With leading research into cognitive neuroscience, we can answer important questions about the world of today and tomorrow. This requires curious individuals who want to push the boundaries of science with their talent and expertise. As a PhD Candidate, you will help develop innovative treatments for memory-impaired patients that help enhance their memory capacity. 

The Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology Department studies normal and pathological cognitive functioning across the lifespan. One of the functions that is frequently compromised in aging and multiple patient populations is episodic memory. This underscores the importance of developing adequate interventions to enhance memory performance, thereby improving the individual's quality of life and long-term societal participation. This project contributes to this endeavour by systematically examining the potential of the principle of implicit learning to benefit memory performance.

You will develop tasks that differ in the extent to which the participant is guided to learn associations between ecologically relevant stimuli, such as faces and names, in an implicit and/or explicit way. You will recruit patients with Korsakoff's syndrome or mild cognitive impairment, and cognitively unimpaired controls, and assess their learning and memory performance on these tasks using behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG) measures. The project will further our knowledge on interactions between implicit and explicit learning and will ultimately inform the design of future interventions to help amnesic patients facing daily memory challenges.  

The position is embedded in the Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuropsychology group (PI: Prof. Kessels) at the Donders Centre for Cognition, part of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. Your teaching responsibilities will take up 10% of your working time. You will follow the training programme of the Donders Graduate School.

• You should hold a Master's degree in Psychology or Cognitive Neuroscience, or a related field, and have an interest in neuropsychology.
• You have experience in quantitative analysis using statistical software.
• You are fluent in Dutch.
• You are fluent in English (particularly written English).
• You have the capacity to work in an interdisciplinary and translational research environment.
• You have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the capacity to work with patients with cognitive problems, and colleagues in an interdisciplinary clinical environment.
• You have a proactive and goal-directed attitude, and good organisational skills.

Experience with programming (e.g. in Python/Psychopy) and/or EEG research is an advantage.

Fixed-term contract: 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).

• It concerns an employment for 0.8 (5 year contract) - 1.0 FTE (4 year contract).
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,541 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,247 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be employed 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 (4 year contract) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).
• 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.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre that houses 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 decision-making, 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, multi-disciplinary, supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.

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 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!