Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab)

Champalimaud Foundation (Fundação D. Anna de Sommer Champalimaud e Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud), a private, non-profit research institution in Lisbon, Portugal, is looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Systems Neuroscience to join our team at the Champalimaud Neuroscience of disease Program.

How does the brain decide when to move? The same movement can be initiated by oneself or triggered by an external cue, and the two are not equally affected in Parkinson ́s disease: patients who struggle to start moving on their own can often move well when a cue is given. Why that happens is still unclear. DisSeCT, funded by an ERC Starting Grant, looks at the circuits that support self-paced and cued movement initiation, as a way to understand the cueing effect in Parkinson ́s disease. The project builds on our earlier work on dopamine and the initiation of self-paced movement.

The work is mostly hands-on in vivo neuroscience — surgery, behaviour, recordings and optogenetics in behaving mice — but you should be comfortable writing your own analysis code and thinking quantitatively about the data. The project is at its beginning and there is a lot of freedom in how it is carried out. We expect whoever takes it on to bring their own ideas, and we are glad for part of the work to be shaped around their own scientific interests.

We value creativity and people who are good team members. We offer a supportive environment, access to state-of-the-art techniques and platforms, and an international research community of over 400 scientists in Lisbon.

The selected candidate will:

- Take an active part in the design of experiments and in the intellectual direction of the project, including lines of work that may follow their own scientific interests.
- Carry out in vivo experiments in behaving mice, combining circuit-specific neural recordings (fibre photometry and high-density extracellular
electrophysiology) with optogenetic manipulation, in a task developed in the lab.
- Perform stereotaxic surgery, viral vector injections and chronic implants, and manage experimental mouse cohorts.
- Extend the same approach to a mouse model of Parkinson ́s disease.
- Write custom analysis code to process and model behavioural and neural data, including spike sorting, photometry signal analysis, video-based behavioural tracking and statistical modelling.
- Present results at international meetings and lead the writing of the resulting publications.
- Contribute to the supervision of students and to the day-to-day life of the lab.
 

Employer: Champalimaud Foundation
Department: Centre for Brain Research and Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab
Website: https://www.fchampalimaud.org/research/groups/alves-da-silva
Number and type of fellowships or contracts to be awarded: 1 postdoctoral research fellowship
Application start date: 20 October 2026
Application closing date: Open until fulfilled
Expected position starting date: January 2027 or sooner if possible
Required Education Level: PhD or equivalent doctoral degree

Requirements

Research Field: Neurosciences
Education Level: PhD or equivalent
 

Skills/Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

Applicants must hold, by the application closing date, a PhD in Systems Neuroscience or a related scientific area, and must demonstrate in their CV
(i) hands-on experience with in vivo experimental research in rodents and (ii) programming experience in Python or MATLAB applied to the analysis of experimental data.

Specific Requirements:

- PhD in Systems Neuroscience or a related scientific area, awarded by the application closing date.
- Experience with in vivo experimental research in rodents, including stereotaxic surgery and viral vector-based approaches.
- Experience with at least one technique for measuring neural activity in behaving animals (extracellular electrophysiology, fibre photometry or calcium imaging).
- Quantitative and programming skills: analysis of neural and/or behavioural data in Python or MATLAB,
- Peer-reviewed publication record commensurate with career stage, including at least one first-author research article.
- Demonstrated capacity to work independently and to drive a project, and a record of collaborative work.
- FELASA accreditation or equivalent for animal experimentation.
- Fluency in written and spoken English.

Desirable skills that will also be considered:

- Experience with optogenetics in behaving animals.
- Experience with head-fixed rodent behavioural paradigms, and with designing and building behavioural tasks (e.g. Bonsai, Python, Arduino, 3D design and printing).
- Experience with high-density silicon probe recordings and spike sorting.
- Experience with motor systems neuroscience.
- Experience with rodent models of Parkinson ́s disease or other neurodegenerative disorders.
- Experience with computational or statistical modelling of behaviour and neural activity (e.g. GLMs, state-space models, reinforcement learning models).

Languages: English, Excellent

Benefits

- Competitive remuneration package commensurate with skills, qualifications and experience.
- Full immersion into a research excellence ecosystem with highly motivated researchers, supported by state-of-the-art technology and continuous development opportunities.
- Monthly stipend of €2,500, paid as a research fellowship under the ‘Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação’, together with the support for enrolment in the Portuguese voluntary social security scheme (Seguro Social Voluntário) and personal accident insurance.
- Initial duration: 12 months, with the possibility of renewal up to the term of the DisSeCT project (30-09-2030)

Eligibility criteria

National, Foreign or Stateless candidate(s) who hold a Doctoral (PhD) degree in Neurosciences, Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, Psychology Areas or other related scientific areas and a scientific and professional curriculum that reveals a profile appropriate to the activity to be developed.

In case of PhD degrees awarded by foreign higher education institutions, the degree must comply with the provisions of Decree-Law No. 341/2007, of 12th of October, and all formalities established therein must be fulfilled by the deadline for application submission.

Selection process

Candidates will be screened to determine eligibility based on minimum qualifications listed in call. Eligible candidates will be evaluated qualitatively by the jury. Letters of reference will be asked for the candidates with more potential are they will be fully scored and ranked according to the required application materials:

- CV 40% weighting,
- Motivation letter 30%,
- Reference letters 30%. (reference letters will be asked)

The top three candidates will be interviewed. The result of the interview is then the sole evaluation criteria (basic documentation still required).

Evaluation Committee members: Joaquim Alves da Silva (Chair), PhD; Marcelo Mendonça, PhD; Juan Gallego, PhD

Application materials:
1 - CV and letter of motivation (one single pdf document).
2 - Proof of qualifications (certificates) may be required at a later date for the formalization of the contract agreement. Degrees obtained abroad may
need to be formally recognized in Portugal.
3 - Contact details for two previous employers who can provide reference letters.

How to apply

Candidates must complete the standard application form and submit a single annexed PDF document containing the application materials stated in
the call.

The call reference will be asked and not having may invalidate your submission.

This call reference is: Postdoc_Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab2026

Notification of results

All candidates will receive a receipt of acknowledgment within 7-10 business days. The highest scoring candidate will be notified by email or
telephone. All other candidates will be notified solely by email of the final outcome of the recruitment process.

After being notified, candidates will have 10 working days to present a claim for redress by email (careers@research.fchampalimaud.org). If no claim is received by the Champalimaud Foundation, the Evaluation Committee ́s decision will become definitive.

About Us

Research is at the heart of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, a modern research and clinical facility situated on the waterfront in Lisbon, Portugal. The goal of Champalimaud Research (CR) is to perform world-leading fundamental and translational research. Current research work is focused on the fields of neuroscience, physiology and cancer. Champalimaud Research comprises a team of over 400 scientists from around the world. English is the official language of the Centre. Lisbon ́s sunny Atlantic Mediterranean climate, vibrant culture and high quality of life make this a great place to live and work.

Relevant Institutional Information

In line with our community guidelines and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and Gender Equality Plan, no candidate may be privileged, favored, prejudiced or deprived of any right or excluded from any duty on the basis of age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability, chronic illness, language, nationality, territory of origin, family status (marital, pregnancy and maternity, having or not having dependents), socioeconomic situation, education, religion, political or ideological beliefs, trade union membership, or on any other grounds which are irrelevant to decision-making.

Legal Notices

The present call has the sole purpose of filling the indicated research position. This call may be canceled at any time on or before the jury's evaluation of all eligible candidates and the recruitment process shall be concluded on the day of the full execution of the contract between the Champalimaud Foundation and the selected candidate.