The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, is offering a research assistant position. As a research assistant you will join the Communication on Social Interaction (CoSI) Group, led by PI Judith Holler, and you will support the Communication in Action (CoAct) project, recently funded by the European Research Council. 
The CoAct project investigates the role of visual communicative signals (including those performed with the hands, head, torso and face) during language use and processing in situated, face-to-face communication. In doing so, the project combines a variety of methodological approaches, including the collection and analysis of conversational corpus data and experimental data. The analyses of multimodal language use and processing will rely partly on traditional data (e.g. video recordings and conversational behaviour coding, reaction times, EEG), and partly on novel motion capture data and Virtual Reality techniques.

As research assistant on this project, you will help us code and analyse (manually and automatically) conversational corpus data (speech and bodily communication data). You will also be involved in the preparation of experiments, recruitment, experimental data collection and processing. You will also complete some administrative tasks as well as audio transcription.

• A Master's degree in a relevant scientific field, such as linguistics, psychology, or another area of the language or cognitive sciences.
• An interest in multimodal communication.
• A good eye for detail.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills, reliability, accuracy, and the ability to solve problems proactively.
• Experience with coding speech and visual communication data (especially with Praat or Elan) and/or experimental experience (not a must but an advantage).
• Programming skills (esp. Python) (not a must but an advantage).
• Applicants must be native speakers of Dutch or have near-native Dutch language skills.

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

• Employment:  0.8 FTE.
• The maximum starting gross monthly salary for this position is € 2,329 based on a 38-hour working week (salary scale 7.0).
• In addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Duration of the contract: 2 years.
• The intended start date is 1 August 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter. 
• Your employer will be Radboud University, but you may also be based at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. Both institutes are equal opportunity employers, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and as such encourage applications from women and minorities;
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment  and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Have a look at our excellent employment conditions. They include a good work-life balance (among other things because of the excellent leave arrangements), opportunities for development and a great pension scheme.

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, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!

Faculty of Social Sciences

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre, housing more than 700 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes: 1. Language and communication, 2. Perception, action and control, 3. Plasticity and memory, 4. Neural computation and neurotechnology. Excellent, state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as 'excellent' and recognised as a ‘very stimulating environment for top researchers, as well as for young talent’. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary, supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.