Aalto University is where science and art meet technology and business. Aalto University (Aalto) is also the largest technology-oriented university in Finland. Our community is made up of 13 000 students, 400 professors and close to 4 500 other faculty and staff working on our dynamic campus in Espoo, Finland, 12 minutes by metro from the center of Helsinki.
The Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering is located in the Otaniemi campus - one of the most important north-european technology hubs, with a high concentration of companies, and research institutes from the high-technology sector, and with a thriving culture of entrepreneurship. Within the department operate pioneering groups in developing MEG and brain stimulation technology.
We are now looking for a:
Postdoctoral or doctoral researcher (PhD student) to conduct neuroimaging-guided brain stimulation studies in the field of speech and language network.
Are you passionate in developing methods to investigate the language network with fMRI combined with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS)?
We are looking for an early-career level but expert scientist to assume a leading role in the fMRI-guided TMS speech cortical mapping (SCM) part of a wider project on language network (LANNET) at the Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering department and Helsinki University Hospital (HUH). In this position you will have a chance to make an impact in a field that is in the cutting edge of clinical technology.
Your role and goals
The role of the successful candidate will be to define the fMRI sequences for the object-naming experiments that will take place in the Advanced Magnetic Imaging (AMI) center, to analyze the results and participate in the navigated TMS speech cortical mapping. The analysis of the results includes the comparison with EEG and MEG and also the combination of these modalities in guiding the nTMS.
Your network and team
The project is the outcome of a successful consortium application funded by Academy of Finland (now Research Council of Finland). Consortium Leader is Adj. Prof. Pantelis Lioumis (Dr. Sc), who has been launching nTMS for SCM as a clinical tool and co-principal investigator is Dr. Selja Vaalto (MD, PhD), who is the principal physician for motor and speech cortical mapping studies for presurgical evaluation at HUH. Some of the work will be done in the AMI center and BioMag Laboratory under the supervision of Adj. Prof. Mia Liljeström (Dr. Sc) and Prof. Hanna Renvall (Director of BioMag Lab; MD, PhD), respectively. In the later phases of the project, the fMRI guidance will be translated into the highly innovative multi-locus technology that our TMS group in NBE is currently developing (Prof. Risto Ilmoniemi).
Your experience and ambitions
The successful candidate should have:
- Experience in MRI and fMRI operation
- Knowledge in sequence development for fMRI
- Computational skills and experience in Python, Matlab, FreeSurfer, fMRIprep or other preprocessing tools for fMRI
- Degree in Linguistics, or Neuropsychology, or Engineering, or Physics or Medicine
- TMS experimental skills will be considered as advantage
- Excellent skills in English is required
- Finnish or Swedish languages are not required
Requirements for the Doctoral Researcher applicants
The doctoral researcher applicants must fulfill the admission requirements for the Aalto Doctoral Programme in Science. You are expected to apply for and to be granted a right to pursue doctoral studies at Aalto University. More information on the general requirements and the Doctoral Programme in Science
https://www.aalto.fi/en/programmes/aalto-doctoral-programme-in-science
Please check the student information, admission criteria and pay attention to the required (English) language proficiency.
What we offer
- The duration of the position is 3 to 4 years. However, following the standard Aalto´s practice, the PhD student position contract will be made initially for two years, then extended to another two years after a successful mid-term progress review.
- The annual workload of research and teaching staff at Aalto University is 1612 hours. Aalto University follows the salary system of Finnish universities. The starting salary for Doctoral researchers is approximately 2690 € per month (gross), and it increases as you progress in your research and studies. The postdoc salary starts from approx.4100€/month. The contract includes Aalto University occupational healthcare.
- Innovative and high-edge technological environment. Our department NBE is pioneering in magnetoencephalography and brain stimulation techniques. This time, our TMS group works on the unique multi-locus technology and its commercialization. You will have the opportunity to be involved in applying mTMS into SCM, but also to get acquainted with any of our other than fMRI technologies (MEG, EEG, nTMS and mTMS), guided and instructed by some of the best in all these fields.
- Responsible and meaningful role with true impact in our University’s success, and in the end, in the wellbeing and development of our society. In NBE, we work on developing our innovative technologies into clinically meaningful and useful techniques. You will have the opportunity to work in clinical and environment such as BioMag laboratory, get acquainted with clinical habits and routines and also follow all the steps in the chain of SCM for presurgical evaluation, which includes interaction with real problems, patients, but also clinical neurophysiologists and neurosurgeons.
- Culture that inspires and includes everyone. All our work is guided by the values of the university: responsibility, courage, and collaboration. It’s the people that create Aalto, now and in the future. We want to be an open community where equality and inclusion enable curiosity, innovation, collaboration and well-being.
- Support, coaching and sparring when you feel you need it. In this project and part of it we are wishing that you will help us apply advanced fMRI sequences and result in high accuracy speech network identification and localization. However, we are happy and proud to teach, guide and support every step for your scientific development, but also academic career.
- Great possibilities for competence development and learning. We constantly keep learning to find the most impactful ways to empower - and invest in - our people. In NBE and in Aalto, the possibilities for development are continuous. Besides the opportunity to meet and collaborate with top experts in the field of neuroscience and brain stimulation, many industrial and business projects and opportunities are available throughout the academic year.
- Aalto University offers a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care, flexible working hours, excellent sports facilities on campus and several restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts. The position is located at the Aalto University Otaniemi campus which can be easily reached by public transport.
For more information about living in Finland:
https://www.aalto.fi/en/careers-at-aalto/living-in-finland
https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/welcome-to-aalto-university-and-finland-info-package
Join us!
To apply, please submit the following application materials
as a single PDF document
at latest 5 November 2023 through our recruitment system, using the link ("Apply now!”):
All application materials should be in English.
- Motivation letter (max 2 pages)
- CV (max 3 pages)
- 2 letters of reference
- Transcript of doctoral study for applying to postdoc position; both transcripts of MSc and BSc studies for applying PhD student position
- The degree certificate of your latest degree. If you are applying for a postdoc position and don’t yet have a PhD degree or for a PhD student position and don’t have a Master's degree, a plan of completion must be submitted.
Please note: Aalto University’s employees and visitors should apply for the position via our internal system Workday à Internal Jobs by using their existing Workday user account.
The call is open until suitable candidates have been identified. We will go through applications, and we may invite suitable candidates to interview already during the application period. You will hear from us the latest in the second week of December. We aim to have a transparent and equal recruitment process, so feel free to ask us for feedback.
For additional information
Enquiries on the position kindly contact
Research Fellow Pantelis Lioumis (firstname.lastname@aalto.fi).
For submission related enquiries, contact,
HR partner Jenni Ståhl (firstname.lastname@aalto.fi)
Aalto University reserves the right to leave the position open, extend the application period, reopen the application process, and consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.
Työpaikkailmoitus suomeksi löytyy täältä:
https://www.aalto.fi/fi/palvelut/tutkijatohtori-tai-vaitoskirjatutkija-aivojen-puhe-ja-kieliverkkojen-kartoituksen-tutkiminen
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