Postdoctoral Position at the Donders Centre for Cognition: Learning New Words (short term)

1. Introduction

Do you want to discover how the brain supports how new words are learned and remembered and how that may change with age? This one-year postdoctoral position in language acquisition and developmental neuroscience will give you the opportunity to make those discoveries. You will make a major contribution to an ongoing MRI project on word learning in which Dutch participants aged 8-26 were taught Finnish words. 

2. Job description

You will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of researchers consisting of Clara Ekerdt, Guillen Fernandez, Gabi Janzen, Evan Kidd, Kristin Lemhöfer and James McQueen. This team have been working on a large-scale developmental project on individual differences in language processing that was funded through the NWO Gravitation grant ‘Language in Interaction’. Behavioural, functional and structural MRI data was collected from a cross-sectional developmental sample of 135 Dutch participants aged 8-26. Participants were asked to learn new words in Finnish, a language they did not speak, in a multi-day paradigm designed to test for effects of memory consolidation. The behavioural and fMRI data from this task are waiting to be analysed, as are related sMRI (grey and white matter) data. You will perform these analyses and write the findings up for publication.  

3. Profile

• You hold a PhD in psycholinguistics, neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, or a related field.
• You have hands-on experience in analysing functional and/or structural MRI data.
• You have hands-on experience in analysing behavioural data on language acquisition, ideally word learning, and/or on human memory consolidation.
• You have demonstrable experience with R and/or with other types of programming (e.g. Python or Matlab).
• You are a creative and critical researcher and are motivated to pursue an academic career.
• You are able to contribute to a collaborative work environment based on transparent communication and a positive and respectful attitude towards supervisors, colleagues and students.
• You have an excellent command of English (both spoken and written).
• You possess excellent time management and organisational skills. 

4. We are

You will be part of the Speech and Learning group (PI: Prof. James McQueen). The group is part of the Donders Centre for Cognition (DCC) within the Faculty of Social Sciences of Radboud University and part of the Donders Institute.  There are strong links to other research groups at DCC and elsewhere on the Nijmegen campus, including the Centre for Language Studies and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. You will be part of an exceptionally rich environment for research on language and speech.

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 computing 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.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 1 year.
• Your salary within salary scale 11 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 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. 
• 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. 

6. Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to James McQueen. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.  

The first interviews will take place on Friday 12 September. Second interviews, if necessary, will take place on Friday 19 September. You will preferably start your employment on 15 October 2025.  

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates. If you wish to apply for a non-scientific position with a non-EU nationality, please take notice of the following information.