I am looking for a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the initial stages (defending very soon, and no more than 2 years and half after obtaining their PhD). The applicants should have obtained a PhD, and have an overall interest in object recognition, potentially focusing on object-related features like shape, texture material and surface properties. I am particularly interested in researchers with strong expertise in fMRI, and in particular decoding and multivariate approaches. Good programming skills, great communication and mentoring skills, and a great command of English are a plus.
The selected applicant will work with me (Jorge Almeida) but will also benefit from the lively academic environment and research groups we are currently building in the Psychology Department of the University of Coimbra, Portugal (Jason Fischer, Joana Carvalho, Alfonso Caramazza, etc). The projects will relate to my work on object and mid-level processing. Below are some examples:
Mahon, B. Z., & Almeida, J. (2024). Reciprocal interactions among parietal and occipito-temporal representations support everyday object-directed actions. Neuropsychologia, 198, 108841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108841
Almeida, J., Fracasso, A., Kristensen, S., Valério, D., Bergström, F., Chakravarthi, R., Tal, Z., & Walbrin, J. (2023). Neural and behavioral signatures of the multidimensionality of manipulable object processing. Communications biology, 6(1), 940. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05323-x
Walbrin, J., & Almeida, J. (2021). High-Level Representations in Human Occipito-Temporal Cortex Are Indexed by Distal Connectivity. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 41(21), 4678–4685. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2857-20.2021
The position is for 2 to 3 years, and the salary is the standard Post-Doctoral pay-scale in Portugal (net value 1850 euros per month; this is a competitive salary for the cost of living in Portugal and especially in Coimbra). Start time should be as soon as possible.
The Proaction Lab is currently well-funded as we have a set of on-going funded projects including a Starting Grant ERC to Jorge Almeida, a major European ERA Chair project to Jorge Almeida and Alfonso Caramazza, and other projects. We have access to a 3T MRI scanner with a 32-channel coil, to a 7T scanner (in collaboration with a site outside of Portugal), to tDCS, and to a fully set psychophysics lab. We have a 256 ch EEG, motion tracking and eyetracking on site. We also have a science communication office dedicated to the lab.
Finally, the University of Coimbra is a 700-year-old University and has been selected as a UNESCO world Heritage site. Coimbra is one of the liveliest university cities in the world, and it is a beautiful city with easy access to the beach and mountain.
You should apply as soon as you can. If interested send an email to jorgecbalmeida@gmail.com, with a CV, and motivation/scientific proposal letter.

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