PhD position (3 years) - Kathrin Ohla

The
German Institute of Human Nutrition
Potsdam-Rehbruecke
a member of the Leibniz association, invites applications for a
PhD position (3 years)
The position is available in the “Psychophysiology of food perception” group (Dr. Kathrin
Ohla; Department of Molecular Genetics).
The group studies the brain mechanisms underlying food perception, food preference and
food choice in humans. We combine psychological (e.g. psychological assessements) and
psychophysiological (e.g. electrodermal responses, electroencephalography/EEG) but also
endocrine and genetic measures to tackle our research questions.
Key research questions are:
• How are gustatory and olfactory food-related stimuli processed by the brain?
• How is information from different sensory channels (e.g. yellow color and sweet taste)
integrated to form a unitary percept (e.g. banana)?
• Which roles play prior experience and learning on the formation of individual food
preferences and hedonic perception?
• What are the psychphysiological bases of inter-individual differences in food
perception?
Tasks:
• The successful applicant will design and conduct experiments, aquire data, perform
analyses (incl. writing scripts using EEGLAB/Matlab), maintain records, and present
results at national and international conference and publish scientific papers.
• Applicants can select between several ongoing research projects, or to initiate their
own project within the framework of the group’s research interests.
Requirements:
• M.Sc. in psychology, cognitive or computational neuroscience, biomedical
engineering, or a related field
• Experience in at least one of the following and the willingness to aquire the others:
o experimental research methods (e.g. sensory testing, psychophysics, EEG ect.)
o conducting empirical studies incl. data collection and statistical analyses
o programming (e.g. Matlab)
• Very good English speaking and writing skills
• High degree of curiosity, motivation, self-organization, and team-orientation and
strong interest in scientific work
• Interest in the development and implementation of new analysis and/or stimulation
methods will be a plus
Benefits:
• Excellent working conditions in a scientific laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment
(e.g. multichannel EEG, computer-controlled gustometry and olfactometry,
experimental kitchen, ect.) at an excellent multidisciplinary research center
(www.dife.de/en)
• Possibility for national and international research visits
• Financial support for conference visits
• Enrollment in a local Ph.D. program

• Payment according to the terms of the collective agreement “Tarifvertrag für den
öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (TV-L, EG 13, 50%)”
The start date is July 1, 2012 or later. Review of applications starts immediately and will
continue until the position is filled.
Please contact Dr. Kathrin Ohla (mail@kathrinohla.net) for further information on the
position or for detailed information on the research projects.
Please send your application (motivation letter, CV, the names and contact details of one
reference and, if applicable, own work such as Master’s Thesis or list of publications as a
single PDF file with PsyFood_yourName as the file name) to:
personalreferat@dife.de
Paper applications should be sent to:
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke
Personnel Department
Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114 – 116
D-14558 Nuthetal
Germany