Postdoc - Systems Neuroscience​/Computational Neurology

Organisation/Company Forschungszentrum Jülich Research Field All Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Established Researcher (R3) Final date to receive applications 5 Nov 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Germany Type of Contract To be defined Job Status Other Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Area of research:

Scientific / postdoctoral posts

Researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine - Cognitive Neuroscience (INM-3; headed by Prof. Gereon Fink) – at the Forschungszentrum Jülich investigate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive (dys-)function in healthy subjects and patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric disorders. Functional imaging (PET, MRI) and electrophysiological methods (EEG, TMS, tDCS) are combined with computational approaches.

Your Job

The successful candidate will investigate how neural information processing within the human motor system is impaired by (non-)pathological aging under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Silvia Daun.

Compared with sensory, cognitive, or affective-emotional systems, the motor system’s output is directly quantifiable and comparable across species. When studying the neural mechanisms underlying motor control, behavioral readouts across species offer the potential to overcome one grand challenge in neuroscience: bridging the gap between molecular, cellular, and systems levels.

Importantly, the motor system is affected in many, if not all, neurological and psychiatric disorders. Hence, a more comprehensive understanding of the motor system will further our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric disorders. Likewise, neuropsychiatric diseases allow novel insights into the motor system’s (dys-)function and testing models of motor control.

The successful candidate will be part of a

collaborative research center

(CRC
1451), located at the University of Cologne, that brings together neuroscientists investigating genetic factors, cellular and synaptic as well as systems/neural network processes underlying motor control in animals and humans, in both health and neuropsychiatric diseases. This includes:

• The successful candidate will be part of the Project INF of the CRC
  1451:
  Data Management for Computational Modeling

. Within this project, they will develop data-driven, cross-species and cross-scales computational models of motor control based on data collected in the individual and central projects of CRC
1451. The rich data collection contains behavioral and kinematic data of humans and mice (locomotion); fMRI, EEG and TMS data from healthy subjects and patients (with stroke, Alzheimers’ or Parkinsons’ disease as well as tic disorders) as well as electrophysiological recordings from mice

• Presentation and publication of the results
• Interaction with team members and collaborators from Psychology, Medicine, Biology and Computational Neuroscience
• Participation in the CRC
  1451 events

Your Profile

• Completed study (Master) in Computer Science, Computational Neuroscience, Physics, Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering
• Outstanding doctoral degree in one of the above disciplines
• Significant programming skills (preferably in Matlab or Python)
• Strong, long-standing experience in data-driven computational modeling
• Keen interest in understanding the motor system
• Proven scientific achievements as evidenced by publications in international, peer-reviewed journals
• Interest in combining basic research and translational research on patients
• Good command of English
• High social competence and organizational talent
• High motivation

Our Benefits for You

• Meaningful tasks: The position offers a…