As an Assistant Professor you will be employed in the Experimental Psychology division of the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University.

The position involves 60% on teaching activities and 40% on research time. The core tasks will include:

• contributing to teaching, this will mainly be in Applied Cognitive Psychology;
• developing, carrying out, and supervising research within the scope of the research programme Human-centered AI;
• contributing to the acquisition of substantial external research funding.

We are looking for a candidate who has a profile that spans the breadth of both Applied Cognitive Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. The ideal candidate should:

• hold a PhD degree in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental or Cognitive (Applied) Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, or a similar or related field;
• have an affinity with teaching, along with demonstrable excellent teaching skills;
• have experience in co-developing and co-coordinating academic courses;
• be able to provide inspiring lectures, with an eye for the modernisation of teaching methods, and be able to apply personal research expertise to teaching, as evidenced by positive teaching assessments;
• hold a Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO) or is willing to acquire this qualification in the near future;
• be fluent in spoken and written English and willing to learn Dutch - fluency in Dutch will weigh positively to facilitate teaching and interacting with bachelor students;
• have experience with, and interest in, studying and applying research at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and psychology. More specifically, experience with and interest in social-affective and/or cognitive aspects (e.g. attention, memory, perception, decision making, emotion) of AI;
• have scientific creativity and productivity, as evident in recent publications in international peer-reviewed journals or peer-reviewed conferences;
• have strong programming skills (e.g. Matlab, Python, R);
• have experience with conducting empirical studies with people and, ideally, with using computational (cognitive) models to analyze such experiments;
• have the ability to, and preferably experience with, acquiring research funding;
• be effective and efficient, able to work within a team, and think conceptually.

We offer a position (0.8 - 1.0 FTE) starting 1 September 2020 for three years in an international working environment. The gross salary - depending on previous qualifications and experience - ranges between €3,746 and €5,826 (scale 11/12 according to the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities) per month for a full-time employment.

Salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% per year. In addition, Utrecht University offers excellent secondary conditions, including an attractive retirement scheme, (partly paid) parental leave and flexible employment conditions (multiple choice model). More information about working at Utrecht University can be found here.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major societal themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The department of Psychology is part of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, and takes part in the recently accredited University-wide research focus area Human-centered AI and the HUMAN-AI strategic alliance programme between Utrecht University, Technical University Eindhoven, and the University hospital UMC Utrecht. This research area has an interdisciplinary focus, combining perspectives on AI from among others philosophy, computer science, linguistics and psychology. Within this wider research environment, the successful applicant will contribute to developing research at the intersection of AI and psychology. In addition, they will be teaching mainly in the Master Program Applied Cognitive Psychology.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is one of the leading faculties in Europe providing research and academic teaching in Cultural Anthropology, Educational Sciences, Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Pedagogical Sciences, Psychology, and Sociology. Research and teaching activities are concentrated in five areas:

• Behaviour in Social Contexts;
• Child and Adolescent Studies;
• Cognitive and Clinical Psychology;
• Education and Learning;
• Methodology and Statistics.

More than 5,600 students are enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has some 850 faculty and staff members, all providing their individual contribution to the training and education of young talent and to the research into and finding solutions for scientific and societal issues.


The Department of Psychology has excellent research facilities within a state-of-the-art lab environment, including eye-tracking, virtual reality, TMS, EEG, and MRI (3 & 7T). The research programme is part of the Helmholtz Institute of Utrecht University and the Interuniversity graduate school Kurt Lewin Institute.