[Comp-neuro] Postdoctoral position: Research Associate – Statistician (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology)

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral Research Associate to work on a joint UCL-Cambridge University Wellcome Trust funded project that involves testing adolescents and young adults from widespread backgrounds on a variety of decision-making and reinforcement learning tasks and using the results to characterise the underlying elements of affective decision-making, the ways these change over the course of development, and routes towards mental disease. The data collection pipeline is established and so we now seek an individual with a strong background in machine learning and statistics to build and fit rich, parameterized, models of the behaviour and thereby help formulate and test hypotheses about the nature and interactions of the underlying elements, and the way they evolve over time.

 

Experience with the creative analysis of large sets of behavioural data using supervised and unsupervised methods is essential and should be documented in the application; familiarity with reinforcement learning models and with the vagaries of human behavioural data are highly desirable. Excellent skills with matlab or an equivalent programming language are required; knowledge of parametric and non-parametric Bayesian methods would be invaluable.

 

Candidates must have a PhD in a relevant subject area by the agreed start date of the position. The post is available immediately and will be funded for three years in the first instance by a grant from the Wellcome Trust. The post will be supervised by Professor Ray Dolan and Professor Peter Dayan.

 

Starting salary on UCL Grade 7 scale in the range £32,375 - £39,132 per annum including London Allowance. Posts are superannuable under the Universities' Superannuation Scheme (USS), or, subject to eligibility requirements, the National Health Service Pension Scheme (NHSPS).

 

You should apply for these posts through UCL's online recruitment – www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/jobs  where you can download a job description and person specification (ref: 1337782).

 

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact Samantha Robinson, Personnel Officer, Institute of Neurology, 23 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG (email: IoN.HRAdmin@ucl.ac.uk).  Applicants may contact Professor Ray Dolan directly on r.dolan@ucl.ac.uk  for further information. 

 

Closing date:  7 July 2013

Interview: 24 July 2013

 

 

Dr Gita Prabhu

NSPN Coordinator

Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging

UCL Institute of Neurology

12 Queen Square

London

WC1N 3BG

 

Tel.: 020 3448 4411 (ext. 84411)