IMPRS NeuroCom invites again for PhD scholarships

The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity is based at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, and the University of Leipzig (Germany). The IMPRS also involves the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, UK. The graduate programme will start with the Summer Semester 2012 at the University of Leipzig (1 April, 2012).

The IMPRS on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity offers a unique interdisciplinary graduate programme to study the functional, structural, and plastic bases of human communication through an integrative and interdisciplinary approach. Its overriding goal is to train PhD students in multidisciplinary aspects involved in communicative action. Besides behavioural work, the programme draws on elaborate modern imaging techniques, including a 7-Tesla MRI scanner and a 306-channel MEG system.

The school invites applications for PhD scholarships.

Successful candidates will be accepted into one of the following four modules of the school:

• Verbal Communication: Language
• Foundation of social cognition and emotions
• Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical
• Methods: Physics of neuroimaging and signal processing.

Requirement for successful candidates for the PhD programme is a Master's (or qualified equivalent) degree in disciplines like computer science, linguistics, neurobiology, neurology, physics, psychiatry, psychology, or related fields. Candidates near to completion may also submit applications, indicating the expected date of completion.

Further requirements for successful candidates include:

• outstanding academic performance.
• excellent oral and written English language skills.
• aptitude for original, independent, and creative work.
• (desirable) experience conducting research, preferably with results published or submitted for publication.

The application must be supported by a degree and school certificate, academic transcripts, a CV, two names and email addresses of academic referees willing to support the candidate's application, and a personal statement explaining the candidate's motivation and reasons for pursuing a PhD at the IMPRS. Applications should indicate the preferred research cluster into which the candidate wishes to be accepted.

All admitted students receive financial aid in the form of a scholarship for the duration of three years. The language of the IMPRS is English. Visit www.leipzig.de for information on living in Leipzig/Germany, in the heart of Europe. We seek to increase the number of women in those areas where they are under-represented and therefore explicitly encourage women to apply. We are committed to employing more individuals with disabilities and especially encourage them to apply.

For further information and application details, go to http://imprs-neurocom.mpg.de or contact

Anne Missbach, Co-ordinator of the IMPRS, at:
e-mail : [email protected]

phone: +49 (0) 341 9940-2261

Applications are to be submitted by completing an application form by 31 January, 2012.

Please use the link on the imprs-website for your application. Applications open on 1 November, 2011.

We will contact you when your application has been assessed.