PhD Position in Neuroimaging, LLM, Genetics and Cross-species comparison

AcademicTransfer; Netherlands; On-site; EUR 26,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's Connectome Lab, CNCR, seeks a highly motivated PhD candidate to explore neuroimaging, genetics and cross-species comparison. You will work with large MRI datasets and develop computational approaches to quantify variation in brain structure and connectivity.

The project aims to understand conserved brain features and evolution, joining neuroimaging, connectomics, and computational neuroscience in an interdisciplinary setting.

Qualifications

• PhD candidate with strong background in neuroscience and imaging.
• Proficiency in computational data analysis and statistics.
• Experience with large neuroimaging datasets is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Analyse large-scale structural and functional MRI datasets.
• Develop and apply pipelines for neuroimaging analysis and connectomics.
• Investigate brain variation and cross-species similarities.
• Integrate genetics with neuroimaging data.
• Collaborate with CNCR researchers and international networks.
• Present findings at scientific meetings and publish manuscripts.

Skills

Neuroimaging data analysis

Programming

Bioinformatics

Education

PhD in Neuroscience or related field

Tools

Python

R

MATLAB

MRI software

Job description

Organisation/Company Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) Research Field Neurosciences » Neurobiology Neurosciences » Neuroinformatics Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Application Deadline 15 Dec 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 38.0 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

Offer Description

Do you enjoy working with complex neuroimaging data, large datasets and computational methods? Do you want to work at the intersection of genetics, neuroimaging, neuroscience, neurodiversity and cross-species analyses? We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate to join the Connectome Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

The Connectome Lab at the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is seeking a PhD candidate in Neuroimaging, Genetics and Cross-species comparison.

The project aims to understand how variation in brain anatomy and connectivity contributes to the remarkable diversity of the human brain, and how these features relate to principles of brain evolution. We will combine large-scale human neuroimaging datasets with comparative datasets across species to investigate variation in brain structure, connectivity and functional organization.

A central goal is to understand which aspects of brain organization are highly conserved, which show substantial variation between individuals, and which features may have emerged or expanded during human brain evolution. The project therefore brings together neuroimaging, connectomics, neurodiversity, comparative neuroscience and computational neuroscience.

You will work with large structural MRI, diffusion MRI and resting-state fMRI datasets and develop and apply computational approaches to quantify variation in brain organization across individuals, populations and species. There is particularly attention for the use of LLM in data mining.

You will be part of the computational neuroimaging Lab led by Prof. Martijn van den Heuvel and work in an interdisciplinary environment with researchers from neuroimaging, computational neuroscience, genetics, psychology, psychiatry and artificial intelligence.

Your duties

• analyse large-scale structural MRI, diffusion MRI and resting-state fMRI datasets
• develop and apply pipelines for cortical reconstruction, tractography, functional connectivity and connectome analysis
• investigate individual variation and neurodiversity in brain structure and connectivity
• integrate genetics with neuroimaging
• perform comparative analyses of human and non-human brain organization in the context of brain evolution
• integrate findings across different neuroimaging datasets and imaging modalities
• develop and apply computational and statistical approaches for analysing brain networks
• contribute to reproducible and open neuroimaging workflows
• collaborate with researchers within the Connectome Lab, CNCR and international research networks
• present your findings at national and international scientific meetings
• write scientific manuscripts