jeudi 18 octobre 2018

3 yr postdoc position on Individual and Collective Human Search in VR

[Berlin] The Center for Adaptive Rationality (ARC) at the MPI for Human Development, seeks applicants for 1 Postdoctoral Position on Human Individual and Collective Search in Virtual Reality. This 3-year position is available from February 2019 onwards, but later start dates are possible.

Job description: The Center for Adaptive Rationality takes an interdisciplinary approach to cognitive science and human decision making. The successful candidate will investigate the dynamics underlying individual and collective human behaviour in foraging for resources and other types of search tasks using virtual reality. The aim will be to understand how sensory input interacts with social (e.g., other real or virtual agents) and asocial information (e.g., resource distribution, predation risk) in shaping search and sampling strategies. The overall objective is to move beyond traditional approaches to studying search, by explicitly accounting for the role and importance of a spatial environment in human search. In order to do so, we offer the use of a newly established Virtual Reality (VR) lab. By immersing multiple individuals simultaneously in virtual—yet realistic—environments, the salience of human cognitive experiences (e.g. competition and cooperation) will achieve a much higher degree of realism. Key research questions will include: How do individuals sense the environment and integrate personal and social information? How do individuals collectively organize as a response to different dynamic (in space and time) resource distributions and how does this fluctuate with the level of risk in an environment?

Requirements: Applicants (m/f) must have a strong interest in collective human behaviour and / or virtually reality. The successful candidate should hold a doctoral degree in biology, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, or a related field. A solid background in statistical / computational / theoretical modelling (e.g., using R or Python) and ideally experience in programming (collective) experiments with human subjects and/or work experience with VR technology are required. Experience in spatial data analyses, agent-based modelling, and/or Java/Unity are desirable. In addition, it is essential that the successful candidate has the ability to work independently and has high proficiency in English.

For further inquiries about the position, please contact Dr. Ralf Kurvers (kurvers@mpib-berlin.mpg.de).

The Max Planck Institute for Human Development (www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de) offers an excellent infrastructure, including support staff and equipment, for conducting decision-making experiments (e.g., behavioral laboratory, fMRI, EEG, TMS, supercomputers and Eye-tracking). A newly setup VR lab, including support staff, is also part of the infrastructure. It provides an international research environment, with English being the working language of the Center for Adaptive Rationality. The Max Planck Society is committed to employing more handicapped individuals and especially encourages them to apply. The Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.

The postdoctoral position is for three years. Further extensions are possible, contingent on performance and availability of funds. Applicants (m/f) should submit a cover letter describing research interests, curriculum vitae, two representative publications and two potential references. We are kindly asking you to submit your application without a photo. All documents should be send as a single PDF file, with your name as the file name, to arc-applications@mpib-berlin.mpg.de; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin. In correspondence, please use “Postdoctoral Position on Human Search in Virtual Reality” in the subject line.

Applications must be submitted by October 31st, 2018, to ensure consideration. However, review of applications will continue until the position is filled.