Connectionists: postdoc in computational neuroscience

[Máté Lengyel]

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

The University is committed to equality of opportunity

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING

Senior Research Associate in Computational Neuroscience

A position exists for a Senior Research Associate (equivalent of a  
senior postdoctoral fellow) to work on theories of spike timing-based  
memory in the hippocampus.

The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust and will involve work in  
the group of Mate Lengyel at the recently established Computational  
and Biological Learning Lab (learning.eng.cam.ac.uk) in close  
collaboration with  Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience  
Unit, UCL, www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk). The project also involves  
collaboration with the groups of Ole Paulsen (Department of  
Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Oxford University,  
noggin.physiol.ox.ac.uk) and Francesco Battaglia (SILS Center for  
Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, http://www.sils-cns.nl/PGBattaglia.html) 
  providing direct access to relevant in vitro and in vivo  
electrophysiological data.

The aim of the project is to develop normative theories of spike- 
timing based interactions (neural dynamics and synaptic plasticity  
rules) between hippocampal neurons for efficient memory processing  
that make testable prediction at the electrophysiological level  
(starting from Lengyel et al, Nat Neurosci 2005; Lengyel & Dayan,  
Advances in NIPS 2007).

The successful candidate will have a strong analytical background and  
demonstrable interest in theoretical neuroscience. They should have a  
PhD or equivalent in computational neuroscience, physics, mathematics,  
computer science, machine learning or a related field. Preference will  
be given to candidates with sufficient programming skills to run  
numerical simulations (eg. in C or MatLab) and expertise with neural  
network models, analysis of dynamical systems, and Bayesian  
techniques. Familiarity with the neurobiology of the hippocampus is an  
advantage.

The appointment will be for 1 year initially (extendable subject to  
funding) starting 1 January 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter.  
Salary is highly competitive and is in the range £36,532 to £46,278 p.a.

The cover sheet for applications, PD18 is available from www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/forms/pd18/ 
.  Parts I, II and III should be sent, preferably by e-mail, with a  
letter of application, a statement of research interests, and a CV (in  
pdf or plain text formats if possible) with the names and full contact  
details (including e-mail addresses) of three referees to Ms Diane  
Unwin, Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2  
1PZ, (Tel +44 (0)1223 3 32600, Fax +44 (0)1223 3 32662, email dsu21 at cam.ac.uk 
) so as to reach her not later than 9 October 2009. Shortlisted  
applicants will be interviewed on 23 October, 2009.

-- 
Mate Lengyel, PhD
Computational and Biological Learning Lab
Cambridge University Engineering Department
Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
tel: +44 (0)1223 748 532, fax:  +44 (0)1223 332 662
email: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk
web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel