King's College London

About us

Whilst genes provide the initial template for the nervous system, environmental experiences can create life-long changes in brain structure. We investigate how the brain forms during embryonic development and early life. Understanding brain development will not only inform us about individual variability - why are we different from each other - but also about the origin of pathological conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

Our centre is committed to educating the public through a range of forums and education programmes. We are led by Professor Oscar Marín, who is also Director of the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join the Kostadinov lab to investigate how the cerebellum collaborates with the rest of the brain in the learning and execution of learned, goal-directed behaviours.

Successful applicants should have a PhD in Neuroscience or related subject with a specific preference for candidates with a background in rodent (ideally mouse) behavioural, neurophysiology, and systems-level analysis. Other relevant biomedical background, such as medical training and experience with fMRI analysis, are highly desirable.

The candidate will lead a research program aiming to map the organizational logic of connections between the cerebellum and brain regions involved in reward- and punishment-based learning, uncover shared activity patterns in these long-range circuits, and define causal contributions of the cerebellar activity patterns and wiring to computations in partner regions and to behaviour. Expertise in rodent behavioural training, population level electrophysiological recordings in behaving animals, optogenetics and chemogenetics, and analysis of neurophysiological data are crucial for the successful candidate.

As some of the founding members of Kostadinov laboratory, the successful candidate will have to opportunity to be intimately involved in the design, execution, and analysis of the research project. They will also receive regular career mentorship and advice from the lab’s supervisor. The applicant will also have the opportunity to collaborate with and mentor PhD students working in the lab, and they will present their findings at regularly at domestic and international scientific conferences. Ultimately, their findings will be published as scientific papers in high-quality research journals.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31/12/2027.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the  Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. PhD in neuroscience or related subjects (including quantitative sciences such as engineering, mathematics, or physics)*
2. Experience with rodent behavioural training and analysis in appetitive or aversive conditioning tasks.
3. Experience with rodent surgical techniques for neurophysiology and activity manipulation experience (e.g. cannula implantation).
4. Experience with recording and analyzing neurophysiological signals in awake behaving rodents using e.g. extracellular electrodes, imaging, or patch-clamp electrophysiology.
5. Experience with manipulations of neural activity during behaviour using optogenetics and / or chemogenetics.
6. Strong programming skills in Python or Matlab.

Desirable criteria

1. Additional biomedical experience such as medical training and working with fMRI data
2. Strong communication skills and passion to disseminate research findings, including a track record of writing and publishing scientific articles.
3. A willingness to problem-solve and execute experiments and analysis independently.
4. An ability to work collaboratively as part of a research team and share expertise with fellow researchers.
5. Experience of immunofluorescence and fluorescent imaging systems.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

   This post is subject to an Occupational Health clearance.