The Neural Dynamics (CATNIP) Lab, led by Memming Park at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal, is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to extract organizing principles of neural computation from large-scale neural and behavioral time series.

Research Focus

We study how nonlinear dynamical systems implement computation in the brain, and how these principles generalize across individuals, tasks, and recording modalities. A central theme is short-horizon prediction: predicting latent neural states hundreds of milliseconds into the future while animals engage in meaningful behavior, to understand the structure of the underlying dynamics and what is being computed.

Representative work: Meta-dynamical state space models for integrative neural data analysis (ICLR 2025).

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for a researcher with strong data science skills, a solid publication record, and experience in neuroscience. Ideal candidates will have a PhD in computational neuroscience, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, machine learning, statistics, or a related quantitative field. We especially welcome applicants from signal processing, control theory, or Bayesian machine learning backgrounds.

Research Environment

The postdoc will join a vibrant, interdisciplinary research community at Champalimaud, with close collaboration opportunities with many computational and systems neuroscience PIs including, but by no means limited to, Christian Machens, Juan Gallego, and Joe Paton. The postdoc will be assigned an independent mentoring PI to support their scientific and career development.

How to Apply

Please submit your application through our application form:

1. CV (including publication list)
2. Brief cover letter describing your research interests and fit
3. Contact information for 2–3 references

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Start date is flexible.

This position is also listed on EURAXESS and COSYNE 2026 Job Board.