Assistant Professor in Predictive Brain Processes

Maastricht University; Maastricht; Hybrid; EUR 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

12-month contract

Permanent contract potential

Holiday allowance

End-year bonus

Flexible working hours

Home office allowance

Pension ABP

Job summary

Maastricht University invites applications for an Assistant Professor in Predictive Brain Processes to build an independent, internationally visible research programme and contribute to education within the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

The role welcomes experimental, computational or theoretical approaches and aims to advance understanding of how the brain anticipates, infers, learns and acts under uncertainty. Strong English proficiency is essential.

Qualifications

• Have a PhD in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, biomedical sciences or engineering or a related discipline.
• Postdoctoral or equivalent research experience with a strong publication record.
• Strong theoretical, computational and/or experimental expertise relevant to predictive brain processes.
• Demonstrated ability or potential to secure competitive research funding, individually or collaboratively.
• Ability to develop an independent, internationally visible research programme.
• Relevant teaching experience and enthusiasm for thesis supervision.

Responsibilities

• Establish an independent and internationally visible research programme in predictive brain processes.
• Contribute to education programmes of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
• Develop collaborative research projects and pursue external funding.
• Supervise bachelor’s and master’s theses.
• Teach within the interdisciplinary BSc Brain Science programme.
• Contribute to administrative responsibilities as needed.

Skills

Interdisciplinary collaboration

English communication

Education

PhD in (Cognitive) Psychology, (Computational) Neuroscience, Biomedical Sciences or Engineering, Artificial Intelligence or related discipline

Tools

MRI & fMRI

EEG

Non-invasive brain stimulation

Job description

Assistant Professor in Predictive Brain Processes

Welcome to Maastricht University!
How does the brain construct an adaptive interpretation of the world? How do sensory information, prior knowledge, expectations, goals and internal states interact to shape perception, learning and decision-making?
At the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience of Maastricht University, we are looking for an Assistant Professor in Predictive Brain Processes who wants to develop an ambitious and independent research programme that advances our mechanistic understanding of how the brain anticipates, infers, learns and acts under uncertainty.

Assistant Professor in Predictive Brain Processes

Our goal:

You will establish an independent and internationally visible research programme in predictive brain processes and contribute to the education programmes of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Your colleagues:

You will join the Cognitive Neuroscience (CN) department within the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) at Maastricht University.

CN currently consists of around 60 permanent staff members and approximately 70 temporary staff members, including PhD candidates and postdocs. We are a collaborative group investigating the neural processes underlying human cognitive functions, including perception, attention, emotion, memory, learning, language and neurocognitive development.

CN combines different approaches to measuring and manipulating brain activity and overt behaviour, including MRI at 3T and 7T, EEG, psychophysics, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) and neurofeedback. Experimental expertise comes together with methodological development and theoretical and computational approaches.

Alongside fundamental research, our work also connects to applications such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for people with locked-in syndrome, the treatment of depression and the remediation of dyslexia.

What you do

You will have the intellectual freedom to build an independent and internationally visible research programme in predictive and inferential brain processes. Your research may take an experimental, computational or theoretical approach. We are not committed to a single theoretical framework: we welcome research that develops, tests, compares, refines or challenges existing theories.

Contributing to a deeper understanding of the computations and mechanisms underlying adaptive cognition, your research may focus on areas such as:

• Perception, learning and working memory
• Statistical and sequence learning
• Abstract and compositional representations
• Decision-making and sensorimotor control

You may work in any sensory modality, across multiple modalities or in modality-general domains, using approaches such as psychophysics, eye-tracking, neuroimaging, non-invasive electrophysiology and computational modelling. We are particularly interested in formal, computational, biologically inspired, generative or neural-network models that advance theories of brain function.

Alongside developing your research programme, you will:

• Develop collaborative research projects and pursue external research funding.
• Contribute to an open, supportive and inclusive research culture.
• Divide your time approximately 50/50 between research and teaching.
• Teach within the interdisciplinary BSc Brain Science, particularly in areas related to your expertise, such as cognitive and computational neuroscience, perception and cognition, mathematics, programming, modelling, artificial intelligence and data analysis.
• Contribute to the FPN Psychology bachelor's and master's programmes and, occasionally, programmes outside FPN.
• Supervise bachelor's and master's theses.
• Contribute to administrative responsibilities or committee work once you are settled in your role.

Are you ready to set the course for the years ahead? Then we'd love to meet you.

What you bring

We're not looking for checkboxes; we're interested in who you are and what you bring. Do you recognize yourself in this?

You:

• Have a PhD in (Cognitive) Psychology, (Computational) Neuroscience, Biomedical Sciences or Engineering, Artificial Intelligence or a related discipline.
• Have postdoctoral or equivalent research experience, with demonstrated research quality and a competitive publication record.
• Have strong theoretical, computational and/or experimental expertise relevant to the interplay between sensation and cognition and to predictive and inferential brain processes.
• Have demonstrated the ability, or clear potential, to acquire competitive research funding, individually or collaboratively.
• Have the potential to develop an independent and internationally visible research programme that complements and strengthens the department. We welcome research spanning behaviour and cognition, representations, algorithms, neural populations and circuits. Expertise in a particular sensory modality or research method is not required.
• Have relevant teaching experience and enthusiasm for further developing your teaching and thesis supervision.
• Are a collegial researcher who enjoys interdisciplinary team science.
• Have excellent English communication skills. Knowledge of Dutch is not required.

What we offer

At Maastricht University, you'll work in an international, open, and engaged environment. We offer:

• A 12-month contract (1,0 fte) with the prospect of a permanent contract based on mutual satisfaction.
• A gross monthly salary between €4925,00and €6682,00 (based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week). 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus.
• 29 vacation days (based on full-time), four additional days off (Carnival Monday and Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day), and the possibility to accrue up to 12 extra days through compensation hours.
• Flexible working hours, a home office allowance, and the option to work from home.
• Freedom and space to shape your work independently and develop your ideas.
• A close-knit community of colleagues to collaborate and grow with.
• A solid pension plan via ABP, company fitness schemes, and access to various university sports facilities.
• An inspiring work environment in the heart of Europe.

About the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN)

At FPN, we share a curiosity about the human brain and behaviour. Together with our students, we explore how our brains function and learn why we do what we do. We connect perspectives and contribute to living together in society.

The end date of the publication is 1 November 2026.

About Maastricht University

At Maastricht University, we collaboratively seek solutions to help move the world forward. We do this with 23,300 students and 5,400 employees across 5 regional locations, 6 faculties, and more than 70 research institutes. We encourage you to push boundaries and discover new opportunities for yourself and the world around you. Together, we can find the answers for tomorrow.

The vacancy is open for internal and external candidates. In case of equal qualifications, internal candidates will be prioritized.

At Maastricht University, we prefer to contact potential candidates directly. We therefore kindly ask that no agencies or intermediaries submit offers or approaches.

Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position.

Faculty/Service Center: Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience