Postdoc Researcher in Music Cognition

Are you looking for a postdoctoral position where you can combine insights from music cognition with biology and the cognitive sciences? If you are excited about doing this kind of research in an interdisciplinary environment, with a team of smart and friendly colleagues, then you may want to join us.

About ILLC
The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) currently has a vacant Postdoc researcher position as part of the project ‘Unravelling our capacity for music’ (NWO-OC 406.20.CW.002), led by prof. dr Henkjan Honing. This research project aims to identify the constituent traits of our capacity for music.

The ILLC is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR), and aims at bringing together insights from various fields concerned with information and information processing, such as computational linguistics, computer science, cognitive science, music, logic, mathematicians, and philosophy. It offers a friendly international research environment with world-class faculty in all of its areas of specialization, including music cognition and computational musicology. We are based in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, renowned for its historic system of canals, its laid-back cosmopolitan atmosphere, and its excellent connections to the rest of Europe and the world.

What are you going to do?
The postdoc will, under the guidance of the project leader, contribute to Work Package 5 (WP5) “Towards an integrated theory of musicality and its origins” in which we will evaluate and integrate the most recent evidence from both cross-cultural and cross-species studies on the capacity for music, reaching out from music cognition to related fields like comparative musicology, evolutionary musicology, and cognitive biology.The overall aim will be to relate our findings to those of other fields, and to jointly explore the implications of the existing and novel findings for cognitive theories of the origins of musicality.Such a broader synthesis will also incorporate findings in other taxa (most notably primates, pinnipeds, and birds), considered crucial to researchers concerned with the biological basis of musicality. This comparison will further our insights in which features of musicality are exclusive to humans (or to other species) and which are shared between humans and non-human animals (see the full project description at the MCG website under the tab Research).

Your tasks and responsibilities:

• Contribute to the research as described in the project proposal, especially WP5 (see doi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/YXFV4)
• Participate in and contribute to the organisation of research activities and events at the ILLC, such as workshops and colloquia;
• To publish in a high level international journal, present at a leading conference and participate in the supervision of PhD and master students on related projects;
• Co-organize an international symposium on the origins of music/ality.

What do you have to offer?
Your experience and profile

Candidates need to have the following qualifications:

• A PhD in cognitive science, biology, music cognition or related field;
• A strong scientific expertise in one or more of these areas: behavioural or evolutionary biology, music perception, developmental psychology and/or cognitive sciences of music;
• The ability and willingness to work in an interdisciplinary team, with regular exchanges with a team of experts and collaborators;
• Excellent English skills and ability to write and present scientific results.

Please note that knowledge of the Dutch language is not required for this position. However, if you wish, there are opportunities to attend Dutch language classes.

What can we offer you?
The Postdoc researcher will be appointed at the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences of the Faculty of Humanities and will conduct the research in ILLC. The employment will be for 15 months. The employment contract is for 38 hours a week. The preferred starting date is 01 February 2025.

Your salary, depending on relevant experience on commencement of the employment contract, ranges between € 4,227 to € 5,331 (scale 10) gross per month on the basis of a full working week of 38 hours. This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8,3% year-end allowance. Favourable tax agreements may apply to applicants moving from abroad. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

What else do we offer?

• Excellent possibilities for further professional development and education;
• An enthusiastic and professional academic team;
• An inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam;
• The opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers at research institutes that - partly as a result of their interdisciplinary approach - are world renowned.

About us
The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application. You can apply online via the link below. We will accept applications until 01 December 2024.

Your application should include the following information:

• A curriculum vitae (max two pages, font size 12), including a link to your PhD thesis, and the names, affiliations, and email addresses of two referees;
• A letter of motivation (max 1 page, font size 12), explaining why you are a good fit to this position;

Please submit the required information in 1 pdf by uploading in the required field ‘CV’. The first round of interviews will be held in the second week of December 2024.

If you have any questions about the position or the department, please contact during office hours:

Prof. dr H. Honing, H.J.Honing@uva.nl