Postdoc Position: Multimodal Signalling in Face-to-Face Communication at the Donders Centre for Cognition

1. Introduction

How do we communicate our intentions to one another in conversational face-to-face interaction? What role do visual bodily signals play in this process, and how do they interact with linguistic and prosodic structures? The Donders Centre for Cognition (PI group of Dr J. Holler) is looking for a post-doctoral researcher to join us on a new collaborative project that seeks answers to these exciting questions.

2. Job description

You will work as part of a collaborative project using corpus analyses to investigate how participants in conversational interaction make their intentions clear through visual signals (using the face, head, gaze and/or hands) in conjunction with linguistic structures and prosody. The project also investigates how the contribution of visual signals, words and prosody are processed during comprehension (using experimental behavioural and EEG paradigms, including interactive settings). You will be involved in both the corpus and the experimental work.

You will be based in Nijmegen, where you will join the Communication in Social Interaction group headed by Dr Judith Holler (www.cosilab.nl), but you will form part of a larger team involving members with different expertise, partly located at different universities. You will be expected to travel to those locations for workshops or research visits.

You will disseminate the project findings through scientific journal articles, presentations at conferences, group and project meetings, as well as through public engagement events and writing for non-academic audiences. 

3. Profile

• You should have a PhD in a relevant discipline, such as linguistics, psycholinguistics, or cognitive science.
• You should enjoy working in a team and co-supervising junior scholars, and you have a collaborative, social and open mindset.
• You have knowledge of multimodal conversational interaction, including visual and linguistic conversational behaviour, prosody, and social action/intention communication. Direct research in these domains is an advantage, as is a combination of those skills and experiences.
• You have excellent experimental and advanced statistical skills.
• You have strong communication skills in English, as evidenced by published, high-quality scientific contributions.
• You are able to communicate and collaborate effectively in a team.
•  You have excellent time management and organisational skills. 
• You are able to work independently and to take initiative, as well as being able to work under guidance when needed.
• You are a native Dutch speaker or highly proficient in Dutch.

4. We are

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, 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 4 year(s).
• Your salary within €4.492 and €4.812 (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. 
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service. The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customised assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• 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 Dr Judith Holler. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The first interviews will take place on Friday 13 December and Tuesday 17 December. You will preferably start your employment on 1 March 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.