[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.