Postdoc Position: Network Neuroscience of Language Donders Centre Cognition

Organisation/Company Radboud University Research Field Neurosciences » Neurobiology Neurosciences » Neuroinformatics Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Final date to receive applications 8 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 36.0 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

Join the ERC project EMERGENCE and uncover how language emerges from large‑scale brain networks. Work with cutting‑edge neuroimaging and advanced modelling to reveal the neurobiological principles shaping human language.

The ERC project investigates language as an emergent, distributed brain function, integrating white-matter connectivity, functional neuroimaging and individual variability. The overarching aim is to understand how language functions arise from large-scale brain networks and how these networks differ across individuals. The project combines advanced diffusion MRI tractography, functional imaging and multivariate analytical approaches to characterise language networks beyond classical localisationist models.

As a postdoctoral researcher you will join the ERC Consolidator project EMERGENCE, which investigates how language networks arise from multi-scale neurobiological variability. The position focuses on integrating multimodal neuroimaging (structural MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, functional MRI, and receptor‑enriched connectomics) to characterise individual differences in language organisation across healthy populations. You will lead advanced preprocessing and modelling pipelines, including tractography, connectome construction, neurotransmitter‑weighted network modelling and embedding approaches (e.g. low‑dimensional morphospace analyses, UMAP) to identify latent principles of language network architecture.

You will be responsible for designing and implementing reproducible analysis workflows, contributing to hypothesis development, supervising junior team members (PhD candidates and research assistants) and coordinating data integration across existing large‑scale datasets (e.g. HCP). The role requires close collaboration with computational neuroscientists, clinicians and international partners, ensuring methodological rigour, open‑science compliance and high‑impact dissemination through publications and conference presentations.

Beyond technical expertise, you are expected to contribute to the project's conceptual development by advancing theory at the intersection of variability, connectivity and language function. You will actively participate in mentoring and community‑building within the Language and Communication research theme across the Donders Network, helping to establish a sustainable and internationally visible research line in neurobiological models of language emergence.

You will be supervised by Dr Stephanie Forkel (PI) and work in close interaction with PhD candidates, collaborators and international partners.

We are looking for an independent, highly motivated researcher with a strong background in cognitive or systems neuroscience (conceptually and methodologically) and an interest in the neurobiology of language.

• You have a PhD in neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, biomedical engineering or a related field.
• You have strong experience with neuroimaging (diffusion MRI and/or fMRI).
• You have demonstrated expertise in quantitative data analysis.
• You have strong programming skills (e.g. Python, MATLAB, R).
• You have an excellent command of spoken and written English.
• You have a strong publication record appropriate to career stage.
• You have experience with white‑matter tractography or network‑level analyses.
• You have familiarity with multivariate or dimensionality‑reduction techniques.
• You have experience working in collaborative, interdisciplinary projects.

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 1 year.
• Your salary within salary scale 11 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work…