Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Neuroscience : Stockholm, Sweden

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world´s leading medical universities. Its mission is to contribute to the improvement of human health through research and education. Karolinska Institutet accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country´s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. Since 1901 the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has selected the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

Department
The Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS) conducts research and education in the field of neuroscience from the molecular level to the society level. The clinical research and education is conducted in collaboration with other research groups from the Karolinska Institutet, with other universities as well as the Stockholm County Council.
Please visit our website for more information: http://ki.se/en/cns

Division
The Cognitive Neurophysiology research group headed by Professor Martin Ingvar is focusing on how expectation related processes in the human brain shape our understanding of the world in general, and in two clinically important conditions in specific: placebo treatment and psychosis. We have worked with placebo mechanisms in the brain since more than a decade and are one of the world leading groups involved in the research field. We are also studying the relation between expectations and psychosis through experimental manipulation of expectation systems in the brain. We mainly use fMRI in the present work. We are currently looking for one, possibly two postdocs, pending funding. The PI heading the present project and financing the position(s) is Associate Professor Predrag Petrovic.

Duties
The post-doc project aims to perform studies in which the successful candidate will manipulate low-level and high-level expectations experimentally. You will study how these expectation manipulations change behavior and experience, and the associated brain activation pattern, in healthy controls and patient populations. Special focus will lie on how such expectation manipulations are relevant in placebo and psychosis. The placebo studies will focus on depression and reward processing, while the psychosis studies will focus on delusion proneness and reward learning. The exact studies performed will be shaped through discussions between the PI and Post-Doc. The position includes responsibility for planning the experiments, executing the experiments, analyzing the data and writing manuscripts. All studies aim to include fMRI as the main tool of research. We work in close collaboration with labs performing PET studies and MEG studies. Thus, it is possible that the applicant may work with combined datasets including those methods as well.

Entry requirements
A person is eligible for a position as postdoctoral research fellow if he or she has obtained a PhD no more than seven years before the last date of employment as postdoc. The obtained PhD should have involved neuroimaging and fMRI, preferably focusing on placebo effects or psychosis. The applicant should have a Master's Degree in neuroscience or similar, or a MD/psychology-degree. A clinical background in psychiatry including psychosis or depression is of benefit but not necessary. The candidate should previously have conducted functional imaging studies with fMRI, analyzed the results and published independently. A knowledge in more advanced data modeling is also a benefit for the positions. The applicant must master academic English. To be successful in this position it is important to have social skills and be interested in collaborations.

Application process
An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

1. A complete curriculum vitae, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
2. A complete list of publications
3. A summary of current work (no more than one page)
4. Verifications for crediting of illness, military service, work for labour unions or student organisations, parental leave or similar circumstances
5. Verification from the thesis defence committee or the equivalent (only if the thesis defence is scheduled within three months after the application deadline)

Qualified candidates will initially be interviewed and asked to make a presentation of her/his research and research plans over Skype. The final evaluation of candidates may involve a formal interview at Karolinska Institutet.

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