The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI-CBS) in Leipzig is now offering a PhD position in a research project on speech perception and production using TMS and fMRI or MEG.

During every-day conversations, we produce well-articulated speech and comprehend the meaning of words and the speaker’s emotions and intentions without any effort. What seems so easy is based on highly complex neural processes that afford the reciprocal integration of auditory and motor signals that are still poorly understood. Does speech production rely on a hemispheric specialization at the level of the motor cortex> How does the motor cortex support speech perception> The PhD project will address these questions with a combination of neuroscientific methods (TMS, fMRI, MEG) and acoustic analyses.

The research is conducted at the MPI-CBS in Leipzig, Germany, an internationally leading center for cognitive and imaging neuroscience equipped with a 7T MRI scanner, three 3T MRI scanners, a 306 channels MEG system, a TMS system and several EEG systems. All facilities are supported by experienced IT and physicist staff. Our institute offers a very international environment, with English and German being the languages spoken in the laboratory. It offers a friendly and generous environment of researchers with diverse backgrounds and with an excellent infrastructure.

In order to increase the proportion of female staff members, applications from female scientists are particularly encouraged. Preference will be given to disabled persons with the same qualification.

Applications should be sent to the email below as a single, appropriately named pdf email attachment. It should enclose a cover letter (max. 2 pages) that also specifies your future research interests; a CV; up to three representative reprints; and contact details of two personal references. Please include the code “PhD 3/15” in the subject. Interviews will be held in the first week of May 2015.

For further details please contact Dr Daniela Sammler or Dr Nicole Neef, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, sammler@cbs.mpg.de / neef@cbs.mpg.de. Please note, applications made to these email addresses will not be considered.
Desired skills and experience

Applicants must have a master degree (or equivalent) in speech science, psychology, cognitive sciences, neuroscience, medicine, phonetics or a related