Christian Keysers

ERC-funded postdoctoral opportunity in Neuropixels / high-density extracellular electrophysiology at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, within the Social Brain Lab led by Christian Keysers . The project, HarmAversion , asks how mammalian brains learn to avoid actions that harm others and combines rodent behavior, computational modeling, circuit manipulations, optogenetics, and cross-species social neuroscience. The postdoc will lead the large-scale electrophysiology arm of the project, recording from rats and mice performing harm-aversion decision tasks. The research is explicitly focused on linking neural population activity to computationally defined hidden variables such as prediction errors, action values, outcome weights, learning rates, uncertainty, attention/arousal, and engagement/response vigor. This is a specialist systems/computational neuroscience role. The lab is seeking candidates with substantial hands-on experience in Neuropixels or comparable high-density extracellular recordings, including acquisition, spike sorting, quality control, and population-level analysis. Prior publications or preprints documenting this experience are strongly preferred. This is not an entry-level electrophysiology position. The position is expected to start in late 2026 or early 2027, with some flexibility. International candidates are welcome. The post is linked to a conference poster and an expression-of-interest process before the formal vacancy opens. To apply, prepare a CV, Google Scholar/ORCID/publication links, and a short 3–5 sentence summary of your exact hands-on role in Neuropixels or comparable high-density extracellular electrophysiology. Submit your interest through the provided Google Form or contact Christian Keysers by email.