Postdoc Position in Decision Neuroscience

We are recruiting for the position of a Postdoctoral researcher at the Erasmus Centre for Neuroeconomics at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). We seek outstanding applicants whose research interests lay at the intersection of psychology, economics, marketing, and neuroscience. The particular interests of our centre are the neural underpinnings of the social and emotional influences on choice, value representation, persuasive messaging, and the neural forecasting of real-world behaviour.

We are particularly looking for applicants who have experience with innovative fMRI methods and analyses for our current project; activities include the application of multivariate approaches and machine learning for prediction. Applicants should also be interested in applying these techniques to study real-world choice behaviour.

We seek to understand and predict choice from observing neural activity in a wide range of domains, including financial decisions, charitable giving, crowdfunding, consumer decisions, and persuasive messaging. In particular, we focus on linking neural measurements obtained from individuals to data obtained from real population-level choices.

Your main tasks
The successful candidate will use a combination of behavioural and fMRI data to explore questions related to human decision making, and specifically how neural data collected in the laboratory might be related to population-level behaviours in the real world. The candidate will have the opportunity to analyse existing data sets as well as conduct new experiments and data collection.

Successful candidates must have a relevant PhD degree, with a background in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology or biological psychology, with an interest in applying their knowledge to the field of decision-making. Strong coding skills (Matlab, Python, or R) is required.

Candidates with a background in statistics or computer science with an interest in decision-making and neuroscience are also strongly invited to apply.

Your required competences
For the current project, we are particularly looking for applicants with experience with innovative fMRI methods and analyses, including the application of multivariate approaches and machine learning for prediction. Applicants should also be interested in applying these techniques to study real-world choice behaviour.

We primarily use fMRI methods, applying techniques including multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), representational similarity analysis (RSA), and machine learning classifiers. Experience with and interest in applying these techniques is highly desired.

The conditions of employment correspond with the collective labour agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU). We offer a 1.0 FTE contract, initially for two years.

Salary is subject to training and experience with a minimum of €52,279 gross per year (€3,746 per month, 14x), based on a full-time contract of 38 hours (scale 11 CAO NU). Non-Dutch candidates are additionally eligible for very favourable tax status via the 30 per cent ruling.

Erasmus University Rotterdam has attractive employment conditions, which include a holiday allowance of 8 per cent, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3 per cent (included in the figures above), and a generous number of vacation days.

This position will be jointly supervised by Dr Alex Genevsky, Prof. Ale Smidts, and Dr Maarten Boksem.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe's top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam - a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM's primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. Study information and activities for future students, executives and alumni are also organised from the RSM office in Chengdu, China. www.rsm.nl

RSM is a faculty of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). EUR is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research. Our scientists and students work in close collaboration with internal and external parties to solve global, social challenges, inspired by the always dynamic and cosmopolitan Rotterdam. Our mission is therefore "Creating positive societal impact". Our academic education is intensive, active and application-oriented. Our research increasingly takes place in multidisciplinary teams, which are strongly intertwined with international networks. With our research impact and thanks to the high quality of education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. The Erasmian values function as our internal compass and make Erasmus University recognizable to the outside world: engaged with society, world citizen, connecting, entrepreneurial and open-minded. www.eur.nl

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe's leading business schools, with a highly regarded doctoral programme, and top-ranked master and bachelor programmes. Research at RSM's department of marketing management is broad and interdisciplinary, and is published regularly in top-tier journals in marketing such as Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, and related fields such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, Psychological Science and Journal of Neuroscience. RSM researchers have access to excellent research facilities such as the Erasmus Behavioural Lab and several high-performance computing resources through the SURFsara foundation and the Erasmus Research Institute in Management (ERIM).

The city of Rotterdam has a vibrant cultural life, modern landscape, and is home to more than 150 nationalities. The Netherlands is easily accessible from all major capitals in the USA, Europe and Asia. RSM and Rotterdam are the ideal places to start or consolidate an academic career.

For more information about our department at RSM, please visit www.rsm.nl/research/departments/marketing-management (Note that there are two marketing departments at Erasmus University Rotterdam, one at RSM, and one in the Erasmus School of Economics).
Erasmus University and RSM are committed to building a culturally diverse faculty, and also strongly encourages female candidates to apply.
Erasmus University and RSM have definite plans to foster its research and education in business analytics and we thus also strongly encourage applications from candidates with a background in computer science, econometrics or management science.