The Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS) at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin has two postdoctoral positions to offer:

1. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Population Neuroscience

The PONS Centre at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin is seeking a talented and highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to investigate environmental influences on brain development and behaviour, with a particular emphasis on global mental health. The PONS Centre aims to identify risk constellations and neurobehavioral trajectories for mental disorders and their moderation by global environmental challenges. The research will involve comparative analyses of large scale behavioural neuroimaging datasets in Europe, India, China and USA. Applying advanced statistical methods and innovative methodology, such as remote sensing satellite data, the project seeks to investigate how environmental challenges associated with urbanization, climate change, pollution or pandemics shape brain structure/function and behaviour. PONS Charité works in close collaboration with its partner institute PONS Fudan, at the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai.

Areas of responsibility:

• Take a leading role in development, adaptation and implementation of state of the art stratification and prediction techniques, including advanced representational approaches.

• Apply these approaches to large scale, high dimensional datasets involving neuroimaging, behavioural,  environmental and –omics.  

• Take a leading role in the publication and dissemination of data.

• Present at academic meetings and contribute to the visibility of the project and its aims.

• Work as a conscientious and committed member of the team in order to achieve the aims of the project.

• Assist with the supervision of PhD and MSc candidates and with the general running of the group.

Qualifications:

• PhD in a relevant discipline (computer science, biomathematics) awarded, or thesis submitted, or thesis near completion.

• A very good understanding of biomathematical and computer science methods applicable for phenotype stratification and prediction.

• Experience of working with behavioural, epidemiologic and/or biological datasets.

• Thorough conceptual understanding and experience in machine learning or/and deep learning methodology.

• Evidence of the ability to publish in high-impact scientific journals.

• Strong interpersonal skills, including willingness to introduce and help other colleagues with mathematics/statistics skills.

• Good organisational skills.

• Professional and enthusiastic attitude.

• German language skills desirable, but not essential.

2. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Precision Medicine

The PONS Centre is seeking a postdoctoral fellow for a research programme funded by the European Research Council to develop the framework of a novel psychiatric taxonomy based on quantifiable neurobehavioural measures. This will be achieved by relating functional and structural neuroimaging measures as well as (epi-)genomic and environmental characterisations to behavioural symptom groups in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Being defined by shared neural mechanisms, these symptom groups will provide markers for stratification and prediction of mental illness. The work will involve a good understanding of the neural correlates of behaviour, and experience in the analysis of neuroimaging data using advanced statistics. PONS Charite works in close collaboration with its partner institute PONS Fudan, at the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai.

Areas of responsibility:

• To contribute to the development of a framework for a novel psychiatric taxonomy based on quantifiable neurobehavioural measures.

• To relate functional and structural neuroimaging measures as well as (epi-)genomic and environmental characterisations to behavioural symptom groups in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data

• The publication, report generation and dissemination of data arising from this project  

• Attend and present at academic meetings and contribute to the visibility of the project and its aims.

• Assist with the supervision of PhD and MSc candidates and with the general running of the group

• Undertake any other reasonable duties that may be relevant to the role outline

Qualifications:

• PhD in psychology, neuroscience, sociology, computer science or a related discipline - awarded, or thesis submitted

• Experience in imaging genetics and behavioural research

• Experience in multimodal analyses of behavioural assessments, neuroimaging and –omics data using advanced statistics

• Evidence of the ability to publish in high-impact scientific journal.

• Excellent written and verbal communication        

• Professional and enthusiastic

The starting date of both postdoctoral positions would be the 1^st of May 2021 with a length of 20 months of employment (40 hrs/week).

Applicants should send the application materials to Jeanne.winterer@charite.de. Application information includes cover letter, including research plan, CV, Certificates, list of publications.

Application material can be submitted until the 15^th of March 2021.

Contact information:

For questions, please do not hesitate to contact Professor Gunter Schumann, email: gunter.schumann1961@gmail.com and Jeanne Winterer, email: Jeanne.winterer@charite.de.