Director

Nominations and self-nominations sought for the position of Director at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Topic focus: Psychology of Language

We invite nominations, including self-nominations, for a director to run a research department with a unique, innovative and long-term research program focused on the psychology of language. 

Classically, research in the psychology of language has investigated how complex language skills such as signing, speaking, listening, and reading are organized, acquired, and executed in real time by the human mind/brain. Recently, the quest has been extended in multiple directions, including, but not limited to: understanding individual variabilities in these skills; instant adaptation and longer-term learning from input; producing and understanding language in natural contexts such as conversations; consideration of interfaces between core linguistic processes and higher level social-cognitive processes such as memory, executive function, and prediction; processing language in multiple modalities; analysis of how linguistic representations and distinctions are encoded in neural activity, and the use of computational models to implement, test and generate new hypotheses and formal theories.

The new director should be an expert who can maximize the potential of these developments to drive the field forward in impactful and innovative ways. They will need to have a record of successful leadership and the ability to devise a long-term visionary strategy for their research. They will have the potential to make a substantial contribution to the Institute’s mission and to develop collaborations with other departments at the Institute, other Institutes within the Max Planck Society, and with our partners at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. The capacity to represent the Institute in the wider scientific landscape in The Netherlands and Germany would also be an advantage.

About our Institute
The Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psycholinguistics is a world-leading research institute devoted to interdisciplinary studies of the science of language and communication, including departments on genetics, psychology, development, neurobiology, and multimodality of these fundamental human abilities.

We investigate how children and adults acquire their language(s), how speaking and listening happen in real-time, how the brain processes language, how the human genome contributes to building a language-ready brain, how multiple modalities (as in speech, gesture, and sign) shape language and its use in diverse languages, and how language is related to cognition and culture, and shaped by evolution.

We are part of the Max Planck Society, an independent non-governmental association of German-funded research institutes dedicated to fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunities employer. We recognize the positive value of diversity and inclusion, promote equity, and challenge discrimination. We aim to provide a working environment with room for differences, where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Therefore, we welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

Our institute is situated on the campus of Radboud University and has close collaborative links with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior and the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University. We also work closely with other child development researchers as part of the Baby & Child Research Center. Staff and students at the MPI have access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.

Nomination Procedure
Nominations, including self-nominations, should be sent to the Managing Director’s secretary via the apply button before midnight (CEST) on 19th December, 2025. Note that you do not need to be a senior academic to nominate someone; we welcome nominations from researchers at all levels. Informal queries about the call and the nature of the position should be sent to the Managing Director Caroline Rowland, caroline.rowland@mpi.nl.

A nomination should only include:

• The candidate’s name and current affiliation.
• A brief motivational statement (200 words max.) specifying why you (self-)nominate the candidate. Please ensure you have the candidate’s permission to nominate them, and indicate this in your statement.

This call is part of the Institute’s scouting procedure. Its purpose is to inform the Institute’s leadership about possible candidates; the formal appointment procedure has not yet begun. A selection of (self-)nominated candidates will be invited for a visit to the Institute in due time. All nominations will be treated in the strictest confidence.