The research alliance JARA-Brain between the University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen
University and the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at the Research Center Jülich
investigates the structure and function of the human brain in health and neuro-
psychiatric disorders in order to develop new diagnostic or therapeutic approaches.
As part of the growth of JARA-Brain, a three-year PhD position has become available in
the "Neuropsychiatric Systems Biology" group (head: Prof. Dr. Simon Eickhoff) at the Dept.
of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Aachen (head: Prof. Dr. Dr. Frank
Schneider). Working at the interface between basic neuroscience and its clinical
application, this research group addresses the following questions: How are the processes
underlying motor, cognitive and affective functions organised in the human brain? How do
their different components interact to form physiological networks? How is this regional
organisation or its functional integration disturbed in patients suffering from neurological
or psychiatric disorders? Which models for the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying
clinical symptoms can be derived from these findings?
Methods that will be learned and applied during the course of the PhD project include the
performance of neuroimaging experiments using fMRI, the analysis of effective
connectivity between brain regions by Dynamic Causal Modelling und quantitative Meta-
Analyses of published functional imaging results.
We are now looking for a PhD student with a strong interest in this multidisciplinary
research. Applicants should have a degree in Neuroscience, Psychology, Medicine,
Informatics, Biology or related areas. A background in neuroanatomy, statistics and/or
fMRI analysis techniques (SPM, FSL, MATLAB etc) would be of advantage, readiness to learn
new methods in an interdisciplinary environment a necessary requirement.
The position is available immediately and search will continue until a candidate has been
selected. For further information or informal inquiries, please contact Simon Eickhoff
(seickhoff@ukaachen.de). If this position has raised you interest, please sent your
application preferentially by email (seickhoff@ukaachen.de) or alternatively by letter to:
Prof. Dr. Simon Eickhoff, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinikum
Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen