Postdoctoral Fellow

Details of the role:

Reporting to: Vikram Chandra, Group leader

Working pattern
:
This is a full-time, fixed-term (4 year) position on Crick terms and conditions of employment

Salary: From £47,500 with benefits, subject to skills and experience

Final date to receive applications: 11th of October 2026 at 23:59

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state-of-the-art infrastructure, cutting-edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher.

This gives us the freedom to take risks and carry out high-quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

The Chandra lab studies the evolution of brains and behaviour, using acoels as a model to ask how diffuse nerve nets transitioned into centralised brains and to understand its consequences.

The lab has developed the acoel Hofstenia miamia as a new neuroscience model. Hofstenia has a unique 'diffuse brain' composed of undifferentiated tiles of circuits that interact to generate distributed computation. By studying Hofstenia in a comparative context, the lab aims to uncover the organising principles of diffuse brains and understand how the first animal brains evolved from ancient nerve nets.

Research combines a range of approaches to investigate neural architecture, circuit activity, computational function and behavioural control.

We are looking for an ambitious Postdoctoral Fellow to lead an exciting research project aimed at uncovering organising principles of Hofstenia's unique diffuse brain.

This role offers a rare opportunity to tackle fundamental questions in neuroscience and evolution by investigating how distributed neural circuits give rise to computation and behaviour. The successful candidate will lead a project focused on identifying the architectural and computational features of Hofstenia's circuit tiles and determining how these neural units enable distributed computation, robustness, and coherent behaviour.

Working at the forefront of an emerging model system, you will combine innovative experimental and computational approaches to explore how nervous systems process information in the absence of a conventional centralised brain. Your findings will help reveal fundamental principles of neural organisation and provide new insights into how the first animal brains may have evolved.

lead an ambitious project focused on systems neuroscience in Hofstenia, seeking to understand how a distributed circuit generates adaptive behaviour

develop and apply experimental and analysis methods to visualise circuit architecture, record neural activity, and study the effects of neural perturbations on behaviour

ensure that your findings are reproducible and well-documented

collaborate with other lab members, and potentially with colleagues within and outside the Crick

contribute to mentoring graduate students where appropriate

report your findings at lab meetings, seminars, and conferences

contribute to and lead the writing of…