PhD position in Cognitive Neuroscience on Predictions in Pain Processing
The project aims to investigate the influence of communication priors on pain perception during treatment and is part of the transregional DFG (German Research Foundation) collaborative research centre (CRC/Transregio 289) “Treatment Expectation” investigating the impact of patient expectations on the efficacy of medical treatments (https://treatment-expectation.de/en/). The projects is jointly supervised by Prof Dr Katja Wiech and Dr Helen Blank. If you are interested, please send a pdf-document including 1) your CV, 2) a brief statement of research interest, 3) certificates, and 4) the contact details of two academic referees to katja.wiech@uk-essen.de and hblank@uke.de. Informal inquiries are very welcome.
Location
The project will be based at the Institute of Systems Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany.
What we offer:
- Opportunity to get hands-on supervision for learning various data acquisition and analysis techniques (e.g., representational similarity analysis (RSA))
- Dynamic, interdisciplinary, and international research environment within the Institute of Systems Neuroscience
- Research-dedicated T3 MR scanner (PRISMA), eye-tracking and EEG laboratories, excellent infrastructure for behavioural testing
- Multiple training opportunities within the institute (e.g., https://goo.gl/pU44vP) and the collaborative research centre
- Possibility to join the local graduate school, which is part of national and international networks https://www.uke.de/kliniken-institute/institute/systemische-neurowissenschaften/lehrangebote-fortbildungen/graduate-school-workshops.html
and https://hamburgbrainschool.de/about/ - Exciting opportunities within the collaborative research centre such as mini-grants to pursue independent side projects
Requirements for the PhD position:
- A Master of Science or an equivalent degree in neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, or a related discipline
- Experience in programming (e.g., MATLAB)
- Keen interest in experimental approaches to study predictive processing including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Motivation to work independently as well as in a team environment
- Strong organizational skills
- Fluency in English and German
Application:
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Salary depends on experience and is based on German regulations (TVöD-VKA-13 for PhD positions with a factor 75%). The starting date is flexible. The group is committed to Open Science and to maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment.
If you are interested in joining us, there are a number of excellent funding opportunities that you may want to check out. These include the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for researchers at all career stages, the Humbold foundation (post-docs), the Leopoldina Foundation (post-docs) or Marie Sklodowska-Curie Stipends (post-docs)
@ prospective Master students and interns: Please, get in touch for discussing the possibility of conducting a Master thesis or research internship in our lab.