Have you ever wondered where motivational drive comes from? We study how the body talks to the brain and what happens when that conversation breaks down in mental disorders, such as depression. If such questions intrigue you, neuroMADLAB might be for you.
neuroMADLAB works at the intersection of reward processing and neuromodulation. We use fMRI, brain stimulation, and statistical and computational modelling to understand how motivation goes wrong. The goal of our work is to translate these insights into better treatments of motivational or somatic symptoms across disorders. We are recruiting at multiple levels right now.
Open positions
PhD student focussing on body-brain interactions
Your role: Help us translate basic neurobiological insights into better treatments of disrupted body-brain interactions in mental disorders. This will be funded for at least 3 years.
Topic: Use of pharmacological interventions (e.g., ghrelin administration) or brain stimulation techniques (e.g., tVNS) to improve motivational symptoms in depression
Location: Bonn, as part of the structured graduate program BIGS Neuroscience
Salary: According to TV-L E 13 (65%), gross income ~€38.5k per year, net monthly income ~€2k
Requirements: Good command of German (B2 or better), hands-on experience in some of the key techniques we use in the lab, such as fMRI, psychophysiology, or brain stimulation.
Student research assistants
Your role: Help us run experimental sessions, conduct screenings or clinical interview, or process data.
Location: Bonn
Salary: Payment is according to the qualification as SHK (undergraduate), WHF (with a Bachelor's degree) or WHK (with a Master's degree).
Requirements: Sufficient background in a topic that relates to our work (e.g., through studies in psychology, medicine, biology, biomedicine, etc.). Reliability and care in working with participants and data.
Please check out our current job ad for the Section of Medical Psychology in Bonn (in German).
Research trainees (Bonn & Tübingen).
Your role: Learn how to run comprehensive experimental sessions or cutting-edge data analyses. The minimum required commitment are 3 months full-time (or equivalent).
Locations: Bonn or Tübingen
Salary: Curricular internships are typically not paid. We support funding applications or offer salary support on a case-by-case basis.
Requirements: Willingness to learn and engage with the work in a collaborative manner.
Postdoctoral researchers
Please contact us as early as possible. Although there is no open position at the moment, there will be openings in the future, and we can help you apply for suitable calls to fund your position.
These positions typically require a few publications or preprints on topics related to our work to be sufficiently competitive.
Experiences in teaching, clinical training, and German proficiency are usually a plus.
What are we looking for in a candidate?
- Comfort working across methods and disciplines. Our projects combine neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and computational modelling.
- Quantitative aptitude in coding, statistics, or computational modelling, or a genuine drive to develop it.
- Commitment to rigorous, transparent, and open science.
- Curiosity about how the brain and body interact, and motivation to translate that curiosity into better treatments.
- We actively support candidates who want to innovate and take the lead on ambitious projects, even early in their career. We routinely include them as coauthors and make sure strong contributions are visible and credited.
What do we offer
- Training in neuroimaging, neuromodulation, computational modelling, and science communication
- Well-established procedures, dedicated infrastructure, and the funding to run challenging experiments
- A large and active network of collaborators across the Universities of Excellence in Bonn and Tübingen, the German Centers for Mental Health and Diabetes Research, and beyond
- Genuine mentorship focused on your long-term development, not just the needs of the current project. Our top PhD researchers were often student research assistants or thesis students before.
How to apply for a job
For initial screenings of applications, please send us a letter of motivation and a CV including potential references. If we need more detailed information, we will get back to you. Feel free to inquire at an early stage.
