PhD student Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences School for Mental Health and Neuroscience

This 4-year project is a collaboration between the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience at Maastricht University, the Alzheimer Center Limburg and the Department of Radiology at the Maastricht University Medical Center. Data collection will take place within The Maastricht Study, a large prospective epidemiological study within the region of Maastricht using a deep-phenotyping approach (www.demaastrichtstudie.nl). Participants are comprehensively assessed for lifestyle, somatic and mental and brain health using state-of-the-art techniques, including neuropsychological testing and 3T MR Imaging (DTI and resting-state fMRI).

Tasks

• Literature study on determinants of brain reserve
• Epidemiological analyses of associations between lifestyle, brain connectivity and cognitive/depression outcomes
• Development of AI-based radiomics biomarkers
• Presentation of findings in a thesis, scientific publications and at (inter)national conferences.
• Contribute to data collection within The Maastricht Study
• Teaching and supervision of Master students

For this project, epidemiological methods as well as AI-powered radiographic biomarkers (“radiomics”) will be used. Therefore, we are looking for a candidate with an M.Sc. with an affinity with brain imaging and a background in biomedical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, data science, computational neuroscience, or related fields. Excellent statistical and programming skills (MATLAB) are important for successful completion of this project. In addition, the candidate should have a keen interest in (learning) neuropsychological and epidemiological methods, be flexible, open-minded and curious with strong analytical and conceptual skills.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 18,000 students and 4,300 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.