Vacancy number
15945
Job type
PhD positions
Hours (in fte)
1,0
External/ internal
External
Location
Leiden
Contract type
Temporary
Placed on
4 September 2025
Closing date
14 September 2025 10 more days to apply
We are seeking a PhD student to join our interdisciplinary team and explore the complex relationship between behavior and brain health. This project focuses on developing novel measures of brain health by analyzing everyday behavioral patterns.
What you will do

WHERE YOU WILL WORK

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences consists of five institutes: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Political Science, and Psychology. The faculty has approximately 7000 students and 1000 staff members. Within the institutes, not only education is provided but also groundbreaking research is conducted that pushes the boundaries of our understanding of human behaviour and societal structures. What makes our faculty unique is the diversity of research topics, the various styles of teaching, and the way professional support is organized; this provides you with the opportunity to explore and develop your interests and expertise. Visit our website for an impression: Welcome to the Leiden Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences - Leiden University.
Institute of Psychology
The Institute of Psychology educates new generations to contribute to the challenges of our society, now and in the future, based on leading behavioral scientific research and education. This is achieved through collaboration both within and outside our institute in the field of Psychology and related research areas, both fundamental and applied. The broad bachelor’s program and a wide variety of master’s specializations also contribute to this goal. Within the institute and the academic community, there is a committed and passionate atmosphere. The themes of Health and Well-being, Social-Cognitive-Affective Decision Making, Development and Learning, and Advanced Behavioral Research Methods guide research and education. The institute values conducting these activities in a safe and inclusive environment and provides space for new developments such as open science, recognition and appreciation, and interdisciplinarity, which are anchored in its strategy. With approximately 5,000 students and 600 staff members, the institute includes the Institute Office, the Department of Bachelor Education, and 6 units for education and research: Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology, and Methodology and Statistics.
We are seeking a PhD student to join our small and focused team of researchers, dedicated to leveraging day-to-day behavior captured on smartphones to understand brain function. Our team is passionate about developing novel analytical frameworks to make these behavioral signals interpretable, using a wide range of approaches from EEG to complexity science. This project will focus on extending our research to people with epilepsy, in close collaboration with our clinical partners. We encourage you to review our latest publications to get an impression of our work.

WHAT YOU BRING

We are looking for a candidate with a strong track record in scientific exploration who is excited about our research. You should have:

• An MSc or equivalent degree in Neuroscience, Psychology, Data Science, or a related field.
• A keen interest in neuro-behavioral sciences and a passion for behavioral signals.
• Demonstrable experience in advanced data analysis and data collection.
• Familiarity with machine learning and proficiency in Python or MATLAB.
• Excellent communication skills; proficiency in Dutch is desirable but not required.
• The capacity to thrive in a complex and dynamic research environment.

If you immediately recognise yourself in this profile, or if do you not quite meet all the requirements, but you believe that this is the right job for you, we look forward to your application!

Your research will extend our work on smartphone interactions to people with epilepsy, investigating how significant life events—such as seizures or daily stressors—are reflected in day-to-day behavior. This long-term study will involve collecting behavioral, physiological, and brain measurements over several years from a large cohort.

As a PhD student in a new domain of research we expect you to:

• Conduct cutting-edge research in neuro-behavioral sciences using advanced analytical techniques.
• Collaborate with clinical researchers and collect data from a large cohort using diverse empirical tools.
• Analyze rich datasets to reveal how key events influence behavioral trajectories.
• Maintain transparent scientific records, including developing software repositories for data processing.
• Present your findings effectively to both academic peers and the general public.
• Contribute to academic excellence at Leiden University by assisting in teaching and supervising Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis projects.