I recently joined the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Institute (GCNI) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where I am currently setting up a new audiory science group, and where I hold the post of deputy director. The GCNI was founded from a very generous bequest made to the university by the Choa family, and we are in the enviable position to have the funding and the support of our University's senior management to be able to hire a lot of people at multiple levels in order to grow our institute. We can make competitive offers, at levels of seniority ranging from grad student to tenure track faculty posts. Auditory science is one of the priority areas for the GCNI.
Following an earlier posting to this list a few months ago we have recently shortlisted one very good auditory neuroscientist for an assistant professor post, but we can certainly accommodate more than one, so if you are interested, please reach out. CUHK provides a wonderful environment for auditory science, with state-of the art facilities for basic research, an otolaryngology department that is keen to collaborate on translational projects, and I am very keen to take advantage of these possibilities to establish a sizeable, synergistic network with multiple PIs interested in auditory science at CUHK.
For those who are not quite ready yet to make the leap to a tenure-track position, we also have funding for several grad students, RAs and postdocs, to join our team which focuses on cochlear implant research using a combination of psychoacoustic and physiological, using both animal models and human volunteer participants. My own group focuses on systems neuroscience approaches, so I am particularly interested in candidates with some knowledge in fields like computer programming, signal processing, data science, rather than the latest molecular biology techniques, but the most important factors are of course a strong motivation and a track record that suggests the kind of attitude that results in general competence regardless of discipline particulars.
Some of you may be reading this and may be thinking "yeah, the jobs sound interesting, but... China..?". As a "gweilo" expat academic who has spent the last eight years living in Hong Kong, I can tell you categorically that the stuff that you may read in the Western press that the CCP has "clamped down" on HK and "deprived it of its liberties" are click-bait nonsense. Hong Kong remains a great place to live that can offer an excellent quality of life, with competitive salaries, very low income tax, a freely convertible currency pegged to the US dollar, no capital gains tax on savings and investments, no internet censorship, comprehensive freedoms of speech and civil rights protection, a very low crime rate, meaningful tenure protection and academic freedoms, unrivalled urban and nature leisure opportunities, beaches, mountains, lots and lots of culture from top museums and philharmonic orchestras to jazz clubs, research funding that is relatively plentiful compared to most Western economies, and, last but certainly not least, less Kafka-style over-engineered paperwork around ethics protocol approvals than you would find in Europe or the US.
If any of this sounds at all interesting, do not hesitate to contact me by email. Note also that I will be attending APAN and SfN in Chicago from Friday, so if you too are in Chicago and are interested in meeting up, let me know. Note that the GCNI will have an interview booth at SfN on the afternoon of Oct 7th, where we will be happy to chat to candidates from all areas of neuroscience, not just audition, so spread the word to any friend and colleagues working on other parts of the nervous system.
One final thing that is perhaps worth mentioning is that, as part of the region's ambitious "greater bay area" initiative, all HK universities are actively hiring to increase HK's standing as a knowledge economy hub. As a consequence, HK is also a region where accommodating spousal hires may be easier than in most circumstances.
So maybe I will see you at APAN? Or even in Hong Kong?
Warm wishes,
Jan
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Prof Jan Schnupp
Deputy Director
Gerald Choa Neuroscience Institute
Gerald Choa Neuroscience Institute
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Sha Tin
Hong Kong