SPONSORSHIP for INPHINIT PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP - ATTENTION, COGNITIVE CONTROL AND AFFECTS GROUP

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
  • Location:  Spain > Donostia-San Sebastián
  • Founding source: La Caixa Inphinit
  • Research Field: Psychology > Cognition and Language
  • Type of contract/Duration of Contract: Temporary, maximum duration 4 years
  • Job Status: Full-time
  • Hours per week: 35
  • Starting date: Fall 2026 (specific dates to be confirmed by the official La Caixa announcement)
  • Application deadline: 15/11/2025

The Attention, Cognitive Control and Affects Group (previously within the Brain Rhythms and Cognition group https://www.bcbl.eu/en/research/research-groups/brain-rhythms-cognition) at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (San-Sebastián-Donostia, Spain) aims to sponsor a candidate for an Inphinit Predoctoral Fellowship, a competitive call for predoctoral fellowships awarded by the La Caixa – see last year’s call here).

Our group studies the interrelation among attention, cognitive control and emotions in a multimodal way based on behavioral and affective responses, EEG, Eye dynamics and interoception. At the same time, we also have access to state-of-the-art neuroimaging equipment (https://www.bcbl.eu/en/infrastructure-equipment).

Project summary: 

The position is not linked to a specific project. The PhD student will have the opportunity to join an on-ongoing research lines within the Group and/or develop a research project within the broader scope of the group research.

Potential projects include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • The affective and cognitive influence of cognitive conflict on motivation
  • The role of brain oscillations for cognition
  • Closed-loop systems to stimulate self-regulation

In any case, the PhD student is expected to develop original experiments under the supervision and guidance of the PI(s).

Job description

We seek a highly motivated candidate who can demonstrate interest in the topic and methods of the proposed research, and the ambition to develop knowledge of research methodologies and discipline. They will be involved in developing and conducting research projects on the neural and cognitive bases of human attention, cognitive control, emotion through EEG/MEG, behavioral, bio-signals (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance) and eye-tracking. They will be involved in all steps of the research: experimental design, data collection, analysis, including science dissemination through scientific conferences (oral presentations/posters), peer-reviewed journals and outreach.

PI and research group: 

The candidate will form part of a new group at the BCBL, the Attention, Cognitive Control and Affects research group under the direct supervision of Dr. Manuela Ruzzoli.

  1. CANDIDATE PROFILE AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Elegibility:

  • Young researchers of any nationality are eligible to apply for the Doctoral INPhINIT Incoming and Retaining Fellowships Programmes
  • Candidates must not have carried our more than four years of research activity before the closing date of the call (to be announced, but approximately second fortnight of January 2026 for the Incoming and second fortnight of February 2026 for the Retaining).
  • At the time of recruitment, candidates must have completed the studies that allow them to enroll in an official PhD programme in Spain/Portugal. The verification of the required level of studies will be carried out by the host university when the admission procedure begins.
  • Candidates cannot have started doctoral studies prior to the start of the fellowship.

INPhINIT Incoming Fellowships Programme:

  • Candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in Spain/Portugal for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately preceding the closing date of the call.

 INPhINIT Retaining Fellowships Programme:

  • Candidates must have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain/Portugal for more than twelve months in the 3 years immediately preceding the closing date of the call.

Required skills:

  • Good written and oral communication skills in English
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
  • A university degree (Bachelor’s) in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Signal Processing/Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience or neighboring areas
  • A minimum of 300 ECTS, 60 of which should correspond to Master’s degree level

Desirable skills:

  • Previous (demonstrable) experience with collection and analysis of human physiology, EEG, eye-tracking and behavioral data in a cognitive neuroscience lab.
  • Programming skills (e.g., Python, R, Matlab)
  • Previous experience with electro-bio-physiological (EEG, Eye Tracking, bio signals) data analysis and statistics.

 

  1. WORKING CONDITIONS

Salary:

  • 25.000€ gross annual salary
  • Additional 3.500€ are provided to cover other research costs such as conferences, courses, research stays and tuition fees to the doctoral program.

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 an opportunity 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, sex, sexual orientation, age, sociocultural background, nationality or impairments. We are proud to have in place both an LGTBIQ+ Plan and a Gender Equality Plan to actively promote inclusion and equal opportunities. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us.

 

  1. OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Language policy

  • The corporative language at the center is English
  • Knowledge of Spanish and/or Basque will be an asset for this particular position, but it is not required
  • The center provides initial level Spanish and Basque lessons to all the international staff members
  • The interview will be conducted entirely in English

 

  1. APPLICATION PROCESS

Submission of the application and documentation:

Interested candidates are invited to send their CV and a brief research statement describing their research interests and previous experience (if any), as well as contact data of 1-2 referees to Dr. Manuela Ruzzoli (m.ruzzoli@bcbl.eu) by 15/11/2025.

Timeline:

  1. Deadline for application: 15/11/2025
  2. Interviews: 24/11/2025-28/11/2025
  3. Final decision: 01/12/2025
  4. The selected candidate will be invited to apply for an Inhipinit Predoctoral Fellowship. The BCBL admin team will support the selected candidate within the application process.

Contact details for enquiries:  

For technical problems please contact: hr@bcbl.eu

For inquiries or questions related to the content of the position and/or information about the project and the research group please contact:  m.ruzzoli@bcbl.eu