University assistant predoctoral

Among the many good reasons to want to research and teach at the University of Vienna, there is one in particular, which has convinced around 7,500 academic staff members so far. They see themselves as personalities who need space for their continuous striving and curiosity in order to be able to be scientifically successful. Does that sound like something for you? Welcome to our team!
The Faculty of Psychology consists of the Dean’s office and the studies service center, as well as Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Department of Occupational, Economic and Social Psychology, the Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology the Outpatient Unit for Research, Teaching and Practice. Currently, nearly 3,500 students of Psychology are enrolled in Bachelor's, Master's and PhD programmes, attending nearly 200 courses per semester, which are taught and supervised by 220 teachers.
As a university assistant prae doc, you will join the Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology.

The Department consists of approximately 100 staff members organized in eight research units with fMRI, EEG, fNIRS, VR, eye-tracking, physiology, and brain stimulation facilities. The interdisciplinary Methods of Psychology team (https://meth-psy.univie.ac.at/) currently consists of several post-doctoral and PhD students with backgrounds in psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, computer science, engineering, and physics. The focus of our research is to develop new neurotechnologies and AI tools to better understand psychological phenomena and to advance experimental therapies for debilitating psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Your personal sphere of influence:

For this position, we are seeking a candidate with a strong interest in leveraging advanced AI technologies to improve mental health solutions. These include developing interpretable machine learning models for accurate data predictions, applying NLP and LLMs to improve psychiatric diagnostics, and automating personalized exposure therapy with augmented reality to make mental health treatment more accessible and effective (https://meth-psy.univie.ac.at/research/forschungsbereich-prof-scharnowski/research-areas/). Candidates should have a very good university degree in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, physics, or related fields. Strong computational skills are required, e.g., Python and R. Fluency in English is a must; good knowledge of German is desireable. The ideal candidate will have experience in conducting and analyzing behavioral experiments, online experiments, statistical analyses, and programming.

Your future tasks:

As a new member of our team, you will actively participate in research, teaching & administration, which means:

• You will be involved in research projects and scientific studies in the area of applying computational methods, to psychological domains, with a particular focus on applications to anxiety disorders.
• You will be working on completing your dissertation (cumulative dissertation based on manuscripts).
• We expect you to finalize your dissertation agreement within 12-18 months.
• You will design, implement, and conduct experiments with human participants.
• You will apply computational modeling and AI tools to psychological and clinical data.
• You will teach courses independently within the scope of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
• You will take on administrative tasks in research, teaching, and administration.

This is part of your personality:

• Completed Master's degree in the field of psychology, cognitive science, data science, computer science, engineering, physics, or related fields

• Experience in academic writing and research methods

• Excellent communication skills

• Very strong IT skills

• Interest in emerging technologies

• Must be a team player

What we offer:

Work-life balance: Our employees enjoy flexible, family-friendly working hours, remote/hybrid and/or part-time work (upon agreement). 

Inspiring working atmosphere: You are a part of an international academic team in a healthy and fair working environment.

Good public transport connections: Your workplace in the center of beautiful Vienna is easily accessible by public transport..

Internal further training & Coaching: Opportunity to deepen your skills on an ongoing basis. There are over 600 courses to choose from – free of charge.

Fair salary: The basic salary of EUR 3578,80 (on a full-time basis) increases if we can credit professional experience. This position is a 30 hours/week position.

Predoc Contract Model 1: The employment duration is 3 years. Initially limited to 1.5 years, the employment relationship is automatically extended to 3 years if the employer does not terminate it within the first 12 months by submitting a declaration of non-extension. With appropriate work progress, an extension to a total maximum of 4 years is possible.

Equal opportunities for all: We look forward to diverse personalities in the team!

It is that easy to apply:

• With your scientific curriculum vitae / letter of intent
• A brief statement of your research interests
• Master Degree  /  Diploma
• With the names and contact details of 2 referees
• Via our  job portal/ Apply now -  button