PhD student in computational and cognitive neuroscience
Location: Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Earliest starting date: September 1st 2025.
The Mante lab (https://www.ini.uzh.ch/en/research/groups/mante.html) at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (https://www.ini.uzh.ch/en) invites applications for PhD student position to work at the intersection of experimental neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to uncover the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying learning of abstract concepts in monkeys and humans.
Research Background
Our laboratory studies how complex cognitive abilities like reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making emerge from the coordinated activity of neural populations distributed across brain-wide neural networks. We employ an interdisciplinary approach that combines behavioral and neurophysiological experiments in humans and animals, machine learning methods to analyze large-scale behavioral and neural datasets, as well as approaches from artificial intelligence to model our data and generate hypotheses about the neural mechanisms underlying cognition. A current focus of our research is the question of how biological and artificial neural networks learn world-models and use them to plan and reason about future actions. We address this question in several settings ranging from humans engaged in carefully designed behavioral tasks, complex naturalistic behaviors of primates in social settings (see bottom of this page), and artificial agents.
Role description
As a PhD student, you will be mainly responsible for a research project that addresses how monkeys and humans learn abstract concepts. The main goal of the project is to understand how purposeful interactions with the environment (as opposed to passive observation) shape the way primates learn the latent structure and causal relations underlying the sensory inputs they experience, and how such learning is impaired in developmental disorders like autism. This project is part of a large collaboration into the neural mechanisms of learning that brings together scientists and clinicians from across the University of Zurich and several clinics of the University Hospital of Zurich (AdaBD)
Responsibilities
Your primary responsibilities will include:
- Behavioral experiments in humans and primates
- Neurophysiology experiments in primates
- Analysis of large-scale behavioral or neural data sets
- Modeling of behavior and neural dynamics
- Writing publications and presenting at conferences
- Collaborating with other team members to achieve to overarching goals of the lab.
Required qualifications
- MSc in computational or theoretical neuroscience, artificial intelligence, or a closely related field (e.g. physics or computer science).
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
- The desire and collaborative spirit required to work closely in a multidisciplinary team
- Previous experience in some of the relevant research domains
Salary and conditions
The salary and benefits will follow the standards set by the University of Zurich for PhD students. PhD students will receive their degree from both the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich.
Application process
Interested candidates should submit a detailed CV, a cover letter explaining their interest in the position (1 or 2 pages long), and the contact information of ideally 3 references to mantelab@ini.lists.uzh.ch.
We strive to build a diverse work environment and encourage applications from all qualified individuals irrespective of their gender, age, cultural background, and disability status. Only candidates shortlisted for this position will be contacted for an interview.