Prof. Dr. Erno Hermans (lead on neuroscience) and Dr. Florian Krause from Radboudumc, Prof. Dr. Eveline Crone (lead on research in youth at risk), Dr. Ilse van de Groep, and Dr. Marta Marciniak (digital just-in-time interventions; Erasmus University); Prof. Dr. Lucres Nauta Jansen, Dr. Carmen Sergiou, and Dr. Annelinde Verbruggen (also at Hogeschool Utrecht) from Amsterdam UMC; Dr. Willem Frankenhuis (theory development lead) from University of Amsterdam; Dr. Karin Jongsma (ethics lead) and Dr. Katherine Bassil from Utrecht University; and Prof. Dr. Annika Smit from University of Humanistic Studies.

Key stakeholders include the Police Academy, Young Perspectives, Kenniscentrum Mens en Politieorganisatie, Bureau Halt, iHub, Politie Zorg Polis, Levvel, National Police, Fivoor, Stichting Lieve Mark, MIND Us, Albeda MBO, Hogeschool Rotterdam, Arq Centrum ’45, Koninklijke Marechaussee, Fyment, Gemeente Emmen, and the Ministry of Defence, ensuring that cutting-edge research translates into practical, impactful interventions that strengthen resilience and well-being in society.

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 call, send a message or email to Erno Hermans, Professor and Principal Investigator, via +316 50 17 21 18. Use the Apply button to submit your application.