Research Assistant within Cognitive Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry
The Department of Clinical Medicine at the Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, invites applications for a position as a Research Assistant ("videnskabelig assistent") in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry. The starting date is September 1st, 2025, but it can be discussed. The position is a fixed-term full-time position for 1 year, with the possibility of extension.
The Department of Clinical Medicine
The Department of Clinical Medicine is one of the largest health science research departments in Denmark. Our clinical research covers all medical specialities and takes place in collaboration with Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) and the regional hospitals in the Central Denmark Region. You will be working at the Department’s Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN) across its university and hospital sites. CFIN is an international, multidisciplinary research centre spanning diverse fields such as cognitive neuroscience, computational psychiatry, neuroimaging, machine learning and biophysics. Investigators at CFIN are supported by state-of-the-art research facilities, including MRI, MEG, OPM-MEG, EEG, PET, TMS, eye-tracking and more. CFIN is part of the Danish Neuroscience Center.
The Deep Cognitive Neuroscience lab
The successful applicant will join the Deep Cognitive Neuroscience lab, led by Associate Professor Dan Bang. In the lab, we apply a multi-modal, cognitive neuroscience-based approach to understanding decision-making, learning and mental representations in humans and how these processes go awry in neurological and psychiatric disorders. In close collaboration with the Department of Neurosurgery at AUH, we have established the first Danish platform for intracranial electrochemical (e.g., dopamine and serotonin) and electrophysiological (e.g., spiking activity) recordings in awake neurosurgical patients while they perform cognitive neuroscience tasks. This unique opportunity involves Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor patients who are undergoing the implantation of deep brain stimulating (DBS) electrodes for the treatment of movement disorder symptoms. In addition, we use functional neuroimaging (fMRI/MEG/EEG) and in-person/online data collection in healthy participants. Central to our research is the use of computational frameworks (e.g., reinforcement learning) for characterising the cognitive processes that underpin behaviour and their implementation in the brain – from macro-scale changes in bulk neural activity to micro-scale changes in neurotransmitters levels and single-neuronal activity. The lab, which currently features two PhD students and two postdocs, is international and collaborates closely with world-leading research groups in the USA (Professor Read Montague) and Germany (Professor Peter Dayan). Candidates are referred to the publications of the principal investigator (PI), Associate Professor Dan Bang, for examples of research topics.
About the position
The successful applicant will support the lab’s research activities. This includes data collection during DBS-surgery; data collection post-surgery using the latest DBS-systems capable of wireless electrophysiological recordings; coordinating with the neurosurgical and neurological staff at AUH; patient contact, meetings and training on experimental tasks; and in-person/online studies involving healthy participants. The successful applicant will be trained to build carbon-fiber microelectrodes for electrochemical recordings and to operate specialised electrochemical and electrophysiological recording systems.
The successful applicant may also participate in other research activities depending on skills, interests and career plans. This may include the development and implementation of tasks that probe human cognition and behaviour; statistical analysis and computational modelling of behavioural and neural data; and the preparation of publications, conference presentations and other research outputs. The successful applicant will be encouraged to develop their own research projects within the focus areas of the lab. The successful applicant will be supervised by not only the PI but also senior lab members to provide multiple points of day-to-day contact and training opportunities.
The position is suited for candidates with a master’s degree in a relevant subject area, such as cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience or medicine. The position will provide highly valuable hands-on experience at the forefront of neuroscience and a very competitive skillset for anyone considering a PhD within the field. The successful candidate will receive mentoring and support in their career development, including potential PhD positions in the lab.
The ideal applicant is reliable; has great interpersonal skills; can multi-task; and can organise their time independently. The ideal applicant has experience with data collection in humans, and has experience with programming, data analysis and visualisation using Matlab, R and/or Python. Research in a clinical setting means that flexibility with work scheduling is occasionally required (e.g., we meet at 07:30 on surgery days, which happen 1-2 times per week; we must sometimes meet with patients in the afternoon after their clinical appointments; and our online meetings with international collaborators must respect multiple time zones). The collaborative nature of the lab means that a candidate must be willing to participate in multiple mini-teams and flexibly switch between activities as required by research needs. While the working language of the lab is English, a candidate must be sufficiently fluent in Danish to communicate with hospital staff and patients.
Candidates who wish to learn more about the position, or who worry about specific qualifications, are encouraged to contact Associate Professor Dan Bang ahead of the application.
Your job responsibilities
As a Research Assistant, your main tasks will be:
You will report to Associate Professor Dan Bang.
Your place of work will be CFIN at (1) Aarhus University, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark and (2) Aarhus University Hospital, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 165, Entrance J, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
Your qualifications
Specific qualifications for the position are listed below
Essential
Questions about the position
If you have any questions about the position, please do not hesitate to contact Associate Professor Dan Bang, danbang@cfin.au.dk.
We expect to conduct interviews Late June / Early July 2025.
Terms of employment
Application
Your application must include the following:
We refer to the faculty’s Guidelines for applicants.
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
Arbejdstid: Dag
Ansøg her
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The Department of Clinical Medicine at the Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, invites applications for a position as a Research Assistant ("videnskabelig assistent") in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry. The starting date is September 1st, 2025, but it can be discussed. The position is a fixed-term full-time position for 1 year, with the possibility of extension.
The Department of Clinical Medicine
The Department of Clinical Medicine is one of the largest health science research departments in Denmark. Our clinical research covers all medical specialities and takes place in collaboration with Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) and the regional hospitals in the Central Denmark Region. You will be working at the Department’s Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN) across its university and hospital sites. CFIN is an international, multidisciplinary research centre spanning diverse fields such as cognitive neuroscience, computational psychiatry, neuroimaging, machine learning and biophysics. Investigators at CFIN are supported by state-of-the-art research facilities, including MRI, MEG, OPM-MEG, EEG, PET, TMS, eye-tracking and more. CFIN is part of the Danish Neuroscience Center.
The Deep Cognitive Neuroscience lab
The successful applicant will join the Deep Cognitive Neuroscience lab, led by Associate Professor Dan Bang. In the lab, we apply a multi-modal, cognitive neuroscience-based approach to understanding decision-making, learning and mental representations in humans and how these processes go awry in neurological and psychiatric disorders. In close collaboration with the Department of Neurosurgery at AUH, we have established the first Danish platform for intracranial electrochemical (e.g., dopamine and serotonin) and electrophysiological (e.g., spiking activity) recordings in awake neurosurgical patients while they perform cognitive neuroscience tasks. This unique opportunity involves Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor patients who are undergoing the implantation of deep brain stimulating (DBS) electrodes for the treatment of movement disorder symptoms. In addition, we use functional neuroimaging (fMRI/MEG/EEG) and in-person/online data collection in healthy participants. Central to our research is the use of computational frameworks (e.g., reinforcement learning) for characterising the cognitive processes that underpin behaviour and their implementation in the brain – from macro-scale changes in bulk neural activity to micro-scale changes in neurotransmitters levels and single-neuronal activity. The lab, which currently features two PhD students and two postdocs, is international and collaborates closely with world-leading research groups in the USA (Professor Read Montague) and Germany (Professor Peter Dayan). Candidates are referred to the publications of the principal investigator (PI), Associate Professor Dan Bang, for examples of research topics.
About the position
The successful applicant will support the lab’s research activities. This includes data collection during DBS-surgery; data collection post-surgery using the latest DBS-systems capable of wireless electrophysiological recordings; coordinating with the neurosurgical and neurological staff at AUH; patient contact, meetings and training on experimental tasks; and in-person/online studies involving healthy participants. The successful applicant will be trained to build carbon-fiber microelectrodes for electrochemical recordings and to operate specialised electrochemical and electrophysiological recording systems.
The successful applicant may also participate in other research activities depending on skills, interests and career plans. This may include the development and implementation of tasks that probe human cognition and behaviour; statistical analysis and computational modelling of behavioural and neural data; and the preparation of publications, conference presentations and other research outputs. The successful applicant will be encouraged to develop their own research projects within the focus areas of the lab. The successful applicant will be supervised by not only the PI but also senior lab members to provide multiple points of day-to-day contact and training opportunities.
The position is suited for candidates with a master’s degree in a relevant subject area, such as cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience or medicine. The position will provide highly valuable hands-on experience at the forefront of neuroscience and a very competitive skillset for anyone considering a PhD within the field. The successful candidate will receive mentoring and support in their career development, including potential PhD positions in the lab.
The ideal applicant is reliable; has great interpersonal skills; can multi-task; and can organise their time independently. The ideal applicant has experience with data collection in humans, and has experience with programming, data analysis and visualisation using Matlab, R and/or Python. Research in a clinical setting means that flexibility with work scheduling is occasionally required (e.g., we meet at 07:30 on surgery days, which happen 1-2 times per week; we must sometimes meet with patients in the afternoon after their clinical appointments; and our online meetings with international collaborators must respect multiple time zones). The collaborative nature of the lab means that a candidate must be willing to participate in multiple mini-teams and flexibly switch between activities as required by research needs. While the working language of the lab is English, a candidate must be sufficiently fluent in Danish to communicate with hospital staff and patients.
Candidates who wish to learn more about the position, or who worry about specific qualifications, are encouraged to contact Associate Professor Dan Bang ahead of the application.
Your job responsibilities
As a Research Assistant, your main tasks will be:
- To support the research activities described above
- To collaborate with lab members and other project participants as required
You will report to Associate Professor Dan Bang.
Your place of work will be CFIN at (1) Aarhus University, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark and (2) Aarhus University Hospital, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 165, Entrance J, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
Your qualifications
Specific qualifications for the position are listed below
Essential
- Academic qualifications within cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, medicine or a related subject area
- Excellent communication skills in Danish, both written and oral
- Excellent communication skills in English, both written and oral
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well within a multidisciplinary team
- Willingness to travel and flexibility with work scheduling
- Aptitude for learning (e.g., programming, methods)
- Meticulous organisational and project management skills
- Experience with data collection in humans
- Experience with patient populations
- Experience with programming, data analysis and visualisation using Matlab, R and/or Python
- Experience with task development (e.g., PsychoPy, Psychotoolbox)
- Experience with computational modelling
- Experience with cognitive neuroscience-based approaches (e.g., EEG, fMRI)
Questions about the position
If you have any questions about the position, please do not hesitate to contact Associate Professor Dan Bang, danbang@cfin.au.dk.
We expect to conduct interviews Late June / Early July 2025.
Terms of employment
- Appointment as a research assistant requires academic qualifications at master's degree level.
- Further information on the appointment procedure can be found in the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
- The appointment is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne).
- Remuneration is in accordance with the above, and the Salary agreement catalogue for staff at Health.
- Further information on qualification requirements and job description can be found in the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities.
Application
Your application must include the following:
- Motivated application
- Curriculum Vitae
- Diploma
- Template for applicant - other academic positions
- A list of publications can be uploaded if relevant for the position
- A teaching portfolio can be uploaded if relevant for the position. We refer to Guideline on the use of teaching portfolios
- References/recommendations can be uploaded separately in the recruitment system
We refer to the faculty’s Guidelines for applicants.
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
Arbejdstid: Dag
Ansøg her
Retur til søgning
