PhD Job Opening*

within my Auditory Systems Research Group

at the Department of Biophysics

(* The position has been filled by an excellent candidate.)


I search a candidate with a strong background in (bio)physics, computational neuroscience, robotics, or neuro-informatics, to work as an Early-Stage Researcher on a PhD project within our European Research Project FP7-ITN NETT (Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies). EU regulations require that the candidate has not worked in the Netherlands for more than a year since Sept. 2009.

In our multidisciplinary research group (physicists, neurobiologists, biologists) we study the neural basis of sound localization behaviour and sound perception in primates (both humans and macaque monkeys), neural plasticity of sound-evoked orienting behaviour, audiovisual integration, the vestibular system, visual-vestibular interactions, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying rapid eye-head orienting toward sounds and visual stimuli.
See my
list of publications for more background information.


Project title: P4. Neurocomputational modeling of auditory-evoked eye-head orienting

Background: Neurophysiological recordings from the Van Opstal lab in the monkey auditory midbrain inferior colliculus (IC) and midbrain superior colliculus (SC) have yielded a wealth of information on sensorimotor integration in the sound-localisation and gaze-orienting pathways. We found how head-centred acoustic information is combined with information about eye movements at the level of single neurons in the IC (Zwiers et al., 2004; Versnel et al., 2009), and showed that this multiplexed information can mediate the transformation of the head-centred acoustic target location into an eye-centered goal for the localisation response, which is subsequently represented by a population of cells in the gaze-motor map of the SC (Hepp and Van Opstal, 1995; Goossens and Van Opstal, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2012). We demonstrated that cells in the SC population encode an optimal, straight and fast trajectory of the eye-head gaze shift. How biophysically realistic (spiking) neurons in a network can perform these dynamic transformations will be the main topic of this project.

As from September 2012, a PhD student can start on the new research project. For more details of NETT and how to apply for this project I refer to

the NETT site



The Department of Biophysics is housed together with the Department of Neuroinformatics (prof. Tiesinga) in the Neurophysics Unit, and participates within the renowned Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour of the Radboud University Nijmegen. The Department of Biophysics offers excellent facilities (5 experimental human setups: auditory, visual, vestibular, oculomotor) for PhD students and postdocs. It has its own computer support, electrotechnical and mechanical technicians, secretarial support, and a widely acknowledged scientific staff consisting of two professors (prof Kappen, prof Van Opstal), three associate profs (dr Van Wezel, dr Van Ee, dr Oostendorp), and one assistant prof (dr Goossens). Currently, ten PhD students and eight postdocs work in the Department. Master students and Bachelor students from the Physics and Biology curriculum, as well as from the Cognitive Neuroscience Master Graduate School of the Donders Institute participate in research internships for their thesis work.
The Faculty of Science houses high-end technical departments that construct and design unique experimental equipment (e.g. vestibular chairs, fine-mechanical recording tools, robots, etc.).
Finally, the department is strongly linked to the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, which is a world-leading research facility on Cognitive Neuroscience, housing two fMRI facilities, as well as EEG and MEG recording equipment.

Nijmegen is a pleasant University town (about 180000 inhabitants, of which 30000 students). It is the oldest city in the Netherlands (2000 years), with an interesting history dating back to the Roman Empire, nice surrounding scenery (rivers, hills, woods) and a rich cultural life.