PhD Position Data Science
Description
PhD position in Data Science within an interdisciplinary and international project aimed at developing and validating digital proxies for reward, motivation, and impulsivity (RM&I). The candidate contributes to establishing the evidence base for digital measures and investigates their relationship with neurobiological markers within a transdiagnostic precision medicine framework.
Job requirements
- Completed Master's degree in a relevant field, such as data science, artificial intelligence, computer science, neuroscience, psychology, biomedical sciences, medicine, epidemiology, health sciences, or a related discipline.
- Strong interest in applying quantitative and computational approaches in biomedical or clinical research.
- Experience with statistical analysis and/or data science.
- Programming skills, preferably in R and/or Python.
- Interested in digital phenotyping, digital biomarkers, behavioral data, or other digital measures.
- Ability to critically evaluate and synthesize scientific literature.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Good scientific writing and communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and contribute effectively to an interdisciplinary team.
- Excellent written and spoken command of English.
Experience with one or more of the following subjects is an advantage:
- Systematic reviews of evidence synthesis
- Longitudinal or cohort data analysis
- Multimodal or multi-omics data
- Machine learning or other data science methods
- Digital phenotyping or development of digital biomarkers/proxies
- Neuroimaging, electrophysiology or other neurobiological measures
- Behavioral or cognitive measures
- Reproducible research and open science practices
- Research related to MDD, AD, obesity, RM&I or related transdiagnostic constructs
Tasks
- Systematically synthesize existing literature and evidence on digital proxies relevant to RM&I.
- Using data science approaches to develop, characterize, and evaluate RM&I-related digital proxies.
- Applying digital proxies to analyses within longitudinal and clinical datasets to identify meaningful patterns across individuals and disease courses.
- Test hypotheses regarding relationships between digital proxies and neurobiological markers, and where possible integrate digital, behavioral, clinical, and neurobiological measures.
- Investigate the clinical and transdiagnostic relevance of digital proxies and assess whether they can complement existing biomarkers and outcome measures.
- Collaborating with researchers working on longitudinal cohort analyses, clinical trials, biomarker research, and evidence synthesis.
- Present results at international conferences and publish in peer-reviewed journals.
- Contribute to scientific output and project activities and participate in PhD training and professional development activities.
Working conditions
- Full-time appointment for a duration of 48 months.
- Possibility to arrange hours flexibly in exchange for more or fewer hours off.
- Year-end bonus of 8,3% and 8% holiday allowance.
- Extensive opportunities for personal and professional development.
- Participation in promotional training and professional development activities.
Description of the organization
The University of Groningen is a top European university where interdisciplinary research and education are central. The Faculty of Science and Engineering offers education and research across a wide range of disciplines and collaborates closely with partners from industry, healthcare, and society.
You will be embedded in an interdisciplinary research environment and work as part of an international consortium. The research environment includes collaborations in the fields of longitudinal and multimodal datasets, clinical trials, biomarker development, evidence synthesis, and stakeholder engagement.