PostDoc position in cognitive computational neuroscience

Ecole Normale Supérieure; France; On-site; EUR 34,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

École Normale Supérieure in Paris invites applications for a funded 12-month postdoctoral position starting January 2027. The project MONODEC investigates how motivation influences cognitive noise to improve human decision-making under uncertainty, using MEG and computational modelling.

The successful candidate will conduct behavioural experiments, MEG/EEG analyses, neural decoding, and network-based simulations, collaborating with a PhD student and presenting at international conferences.

Qualifications

• Applicants should hold a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, experimental psychology, or a closely related discipline.
• They should have prior experience with the computational modelling of human behaviour and/or human neuroimaging (ideally MEG or EEG).
• They should have strong programming skills (MATLAB and/or Python) and solid knowledge of statistical methods.
• A track record of publications in peer-reviewed journals and ability to work independently and collaboratively are expected.

Responsibilities

• Test the impact of cognitive noise and incentive on decision tasks in various contexts using MEG.
• Combine behavioural experiments, MEG/EEG data analysis, and computational modelling.
• Collaborate with a PhD student and contribute to shared analysis pipelines.

Skills

Computational modelling

MEG/EEG analysis

Python

MATLAB

Statistics

English communication

Education

PhD or equivalent

Tools

Python

MATLAB

Job description

Organisation/Company Ecole Normale Supérieure Research Field Neurosciences » Neurophysiology Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Positions Postdoc Positions Application Deadline 31 Oct 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 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

Offer Description

A funded 12-month postdoctoral position is available at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, under the supervision of Valentin Wyart, starting at the earliest in January 2027. The position is funded by the ANR project MONODEC, which investigates how motivation influence cognitive noise and improves human decision-making under uncertainty. The postdoctoral researcher will test the impact of cognitive noise and incentive on several variants of decision tasks in different contexts, and test whether these decisions rely on shared neural representations. The postdoc will combine behavioural experiments, magnetoencephalography (MEG), computational modelling of behaviour, Artificial Neural Networks, and neural decoding, including cross-condition generalisation and coding similarity analyses of MEG activity patterns. The project is closely articulated with a PhD project in the team on how abstract neural representations enable flexible human decision-making, and the postdoc will work closely with the PhD student on shared tasks, models and analysis pipelines. The position offers MEG recordings at the Paris Brain Institute (ICM), access to the behavioural testing facilities of the Department of Cognitive Studies (DEC) of ENS, funding for participation in international conferences, co-supervision of Master students.

Requirements

Research Field Neurosciences Education Level PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Applicants should hold a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, experimental psychology, or a closely related discipline. They should have prior experience with the computational modelling of human behaviour and/or human neuroimaging (ideally MEG or EEG), strong skills in artificial neural netwroks, strong programming skills (MATLAB and/or Python), and solid knowledge of statistical methods. Experience in designing, fitting and comparing computational models of decision-making, or in multivariate analyses of neural data (neural decoding), would be an advantage. A track record of publications in peer-reviewed journals, good communication skills in English, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively are expected.

Specific Requirements

Candidates must have defended their PhD before the start date of the position (January 2027). A strong interest in human decision-making and cognitive variability is expected, as well as experience in carrying out behavioural experiments and analysing MEG/EEG data. Interest in contributing to the training of a PhD student and Master students in the team is appreciated.