[AUDITORY] PhD student and post-doc openings at Austrian Academy of Sciences

The Acoustic Research Institute (ARI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is offering:

1) a PhD student position (F/M, part time, 30h/week, initially 3 years), and

2) a post-doctoral position (F/M, full time, 40h/week, initially 2 years).

ARI is an interdisciplinary research institution of Austria’s leading non-university research facility. It undertakes top-level research in psychoacoustics and experimental audiology, acoustic phonetics, musicology and bioacoustics, physical and computational acoustics, and mathematics and signal processing. The close interaction of the working groups allows innovative research approaches through the synergistic effects of multidisciplinary research. ARI employs ~40 academic, technical and administrative staff. The position is assigned to the Psychoacoustics and Experimental Audiology group in Vienna.

The successful candidates will work within the project “Born2Hear – Development and Adaption of Auditory Spatial Processing Across the Human Lifespan” -- for more information see our preliminary project website (http://kfs.oeaw.ac.at/born2hear). This project will be led by Robert Baumgartner, investigated together with the project partners from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest (Co-PI: Brigitta Tóth; director: István Winkler), and consulted by a renowned, international collaboration network (Frederick Gallun, Norbert Kopčo, Aaron Seitz, Barbara Shinn-Cunningham).

Responsibilities:

• Assistance to plan and run experiments combining psychoacoustic and neuroscientific methods.

• Analysis of brain responses to auditory spatial cues recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG).

• Communication of scientific results in scientific publications and at scientific meetings.

Requirements and qualifications:

1) for PhD student:

• Master’s degree or diploma with excellent scores in one of the following disciplines: neuroscience, psychology, engineering, physics, biology, neuroinformatics, or related fields.

• Previous experience with auditory neuroscience, EEG studies, and psychophysics is advantageous.

2) for post-doc:

• PhD with excellent scores in one of the following disciplines: neuroscience, psychology, engineering, physics, biology, neuroinformatics, or related fields.

• Good knowledge and skills in neuroscientific methods, especially with EEG. Experience with EEG source localization methods and functional connectivity assessment (Granger, PLV, PLI) are advantageous.

• Broad experiences with empirical psychological or neuroscientific studies; previous experiences with auditory neuroscience studies is a plus.

1|2) for both positions:

• Statistical and programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python, R, etc.) are crucial.

• Good knowledge of written and oral English is desirable. Proficiency in or willingness to learn German will become essential for communication, especially with participating older adults.

• Flexibility, ability to learn fast and the ability to work independently as well as in a scientific team are very welcome.

Annual gross salary (before taxes, 14 payments a year) according to the collective agreement of the Austrian Academy of Sciences:

1) PhD student: EUR 30.072,00 (VG 4/1).

2) Post-doc: commensurate with qualifications and experience but at least EUR 43.828,40 (VG 4/2).

The desired starting date is February 1, 2020.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity.

Candidates should send a CV, copies of relevant certificates, names and full contact details of two referees, and a brief statement describing motivations, personal qualifications, and research interests by e-mail to Robert Baumgartner (robert.baumgartner@xxxxxxxxxx), no later than December 1, 2019. Informal inquiries and questions should also be addressed to Robert Baumgartner.