As part of the cluster project “The Adaptive Mind” funded by the State of Hesse, at the Technical University of Darmstadt a position is available in the Sensorimotor Control and Learning group (Department of Human Sciences, Institute for Psychology) for a

Research Assistant/Doctoral Student (all genders)

The position has a fixed-term contract till 31.03.2025 and is to be filled as soon as possible.

The state of Hesse is funding the cluster project “The Adaptive Mind” (http://www.theadaptivemind.de), in which the universities of Giessen, Marburg, and Darmstadt as partner sites, together with the University of Frankfurt and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) as participating institutions, pursue the goal of advancing research in the field of Mind, Brain, and Behaviour in an interdisciplinary manner. It is the aim of “The Adaptive Mind” to empirically observe and describe quantitatively and with computer models the continuous adaptation of human behaviour in a constantly changing and often unpredictable world.

Responsibilities:

The tasks include scientific research and teaching contributions that relate specifically to the purposes of the TAM project, a part of which deals with the perception of causality and the neuronal correlates of adaptive perceptual and sensorimotor processes in patients with schizophrenia. Of particular interest are impairments in predictive processes for sensorimotor control. The focus of the position lies in the carrying out and modelling of behavioural experiments.

Your tasks include:

• Collaboration with other groups within “The Adaptive Mind” and the Center for Cognitive Science (TU Darmstadt), especially with the Translational Neuroimaging Group (Prof. Straube, Uni Marburg)
• Contributing to “The Adaptive Mind” (https://www.theadaptivemind.de)
• Computational modeling of adaptive processes in sensorimotor control in health and disease
• Psychophysical and sensorimotor performance experiments

Prerequisites:

• Excellent university degree (Master, Diploma) in cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, or related fields
• Proficient in English
• Excellent analytic and experimental skills
• Interest in combining theoretical and experimental research in cognitive science
• Organizational skills, highly motivated, team-player
• Experience with programming, machine learning, or statistics

Opportunity for further qualification (doctoral dissertation) is given. The fulfillment of the duties likewise enables the scientific qualifications of the candidate.

The Technische Universität Darmstadt intends to increase the number of female employees and encourages female candidates to apply. In case of equal qualifications applicants with a degree of disability of at least 50 or equal will be given preference. Wages and salaries are according to the collective agreements on salary scales, which apply to the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TV-TU Darmstadt). Part-time employment is generally possible.

Please send applications including CV, letter of motivation, certificates and transcripts, contact details for two people who can provide a letter of reference upon request, and one or two work samples (e.g., link to software project, study project report, or MSc thesis) to the dean of the Department of Human Sciences of Technische Universität Darmstadt, Alexanderstraße 10, 64283 Darmstadt (preferably by email in a single PDF document to dekanat@humanw.tu-darmstadt.de, please use the reference number in the header). Informal inquiries can be addressed to Prof. Loes van Dam, PhD, (loes.van_dam@tu-darmstadt.de).

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