The University of Bonn is an international research university with a wide education and research profile. With a 200-year history, approximately 31,500 students, more than 6,000 staff, and an excellent reputation at home and abroad, the University of Bonn is one of the most important universities in Germany and is recognized as a university of excellence.
Starting on September 1, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter, and limited to a fixed term contract, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience at University of Bonn1 is looking to recruit a PhD student (65% FTE) to undertake high quality research and produce high-impact publications in a research project investigating the cognitive mechanisms of human decision-making under threat. The goal of the advertised position is to design, conduct, and analyse behavioural experiments in fully-immersive, wireless virtual reality. See here2 for an example of our previous research.
The goal of the advertised position is to understand human human behaviour in dangerous situations, usingan immersive virtual reality (VR) environment3. The role includes
- designing experiments, based on our previous theoretical work on the challenges of critical intelligence (Brochard et al. 20254)
- using the existing VRthreat toolkit for Unity (Brookes et al. 2023), to implement suitable VR scenarios
- conducting experiments and supervising student research assistants
- analysing movement and eye-tracking data using existing R libraries
- publication of research and development results, as well as code and data
- maintenance of Unity and R packages, and supervising student programmers
- maintenance of laboratory equipment, in collaboration with a research technician
See here5 for an example of our previous research with single-player games.
We offer:
- a varied and challenging position with one of the biggest employers in the area,
- participation in the university-wide pension system (VBL),
- access to the extensive university sports program,
- easy access to the public transport system due to the central location in Bonn as well as the possibility to use inexpensive parking facilities,
- flexible working hours,
- competitive salary based on the German public service salary scale (E13 TV-L).
Applicants should be
- enthusiastic about understanding decision-making
- excited about experimental research in virtual reality
- a current or recent (< 2 years) MSc graduate in neuroscience, psychology, natural sciences, engineering, or a related area
- fluent in at least one programming language, preferably R
- experienced with human behavioural experiments
The long-term aim of our research group is to understand the computational neurobiology of human threat avoidance, i.e., acute escape as well as medium- and long-term threat forecasting. We believe this understanding is important to deliver better treatment for mental health conditions such as anxiety and trauma-related disorders. Our research strongly builds on computational modelling of behaviour and neural systems, machine-learning methods, and research automation by design. Our team culture is collaborative, agile, and shaped by technical sophistication. We believe in open, reproducible, and sustainable precision science. We host a state-of-the-art virtual reality and motion capture lab, and have access to human neuroimaging facilities (3 T and 7 T MRI, MEG, EEG).
The successful candidate will be based at the University of Bonn, Campus Endenich6, in direct vicinity to natural and computer science departments including computer graphics. The University of Bonn is an internationally leading research university, providing an intellectually stimulating environment. The positions are available from September 2025 for an initial appointment of two years with potential for extension, depending on successful performance of research and publications. University of Bonn is committed to diversity and encourages applications from underrepresented groups.
The city of Bonn is a thriving university city with high quality of life. Bonn is the former capital of West Germany, and today hosts many government agencies as well as various international organisations, including 20 United Nations institutions, and multinational enterprises. Almost every local speaks English. Bonn hosts the headquarters of the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases7, 4 Max Planck Institutes8, and several Fraunhofer Institutes in computer science-related topics. Bonn is scenically located at the entrance to the middle Rhine Valley, with ancient hilltop castles bordering its southern suburbs.
The University of Bonn is committed to diversity and equal opportunity. It is certified as a family-friendly university and has a dual career service. It aims to increase the proportion of women in areas where women are underrepresented and to particularly facilitate their careers. Therefore, the University of Bonn strongly encourages applications from qualified women. Applications will be handled in accordance with the State Equality Act („Landesgleichstellungsgesetz”). Applications from qualified individuals with a certified severe disability and from those of equal status are particularly welcome.
If you are interested in this position, please submit your complete application documents (a current CV, a personal statement describing their experience and interests, contact information for three referees, and links to any published code) combined into one single pdf-file by 15.06.2025 to our office address (caian.office@uni-bonn.de) quoting the reference number 2025/30. For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Dominik Bach (d.bach@uni-bonn.de).
Links
- https://www.caian.uni-bonn.de/en/home
- https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(23)02317-9
- https://osf.io/2b3k7/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763425002131?via%3Dihub
- https://psyarxiv.com/z52tq/
- https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/about-the-university/locations-1/locations?set_language=en
- https://www.dzne.de/en
- https://www.mpg.de/en