Research Assistant at the Donders Centre for Cognition The Body Positioning System

Faculty of Social Sciences
At the Faculty of Social Sciences humanity and society are our focus; we study how people behave think and feel. Within this context we look at themes such as human behaviour and the human psyche education and upbringing communication society and culture. The faculty provides education to 6000 students and employs 700 staff. Education is organised into six programme clusters: Psychology; Artificial Intelligence; Pedagogical Sciences and Educational Sciences; Communication Science; Sociology; and Cultural Anthropology and Developmental Sociology and the Radboud Centre Social Sciences as an institute for post-master education have been merged into the Social Sciences Education Institute. Our research is carried out within three research institutes: the Donders Centre for Cognition the Behavioural Science Institute and Radboud Social Cultural Research.

Radboud University
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Are you passionate about cognitive neuroscience and EEG research Join our ERC-funded project exploring how the brain localises touch and represents the body in space. You will collaborate in an interdisciplinary research team and contribute to innovative studies using EEG virtual reality robotics and computational methods.

You will be part of the project The Body Positioning System: A GPS for somatosensory space. The goal of the project is to uncover how the brain localises touch on the body in three dimensions (the body positioning system). How does the brain transform sensory input on the skin to a full-fledged three-dimensional body representation To make headway on this fundamental question we are using a variety of neuroscientific approaches such as behavioural and M/EEG experiments that employ novel virtual reality and robot-based paradigms. We are also leveraging several analytical tools such as computational modelling and machine learning.

As a Research Assistant you will help collect analyse and interpret EEG data collected in the lab over a nine month period. Throughout your employment your work will involve close collaboration with fellow members of the team including MSc students PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers. There will be weekly team meetings to discuss project progress as well as weekly lab meetings.

You will specifically be involved in two research projects: the first project will investigate which neural oscillations are involved in transforming touch from a sensory signal (i.e. where is the touch in space) into a motor command (i.e. how should I move my eyes to look at the touch). This question gets at the heart of the body positioning system. The second project will investigate how these sensorimotor transformations are re-used for representing tools in space. Specifically this project will investigate which neural oscillations underly the ability to localise and represent finger-extending exoskeletons in space. This project addresses how plastic the body positioning system is.

• You hold a MSc degree in Cognitive Neuroscience or a relevant discipline such as Artificial Intelligence Psychology Cognitive Science or Engineering.
• You have a strong interest in and expertise in studying the neural correlates of tactile body representation.
• You have experience with collecting and analysing EEG data.
• You have experience with common programming languages such as Matlab Python R or C.
• You are a team player who possesses good social communication and organisational skills.
• You have a passion for science and the pursuit of knowledge.

The Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre that houses more than 700 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes:

1. Language and communication.
2. Perception action and decision making.
3. Development and lifelong plasticity.
4. Natural computation and neurotechnology.

Excellent state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as excellent and recognised as a very stimulating environment for top researchers as well as for young talent. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative multidisciplinary and supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 9 months.
• Your salary within salary scale 7 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 83% end-of-year bonus.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20.

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Luke the application form you will find which documents you need to include with your application. We look forward to receiving your application.

The first interviews will take place on Monday 12 October. Any second interview will take place on Monday 19 October. You will preferably start your employment on 1 November 2026 or as soon as possible.

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Work and science require good employment practices. Radboud Universitys primary and secondary employment conditions reflect this. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself. For example exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports addition you receive a 34% discount on the sports and cultural activities at Radboud University as an employee. And of course we offer a good pension plan. We also give you plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore we provide various training and development schemes.