MAX PLANCK UCL CENTRE FOR COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY AND AGEING
Applications are invited for a Senior Research Associate to work in the Rutledge lab at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research. The overarching goal of the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research is to use computational approaches to understand the causes of individual differences in behavioural development, with an emphasis on psychiatric disorders and cognitive ageing. The Centre is a collaboration between the Max Planck Society and University College London, and has two sites, one in London and the other in Berlin.
The post holder will undertake high quality research and produce high-impact publications as part of a new initiative, involving the Max Planck Society and UCL. The goal of the initiative is to exploit computational approaches to brain and behaviour to leverage insights into core deficits that underpin psychiatric disorder and cognitive change with ageing. This research project is focused on understanding the influence of emotion on decision making, using a combination of computational modelling and smartphone-based data collection. New paradigms will also be applied to the study of major depressive disorder and other psychiatric disorders.
Applicants must have a PhD in computational neuroscience (the degree must have been obtained by the agreed start date in post) and experience of conducting research in neuroscience. Experience in linear algebra, Bayesian statistics, and model-selection techniques as well as machine learning techniques and computational modelling of behaviour is essential. Applicants must have experience of programming in Matlab (and psychtoolbox or cogent, in particular), R, Python, and Javascript as well as extensive knowledge of neuroeconomics and reinforcement learning literature. Knowledge of psychopathology and associated treatments and a good publication record of high quality research results is desirable.
The post is available as soon as possible and is funded by a grant from the Medical Research Council for 9 months in the first instance. Starting salary on the UCL Grade 8 scale, £43,023 – £50,753 pa, inclusive of London Allowance, superannuable.
You should apply for this post through UCL's online recruitment – www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/jobs where you can download a job description and person specification using ref: 1748440.
If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact Oksana Shapoval, HR Officer, UCL Institute of Neurology, (email: IoN.HRAdmin@ucl.ac.uk).
Applicants may contact Dr Robb Rutledge directly (email: r.rutledge@ucl.ac.uk) for further information.
Closing date: 05 October 2018
UCL Taking Action for Equality
We will consider applications to work on a part-time, flexible and job share basis wherever possible.
For more information and to apply, click here
Oksana Shapoval, HR Officer: IoN.HRAdmin@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Robb Rutledge: r.rutledge@ucl.ac.uk
