Max Planck Research Group Leader position (W2 BBesG)

Job description

The ideal candidate is expected to investigate the complex interplay of visual bodily behavior (e.g., hands, face, gaze), utterances, and prosody and the intricate temporal relations with each other, focusing especially on interactions (e.g., in dialogue or multiparty conversations) and cognitive as well as social neural mechanisms that govern their use and processing. In doing so, the candidate is also expected to use our in-house motion capture and virtual reality techniques (e.g., head-mounted VR and LED-based VR CAVE) to conduct experiments in visually-grounded interactive conversational settings, and to use computational methods to simulate and understand the complexity of multimodal signal use in interaction. It will be an extra asset (but not essential) if the candidate can or is interested in extending this work to applied platforms, such as human-robot interactions, and virtual agents using generative AI models. 

The Group Leader is expected to develop an independent research program within the Department. For this, they will receive their own annual budget that will fund research staff (to cover one postdoctoral researcher or two PhD students) and running costs, an annual conference and travel budget, and access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.

The Group Leader will be supported to apply for external grants if they wish to supplement their core research funds, but this is not a requirement of the post. There are no required teaching responsibilities, but they will have the opportunity to teach in the Master's courses at Radboud University if they wish. 

This is a tenure-track position. The initial appointment is for six years, with the possibility of a permanent position after international review (tenure-track). A part-time position is negotiable.
 

Requirements

Essential

• A strong background and experience in bridging linguistic, psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, corpus-based, and computational approaches to multimodal communication in humans and virtual agents.
• A PhD in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, linguistics, psychology, or a related discipline.
• A proven ability to publish in high-quality journals and to conduct innovative and cutting-edge research on multimodal communication and cognition in humans and in virtual agents.
• Seniority and proven supervision, research leadership, management experience, and grant acquisition- as the post requires supervision of students, research staff, and/or early career postdoctoral researchers.
• Evidence of having established interdisciplinary networks and achieved prominence in the field.
• Evidence of the ability or potential to develop an independent research program that complements the research in the Department and contributes to its long-term goal to understand the social and cognitive underpinnings of multimodal language in humans and how they interact with one another and with virtual agents.

Desirable

• Evidence of the potential to make a substantial contribution to the Institute’s mission, and to develop collaborations with other departments at the Institute, other institutes within the Max Planck Society and Germany, and/or external partners, and especially the potential to strengthen ties with Radboud University and Donders Institute in particular.
• Evidence of a commitment to Open Science, Scientific Integrity and Ethics, and to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. 

Conditions of employment

• The position is available from 1 January 2027. The start date is flexible.
• Full-time position (39 hours per week) with an initial term of appointment of 6 years and with the possibility of a permanent position after international review (tenure-track). A part-time position is negotiable.
• The Institute is part of a German organization, so the salary is based on remuneration group W2 of the German Federal Civil Service Remuneration Act [Bundesbesoldungsgesetz - BBesG]. The salary depends on the applicant's qualifications and experience. More information about what to expect from a W2 salary can be found here under ‘responsibilities and salary’.
• All employees have 6 weeks of annual leave (pro rata for part-time employees) plus national holidays.
• All research staff have access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.
• The job includes co-supervision of junior researchers, but no other teaching obligations. 
   
   

Application procedure

Informal enquiries should be addressed to Prof. Dr. Asli Özyürek asli.ozyurek [at] mpi.nl (asli[dot]ozyurek[at]mpi[dot]nl).

The deadline for applications is midnight (anywhere in the world) on 30 March 2026. Please submit your application directly via this link on our recruitment portal.
 

Applications should include:

• A 2-page (max.) application letter that includes information about your research interests, why you are interested in this post, and why you consider yourself a good match for the post. Please refer to the list of essential and desirable requirements when writing this letter.
• A CV, which should include a list of publications.
• Contact details for three referees (referees will not be contacted unless you are invited to interview).
• Details of your availability for an interview via Zoom between 13 and 22 April 2026.

The employer 

About the Multimodal Language Department

The Multimodal Language Department in particular aims to understand the cognitive and social foundations of the human ability for language and its evolution by focusing on its multimodal aspect and crosslinguistic diversity. The research at the department combines multiple methods including corpus and computational linguistics, psycho- and neuro-linguistics, machine learning, AI and virtual reality, and is concerned with various populations ranging from speakers of signed and spoken languages, young and older subjects from typical and atypical populations. The department provides opportunities for training in a range of linguistic, and conversational state-of-the-art multimodal language analysis (such as motion capture and automatic speech recognition), as well as neuropsychological, psychological methods related to multimodal language and frequent research and public engagement meetings, and support from an excellent team of researchers in linguistics and psycholinguistics.

About our institute

The Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psycholinguistics is a world-leading research institute devoted to interdisciplinary studies of the science of language and communication, including departments on genetics, psychology, development, neurobiology, and multimodality of these fundamental human abilities.

We investigate how children and adults acquire their language(s), how speaking and listening happen in real-time, how the brain processes language, how the human genome contributes to building a language-ready brain, how multiple modalities (as in speech, gesture, and sign) shape language and its use in diverse languages and how language is related to cognition and culture, and shaped by evolution.

We are part of the Max Planck Society, an independent non-governmental association of German-funded research institutes dedicated to fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunities employer. We recognize the positive value of diversity and inclusion, promote equity, and challenge discrimination. We aim to provide a working environment with room for differences, where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Therefore, we welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

Our institute is situated on the campus of the Radboud University and has close collaborative links with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior and the Centre for Language Studies at the Radboud University. We also work closely with other child development researchers as part of the Baby & Child Research Center.

Staff and students at the MPI have access to state-of-the-art research and training facilities.