FUNDED Ph.D. POSITION – PERCEPTUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

at the BCBL- Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain) www.bcbl.eu

1. INFORMATION ABOUT THE POSITION

Position: PhD student
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1- up to the point of PhD)
Number of vacancies: 1
Project: Assessing perceptual awareness with closed-loop brain imaging
Location: Spain > San Sebastian
Research Field: Neuroscience
Type of contract/Duration of Contract: Temporary: 4 years
Job Status: Full-time
Hours per week: 35
Starting date: 1st of March 2025 (no later than this date)
Application deadline: 01 December 2024

Information about the project:

The Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) is offering a predoctoral position for a PhD project aimed at investigating perceptual consciousness and metacognition. The research will utilize visual psychophysics and functional MRI techniques, including decoded neurofeedback.

Job description:

Collaborating on finalizing experimental designs, implementing them, and collecting data
Analysing neuroimaging and behavioral dat
Identifying improvements or proposing new analysis pipelines.
Writing research papers under the supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI), with the aim of publishing in top-tier journals.
Disseminating results at international scientific conferences.

PI and research group:

Professor David Soto will supervise this PhD project. David leads the Consciousness group at BCBL, where we are developing new protocols to understand the distinction between conscious and non-conscious information processing in the human brain, and its role in guiding cognition and behavior. Our work combines advanced brain imaging techniques, decoded neurofeedback, psychophysics and state-of-the-art computational methods.

2. CANDIDATES’ PROFILE AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Required skills:

Good knowledge of cognitive science/neuroscience
A strong interest in consciousness science.
Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Psychology, Neuroscience, or a related field
Excellent computational skills in Python
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English

Desirable skills:

Experience with state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques and analysis
Experience using machine learning tools and/or computational models.
Previous experience in participating in research projects (e.g., data collection, analysis)

3. WORKING CONDITIONS

Salary: 21,000€/year gross on average across the four years of the contract

Entitlements and other benefits: https://www.bcbl.eu/en/join-us/what-is-like-to-work-bcbl

Training opportunities and Career development plan:

Researchers at any stage of their career, regardless of their contractual situation, are given opportunities for professional development and for improving their employability through access to a Personal Career Development Plan which includes

(1) Training through individually personalized research projects under senior supervision

(2) Exchanging knowledge with the scientific community and the general public

(3) Network-wide training in theory and methods

(4) Complementary training courses

(5) Involvement in proposal writing, task coordination

(6) Development of skills for the organization of training and scientific events

BCBL seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support contact us.

4. OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:

Language policy

The corporative language at the Center is English
The center provides initial level Spanish and Basque lessons to all the international staff members
The interview will be conducted entirely in English

5. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Submission of the application and documentation:

To submit your application, please follow this link: applying for “Ph.D. POSITION CONSCIOUSNESS 2024” and attach the following documentation:

A curriculum vitae
A statement outlining research interests and motivation to apply for the position
Transcript of records for the completed master's and bachelor's degrees
Two letters of recommendation

Learn more about the BCBL’s OTM-R policy

Application process timetable: