We seek a highly talented and motivated PhD candidate for an ERC-CoG-funded project entitled ‘Dare to Approach’. The overarching aim of the project is to develop a neurocognitive computational framework explaining how people make costly avoidance decisions under acute threat and how they are able to override strong avoidance tendencies to obtain a larger goal. We aim to improve current decision models by taking into account the psychophysiological state of the decision maker. The project at large consists of task development, computational modelling, testing the models in healthy and highly anxious individuals, and ultimately developing neuro-cognitive interventions to help alleviate persistent avoidance in anxiety disorders. You will have access to various neuroimaging (including fMRI and MEG) and brain stimulation techniques (TMS, tACS) available at the Donders Institute to test the neural basis of approach-avoidance decisions in healthy participants and patients with anxiety disorders. You will be joining the Affective Neuroscience PI group led by Prof. Karin Roelofs at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University (Nijmegen, Netherlands). Our group is investigating brain systems that support the cognitive control of emotions and emotional actions. In addition, we seek to understand how these networks interact with hormonal and major neurotransmitter systems in healthy subjects and patients with anxiety and aggression related disorders. You will be given the opportunity to regularly present your work at international conferences and meetings. Also, in order to develop your own research agenda, we will encourage and support you in applying for competitive career development fellowships towards the end of the project. See the following website for further information: EPAN-lab: Experimental Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience.

• An MSc degree or equivalent in a field related to cognitive neuroscience, psychology or biomedical sciences.
• A strong interest in computational affective neuroscience and psychophysiology;
• An affinity and preferably experience with fMRI and/or MEG.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, MATLAB, R;
• The ambition to become a top scientist.
• A good command of written and spoken English.
• Excellent social skills and team spirit.

You should be able to work in an interdisciplinary environment, sharing technical know-how and ideas.

Fixed-term contract: You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years.

• Employment: 36 - 40 hours per week.
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,325 per month, and will increase to €2,972 in the fourth year (p scale).
• In addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Duration of the contract: you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years.
• The intended start date is 1 January 2020.
• You will be able to make use of our Dual Career Service: our Dual Career Officer will assist with family-related support, such as child care, and help your partner prepare for the local labour market and with finding an occupation.
• Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions?

The institute involved is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and as such encourages applications from women and minorities.

Radboud University

We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 22,000 students and 5,000 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent and collaboration. You have a part to play!

Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour consists of the Centre for Cognition, the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, and the Centre for Neuroscience. The mission of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging - where our group is based - is to conduct cutting-edge fundamental research in cognitive neuroscience. Much of the rapid progress in this field is being driven by the development of complex neuroimaging techniques for measuring activity in the human brain - an area in which the Centre plays a leading role. The research themes cover central cognitive functions, such as perception, action, control, emotion, decision-making, attention, memory, language, learning and plasticity. The Centre also aims to establish how the different brain areas coordinate their activity with very high temporal precision to enable human and animal cognition. Our internationally renowned centre currently hosts more than 100 PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers from more than 25 countries, offering a stimulating and multidisciplinary research environment. The centre is equipped with four MRI scanners (7T, 3x 3T), a 275-channel MEG system, an EEG-TMS laboratory, several (MR-compatible) EEG systems, and high-performance computational facilities. English is the lingua franca at the centre.