Postdoctoral position in cognitive modeling

Postdoctoral position in experimental psychology

The Cognition, Intention, and Action (CoInAct) Research Group and Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invites applications for a postdoctoral position in experimental psychology to be filled by 1 December 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position is for 2 years.

Information about CoInAct can be found at https://psychology.ku.dk/coinact/

Job content
The postdoc will be part of a project entitled Selection in Cognition funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and headed by Professor Søren Kyllingsbæk and Associate Professor Thor Grünbaum. Applicants are asked to situate and develop their research plan within the framework of the Selection in Cognition project. For more information about the project, please contact Professor Søren Kyllingsbæk, [email protected] or Associate Professor Thor Grünbaum, [email protected].

The larger project develops and tests a new theory of basic cognitive selection mechanisms by combining methods and perspectives from experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, mathematical modelling, and philosophy. The core idea is that selection in cognition may be understood as a biased competition between representations in a stochastic race (Grünbaum, Oren, & Kyllingsbæk, 2021). In a series of experiments, we have consistently shown that tasks-sets are competing biased by their importance and that this selection process is severely capacity limited (Oren, Kyllingsbæk, Dupont, & Grünbaum, 2024). We will extend our new experimental procedures and mathematical models to the study of selection in planning and problem-solving. If our conjecture is true, higher-order cognitive processes like task selection, planning, and problem-solving depend on the same type of selection.

The postdoc should be a researcher with a strong background in experimental psychology and cognitive modelling. During the employment, the candidate is expected to engage in the development of new experimental procedures and computational models that will enable us to test and develop our general theory of cognitive selection in the domains of task selection, planning, and problem-solving at both psychological and neurophysiological levels. We aim to use our intention selection paradigm to study task-sets within and between complex hierarchies of task-sets.

The successful candidate will be working in close collaboration with cognitive psychologists and philosophers, and other cognitive scientists and should be interested in the development of new experimental paradigms, modelling, and theory development. The postdoc is expected to conduct new experimental research and develop models during the period of employment. It is expected that the successful candidate will be present, part of the team, and partake in the activities at CoInAct on a daily basis. The postdoc will be physically located at the Cognition and Neuropsychology research cluster https://psychology.ku.dk/research/research_clusters/cognition-and-clinical-neuropsychology/, at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.

Qualification requirements
The candidate must have obtained a Phd degree in psychology or related fields.

Emphasis will be placed on the following:

• Research qualifications, which will be assessed in relation to the period of active research, the degree of originality, and academic output.
• Experience in one or more of the following:
  • Designing and conducting psychological experiments;
  • Advanced statistical analyzes of behavioural data;
  • Computational models of cognition.
• The applicant’s scientific record (publications in top journals within experimental and cognitive psychology), academic breadth and depth, rigor, thoroughness, and accuracy, as well as academic relevance in relation to the job description.
• Participation in networks – national and international.
• Previous experience with interdisciplinary collaboration and research.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Excellent skills in English, written and spoken.

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact the head of CoInAct, Professor Søren Kyllingsbæk, [email protected] , for more information about the Selection in Cognition project.

Strategy of the Faculty of the Social Sciences
The Department of Psychology is part of the Faculty of the Social Sciences. The faculty is a successful academic community that strives to put knowledge into action by:

• Engaging partners in the co-creation of knowledge, learning and social change.
• Empowering our students to become reflective and responsible citizens who have the vision, the knowledge and the competences to change society for the better.
• Energising global, European and Danish communities of knowledge by innovating research methodologies and by research findings with impact

For more on the Faculty strategy, see: https://samf.ku.dk/fakultetet/strategi/

Terms of Employment

• Further information on qualification requirements as postdoc can be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities 2019 here: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/criteria-for-recognising-merit/dokumenter/Ministerial_Order_no._1443_of_11_December_2019_on_Job_Structure_for_Academic_Staff_at_Universities.pdf
• Terms of appointment and salary is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne).
• The salary range starts at DKK 38,500 (EUR 5,159.42) per month + a 17.1 % contribution to the pension scheme. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The recruitment process
Further information on the recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

An Equal Opportunity Workplace
The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. For more on the diverse working place environment at the University and the University’s participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, see https://employment.ku.dk/working-at-ucph/eu-charter-for-researchers/

International applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: https://ism.ku.dk/

Contact information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: [email protected]., please refer to ID number: 211-1843/24-2I #1.

Additional information about the position can be obtained from Professor Søren Kyllingsbæk, e-mail: [email protected]

How to apply
Submit a complete application at our online portal. Click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of the page to apply. The documents must be in Adobe PDF or Word.

The application must be written in English and include the following documents:

• Application letter/cover letter
• Curriculum vitae (with applicant’s e-mail address & telephone number)
• Documentation of qualifications (Master and PhD diploma, etc.).
• Complete and numbered list of publications. The enclosed publications must be marked with *.
• Research plan (max 5 pages), including a short description of previous research and a plan for the coming years.
• Publications. Applicants may choose a maximum of three publications for assessment, of which at least two must have been published within the five years immediately preceding the deadline for applications. Publication dates must be clearly marked on the publication list. The publications selected must be uploaded as attachments and listed from 1 to 3.

Should any material submitted consist of work with named co-authors, or work that is otherwise the result of collective academic endeavours, the extent of the applicant’s contribution to the work must be clearly stipulated. The faculty may ask for a signed statement from the co-authors stipulating the extent and nature of each individual’s contribution.

Only material in English will be assessed.

The closing date for applications is 31 July 2024 23:59 CEST
Applications or enclosures received thereafter will not be considered.

Københavns Universitet giver sine knap 10.000 medarbejdere muligheder for at udnytte deres talent fuldt ud i et ambitiøst, uformelt miljø. Vi sikrer traditionsrige og moderne rammer om uddannelser og fri forskning på højt internationalt niveau. Vi søger svar og løsninger på fælles problemer og gør ny viden tilgængelig og nyttig for andre.

Info
Ansøgningsfrist: 31-07-2024

Ansættelsesdato: 01-12-2024

Afdeling/Sted: Institut for Psykologi