Senior Research Specialist in Cognitive Neuroscience

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

Do you want to help shape the future understanding of how the brain creates our sense of self? At the Brain, Body, and Self Lab at Karolinska Institutet, we conduct groundbreaking research in cognitive neuroscience, focusing on bodily self-awareness and multisensory integration. As a Senior Research Specialist in our team, you will have the opportunity to lead innovative projects and collaborate with world-leading experts to uncover the neural mechanisms behind body perception. Join our dynamic research environment and contribute to scientific breakthroughs that can transform our understanding of human consciousness.

Description of the subject area

Cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on perception research, psychophysics, and computational modulation of metacognition.

Your mission

As a senior research specialist, you will play a central role in the development and execution of advanced studies in cognitive neuroscience, with a particular focus on bodily awareness, multisensory integration, and consciousness processes.

You will lead and coordinate experimental studies that integrate psychophysics, body illusions, and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate how the brain processes bodily self-awareness. Your work will involve developing new experimental paradigms based on body illusions, such as the rubber hand illusion, and applying computational models—including signal detection theory (SDT) and drift-diffusion models (DDM)—to quantify both conscious and unconscious bodily perceptual processes. For experimentally manipulating conscious and unconscious processes, you use masking techniques and interocular suppression.

Additionally, you will analyze EEG data to identify the neural networks underlying body ownership using event-related potentials (ERP), time-frequency analysis, functional connectivity, source analysis, and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). Moreover, you will apply information-theoretic methods to examine neural communication between sensory and cognitive areas of the brain.

Furthermore, the position includes supervising master's students, publishing scientific findings in international journals, and preparing research grant applications to secure long-term project funding. The role also involves active collaboration with international research groups and presenting research findings at conferences and seminars.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for employment as a Senior Research Specialist, in addition to holding a PhD, or having a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a Swedish doctoral degree, the applicant must have demonstrated good level of research expertise with significant scientific production. The applicant must also have demonstrated a good scientific independence to which their own contribution has been significant and a research plan of high quality with clear potential for the future.

Additional eligibility requirements for the position include a doctoral degree in psychology or cognitive neuroscience, a record of scientific production in psychophysics, perception research, and body awareness, as well as technical competence in designing and analyzing complex psychophysical and EEG data using advanced computational methods.

Assessment criteria

For employment as Senior Research Specialist at Karolinska Institutet, the eligibility requirements and assessment criteria stated in the Rules regarding other positions than teaching positions are applied in relation to the established profile of employment.

• Scientific original publications, their quality and quantity, with special consideration on publications after the doctoral education and with regard to the subject area relevant to the position.
•  Knowledge and technical expertise in the specific field related to the position, i.e., perception research, psychophysics, metacognitive modelling of awareness, masking and interlocular suppression techniques, body illusions, and advanced EEG-analysis methods. 
• Scientific independent ability demonstrated through leading and senior authorships.
• Review articles and other scientific publications.
• Presentations and scientific assignments at international congresses.
• Research grants received in regional, national and international competition.
• National and international research collaborations.
• Research responsibility as supervisor for degree project on advanced level, doctoral student and postdoc.
• Reviewer and evaluator of the scientific work of others.
• Research experience from a research group other than where the doctoral education was conducted.
• Development of one's own research profile within the subject area.
• Plan for future research based on current science.

It is particularly meritorious that the applicant has shown

•   Scientific original publications, their quality and quantity, with special consideration on publications after the doctoral education and with regard to the subject area relevant to the position.
• Knowledge and technical expertise in the specific field related to the position, i.e., perception research, psychophysics, metacognitive modelling of awareness, masking and interlocular suppression techniques, body illusions, and advanced EEG-analysis methods.
• Scientific independent ability demonstrated through first and senior authorships.
• Research grants received in regional, national and international competition.
• Research experience from a research group other than where the doctoral education was conducted.
• Development of one's own research profile within the subject area. Plan for future research based on current science. 

It is meritorious that the applicant has shown

•  Review articles and other scientific publications.
• Presentations and scientific assignments at international congresses.
• National and international research collaborations.
• Research responsibility as supervisor for degree project on advanced level, doctoral student and postdoc.
• Reviewer and evaluator of the scientific work of others. 

After an overall assessment of the expertise and merits of the applicants in relation to the subject area, Karolinska Institutet will determine which of them has the best potential to contribute to a positive development of the activities at KI.

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Here, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Solna

Department of Neuroscience
Ehrsson lab

Application

We prefer that Your application is written in English, but You can also apply in Swedish. An application must contain the following documents: PhD certificate, resumé, qualifications and description of planned research, presented in accordance with Karolinska Institutet's qualifications portfolio.

The applications will be reviewed by external reviewers.

Welcome to apply at the latest 2025-04-04

The application must be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

Permanent position is initiated by a six months trial period.

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!