As a PhD candidate you will perform electrophysiological recordings and optogenetic manipulations in freely moving rodents and rodents behaving in a virtual reality setting. You will train animals to perform behavioural tasks. For this purpose, you will develop novel experimental setups. You will perform sophisticated analyses of neurophysiological and behavioural data, and collaborate with other European laboratories in the M-GATE network.

Within M-GATE, 15 different projects are available, requiring different skills and experiences. Three of these projects are based at Radboud University’s Donders Institute. Select one or two projects that appeal to you most and best suit your background and skills. See www.mgate.eu for the different projects.

You are an excellent, highly motivated young scientist with a multidisciplinary background and a Master’s degree in neuroscience, biology or exact sciences. In compliance with the European Commission’s mobility rule, you have not lived/studied/worked in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the past three years. You have a good background in computational science and programming. You are keen to spend four years in advancing your career in a joint academia-industry context at the European level. You speak and write English fluently.

you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years
- you will be classified as a PhD candidate in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO)
the gross starting salary amounts to €2,222 per month, and will increase to €2,840 in the fourth year

Radboud University

Strategically located in Europe, Radboud University is one of the leading academic communities in the Netherlands. A place with a personal touch, where top-flight education and research take place on a beautiful green campus in modern buildings with state-of-art facilities.

http://www.ru.nl

Faculty of Science

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, home to more than 600 researchers from 35 countries, is a world-class research centre devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of human cognition and behaviour in health and disease. As a PhD candidate at the Donders Institute, you will be enrolled in the Donders Graduate School for Cognitive Neuroscience, which offers a high-quality educational programme. In 2013, the Donders Institute was assessed by an international evaluation committee as excellent and recognised as a ‘very stimulating environment for top researchers and young talents’.

The Donders Institute is a coordinating institute for the Marie Curie Innovative Training Network M-GATE. This network provides an international and interdisciplinary framework of academic and industrial collaborations. M-GATE combines one industrial and seven academic beneficiaries and is supported by three SME/industrial partners, which will contribute to your training and supervision. You will be offered a wide range of training courses and workshops and opportunities for secondment at partner institutes in a number of European countries.

No commercial propositions please.

http://www.mgate.eu ; http://www.ru.nl/donders/ ;