Call for Fellowships: Winter Term 2019-2020 & Summer Term 2020


Deadline for applications: May 31st, 2019

The Center for Mind and Cognition is a platform at the Ruhr-University Bochum that aims to foster interdisciplinary research at the intersection of philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, computational modelling, neuroscience and other areas of cognitive research in engineering, law and educational research. We are pleased to announce an international call for fellowships from September 1st 2019 until July 31st 2020 aimed at outstanding researchers.

We are flexible concerning the exact visiting period. People who did receive a fellowship do not qualify for further application.

Fellowship No. 1: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month) or Junior Fellowship (2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

Animal Cognition

Senior applicants are expected to work at least on the level of an associate professor and should be able to connect with the animal studies in the lab of Prof. Onur Güntürkün. They must have an outstanding publication record based on animal studies. We expect strong interdisciplinary interests and the publications should also contribute to the theoretical understanding of animal minds. Junior applicants must have a PhD and at least published four articles in peer-reviewed journals, two of which are dealing with theoretical accounts concerning animal cognition. Please send your application as well as requests for further information to Prof. Dr. Onur Güntürkün (onur.guentuerkuen@rub.de) or Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (albert.newen@rub.de)

Fellowship No. 2: Short-term Senior Fellowship (2 weeks: 1500 Euro)

Episodic Memory and Spatial Representation

The hippocampus is commonly studied as if it has disparate functions in different species: episodic memory in humans and spatial representation in rodents and other species. The fellow should be able to contribute towards a conceptual and/or computational theory that accounts for both functions in a single unified framework. Applicants should have strong interdisciplinary interests across neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. They must hold a PhD and have published at least three peer-reviewed articles on a related topic. Please direct inquiries and applications to Prof. Dr. Sen Cheng (sen.cheng@rub.de).

Fellowship No. 3: Junior Fellowship (1-2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

Philosophy of Perception and/or (Formal) Epistemology

The Emmy Noether Research Group ‘From Perception To Belief and Back Again’ and the Center for Mind and Cognition (both located at Ruhr-University Bochum) invite applications for a one or two months fellowship in philosophy of perception and/or formal epistemology.

Applicants must have been awarded a doctoral degree and they must have a publication record in at least one of the mentioned areas of research. The applicant for the fellowship is expected to work at least on the level of postdoc. Ideally, the research the applicant indents to conduct during the fellowship is relevant for the research conducted by the Emmy Noether Research Group ‘From Perception To Belief and Back Again’ or by one of its members. (https://fromperceptiontobelief.wordpress.com)

The Emmy Noether Research Group conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of epistemology and cognitive science. We regularly host workshops, research seminars, and international guest researchers and we, thus, offer a highly productive research environment. The successful candidate will have access to the university library, computer resources, and will be provided with an office space during her or his research stay. In addition, the successful candidate will be welcome to participate in all the intellectual activities of the Institute of Philosophy II, of the Center for Mind and Cognition, and of the Emmy Noether Research Group.

For further information and for submitting your application, please contact the principal investigator Peter Brössel (perception-belief@rub.de).

Fellowship No. 4: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month) or Junior Fellowship (2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

Predictive Processing

Senior applicants are expected to work at least on the level of an associate professor and should be able to connect with the work in the team of Prof. Tobias Schlicht. They should have an outstanding publication record in the area of philosophy of mind and/or cognitive science. Junior applicants should have a PhD and at least published four articles in peer-reviewed journals. Please send your application as well as requests for further information to Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht (tobias.schlicht@rub.de).

Fellowship No. 5: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month) or Junior Fellowship (1-2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

Episodic Memory and the Self

The fellowship can either realized in experimental neuroscience or in philosophical theory formation: In the former case the fellow is supposed to work with the method of fMRI investigating either aspects of memory or of self-consciousness. In the latter case, the fellow is supposed to contribute to the theory of the interaction between memory and the self: how is episodic memory recall shaped by the self-model? How and to which extent is the self constituted by episodic memory?

The experimental fellowship is especially connected with the chair of Prof. Dr. Nikolai Axmacher. The theoretical fellowship is especially connected with chair of Prof. A. Newen. Both prinicple investigators are closely interacting concerning this research area and the fellow will be integrated in a DFG-research unit “Conbstructing Scenarios of the Past”. Please send applications to: Prof. Dr. Nikolai Axmacher (nikolai.axmacher@ruhr-uni-bochum.de) and Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (albert.newen@rub.de)

Fellowship No. 6: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month) or Junior Fellowship (1-2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

Experimental Legal Philosophy and Moral Psychology

The fellow is supposed to work with the method of experimental philosophy (i.e. questionaires) to secure empirical foundations for theoretical claims.

The content area of research is ideally either in the area of legal philosoophy in a broad sense or in the area of moral psychology discussing questions of responsibility, accountability, autonomy, free will etc. The fellowship is especially connected with the chair of Prof. Dr. Stefan Magen. It is also beneficial if the research is able to connect with the experimental philosophy going at the Institut of Philosophy II (Prof. A. Newen, Dr. P. Willemsen, Prof. J. Horvath, Dr. A. Wiegmann). Please send applications to: Prof. Dr. Stefan Magen (magen@rub.de) and Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (albert.newen@rub.de)

Fellowship No. 7: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month)

Cognitive Development and Developmental Psychopathology in Early Childhood

The fellow is supposed to work in the area of development psychology or developmental psychopathology with babies, infants or children. Ideally, the Fellows’ multi-method research will address the role of memory processes, learning and social understanding with a focus on normative and abnormal development. Links between the Fellows’ research and the theoretical research on social cognition at the Institute of Philosophy II (Prof. Dr. Albert Newen, Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht) are encouraged. The scholarship is linked to the chair of Prof. Dr. Silvia Schneider and Prof. Dr. Sabine Seehagen.

Please send applications to: Prof. Dr. Silvia Schneider (silvia.schneider@rub.de) and Prof. Dr. Sabine Seehagen (sabine.seehagen@rub.de)

Fellowship No. 8: Senior Fellowship (1 month: 3000 Euro/month) or Junior Fellowship (1-2 months: 2000 Euro/month)

The Relevance of AI-Tools in Social Interaction and Learning Environments

The fellow is supposed to work empircially with innovative AI-tools in typical context of social interaction including e.g. educational settings but it may also concern everyday interaction in different contexts. The proposed work under the fellowship, in collaboration with researchers at RUB, is expected to promote a vision of dynamically-differentiated, AI-supported social interaction (e.g. in school education between teachers, students/peers, and AI agents), and to further our understanding of how to design for effective AI-based “co-orchestration” that leverages complementary strengths of different stateholdes in social interaction.

The fellowship is especially connected with the chair of Prof. Dr. Nikol Rummel at RUB. It is also beneficial if the research is able to connect with theoretical research on understanding social cognition going at the Institut of Philosophy II (Prof. A. Newen). Please send applications to: Prof. Dr. Nikol Rummel (nikol.rummel@rub.de ) and Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (albert.newen@rub.de)

General Information: Fellowships & Applications

All fellows are invited to deliver a fellow lecture and will have the opportunity to meet members of the Center for Mind & Cognition.

Applications should include:

  1. A (brief) letter of application including personal information academic background, and research interests (please indicate the number of and the title of the fellowship you apply for).
  2. A brief proposal for a research project (1-2 pages) if the fellowship is planned for at least one month.
  3. CV including a list of publications, talks, conferences attended and teaching experience.
  4. One representative article as PDF document.
  5. Only for applicants for a junior fellowship: one letter of recommendation addressing the applicants’ qualification for a research project. This should be sent from the referees directly or through a letter service.

All documents of the candidate should be sent electronically. We regret that we will not be able to return any submitted material.