Phd Candidate Position

**INFORMATION ABOUT THE POSITION** - **Position**: PhD student - **Researcher Profile**:First Stage Researcher (R1- up to the point of PhD) - **Number of vacancies**: 1 - **Project**:ERC Consolidator Grant - BIBALANCE: Early bilingualism boosts the brain's resilience to dyslexia. - **Location**: Spain > Donostia-San Sebastián - **Research Field**:Biomedical Engineering - **Type of contract/Duration of Contract**:Temporary: 4 years. - **Job Status**:Full-time - **Hours per week**:35 - **Starting date**:September 2025 (flexible) - **Ending date**:30th of June 2025 **Information about the project**:The **Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL)** is offering a **PhD position** within the **BIBALANCE** project, recently funded by the **European Research Council (ERC)**. The project aims to investigate the impact of early bilingualism on the brain’s resilience to dyslexia. Specifically, we will examine whether bilingualism can help mitigate early genetic susceptibility to dyslexia by following bilingual children with and without a family history of dyslexia, from before the start of formal reading instruction (the final year of kindergarten) through to two years after (end of Grade 2), when dyslexia can be reliably diagnosed. To achieve this objective, we will use both behavioural and neuroimaging techniques, including MEG and MRI. **Job description**: - Designing and implementing a longitudinal study in young bilingual children with and without familiar risk of dyslexia - Analysing functional and structural brain recordings - Writing research papers under the supervision of the PI, aiming to publish at top-tier journals - Dissemination of results at international scientific conferences **PI and research group**: The project will be carried out in close collaboration with researchers from the Infant Language and Cognition Research Group and the Neurobiology of Language Research Group at the BCBL. - **CANDIDATE PROFILE AND SELECTION CRITERIA** **Requirements**: - Good knowledge of the field of cognitive neuroscience and/or linguistics, experimental psychology - Master’s (or equivalent) degree in Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Linguistics, and/or other relevant areas - Experience with brain signal analyses - Strong background in experiment programming and statistical analyses - Excellent written and oral communication skills in English **Desirable skills**: - Previous experience in participating in research projects (e.g., data collection, analysis) is desired - Experience with research projects in children - Knowledge of Basque and Spanish (or willingness to learn) is a plus - **WORKING CONDITIONS** **Salary**:21,000€/year gross on average across the four years of the contract **Training opportunities and Career development plan**: Researchers at any stage of their career, regardless of their contractual situation, are given an opportunity for professional development and for improving their employability through access to a Personal Career Development Plan which includes (1) Training through individually personalized research projects under senior supervision (2) Exchanging knowledge with the scientific community and the general public (3) Network-wide training in theory and methods (4) Complementary training courses (5) Involvement in proposal writing, task coordination (6) Development of skills for the organization of training and scientific events BCBL seeks to foster an **environment** where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support contact us. - **OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION** **Language policy** - The corporative language at the Center is English - The center provides initial level Spanish and Basque lessons to all the international staff members - The interview will be conducted entirely in English - **APPLICATION PROCESS** - A curriculum vitae - Transcript of records for the master and bachelor degrees - Two letters of recommendation Learn more about the BCBL’s OTM-R policy **Timeline**: - Evaluation by committee: 1/07/2025 - 15/07/2025 - Interviews: 16/07/2025-25/07/2025 - Final decision: 28/07/2025 - Feedback to all applicants: 30/07/2025 - Work contract start date: 01/09/2025