Two student assistant positions at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Job description

This project is part of a broader collaborative research programme on language as an emergent property of distributed brain networks, with the outcomes designed to inform future work on multimodal language organisation and neurobiological variability. The project is funded through a Donders Research Stimulation Fund and was explicitly designed as a cross-centre collaboration between the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (including DCC and DCCN) and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics*. The project aims to map the multidimensional organization of prosodic processing (including linguistic and paralinguistic dimensions) onto brain structure and connectivity. Main responsibilities of the assistant include prosodic feature/function1 extraction and their analysis using recent neuroimaging analysis frameworks (Morphospace2 & Functionnectome3). This position is open to Master students interested in cognitive neuroscience research.

1Zora, H., & Özyürek, A. (2026). Multimodal prosody in interaction: Scope, significance, and trajectory. PsyArXiv Preprints. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4dk3n_v1 

2Pacella, V., et al. (2024). The morphospace of the brain-cognition organization. Nature Communications, 15, 8452. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52186-9 

3Nozais, V., et al. (2021). Functionnectome as a framework to analyse the contribution of brain circuits to fMRI. Communications Biology, 4, 1035. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02530-2

*Collaborators

Dr Hatice Zora, Hatice.Zora [at] mpi.nl, Multimodal Language Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Dr Stephanie Forkel, stephanie.forkel [at] donders.ru.nl, Clinical Neuroanatomy of Language Group, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

Dr Andrea Martin, Andrea.Martin [at] mpi.nl, Language and Computation in Neural Systems, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Activities

• Map existing fMRI research on vocal prosody (using Neurosynth) within a morphospace
• Create cortical and white matter maps of prosody and examine its associations with various cognitive domains
• Assist in designing an exploratory fMRI study probing how prosodic features interact with domain-general and domain-specific cognitive systems, with an emphasis on variability and network-level organization.
   

Requirements

• Being enrolled as a Master student in Cognitive Neuroscience, or related disciplines
• Experience with neuroimaging analysis (structural and functional MRI)
• Demonstrated interest or experience in prosody and/or language processing
• Strong skills in Python and/or MATLAB
• Solid grounding in statistics and multivariate data analysis
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within a research team
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

What we offer you

• Position for 8 months with a start date of 1 May 2026 at the earliest
• 10 hours per week (set according to the assistant’s study/working schedule)
• An hourly rate of 15,84 Euro

Application procedure

To apply for the assistant position, please use our application portal here. The application deadline is March 15, 2026.

Applications should include:

1. A cover letter outlining your motivation to apply and detailing how you fit the requirements above
2. A current CV, listing relevant experience
3. A project idea related to prosody study design, such as a preliminary Neurosynth analysis or a morphospace mapping approach

For further information or questions about this position, please contact Hatice Zora (Hatice.Zora [at] mpi.nl).

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.