At the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, clinicians and scientists are working in close cooperation on the causes of complex diseases of the brain and searching for new ways of their treatment. For this, besides a modern clinic with all facilities and equipment required for patient care and research, there are well-equipped laboratories available. Here, neurobiological research methods from behavioral studies to molecular genetics can be applied. The aim is to optimize the benefit of research for the patients by the way of close and innovative networking of basic research-oriented and clinical neuroscience.

The Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany, is one of the leading research institutes worldwide working on the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders based on a truly translational approach, combining both clinical and basic research.

We are currently seeking an

Experienced scientist (m/f/d) with expertise in data science
Code: 8735

to join the DZPG at the earliest opportunity.

The German Center for Mental Health (DZPG) is a new national research network of six sites, including the LMU Hospital (KUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. The advertised position is equally funded by both institutions.

The DZPG Munich aims to integrate and expand existing research resources to develop and implement effec­tive clinical procedures for preventing, diagnosing, and treating mental illnesses through accelera­ted translation of research findings. It follows a participatory research approach and implements an Open Science policy. The DZPG Munich is part of the German Centers for Health Re­search (DZG, deutschezentren.de), which consolidate high-level research and receive long-term support from the federal government and the German states.

• Merging and harmonizing various cohort data from different institutions
• Planning and conducting multivariate analyses of the harmonized multimodal and multicenter datasets
• Integrating different analysis approaches to develop and validate precision psychiatric tools that model the course of mental disorders and use these insights for a personalized early detection of mental illnesses
• Leading the Munich data analysis group within the framework of the DZPG research network
• Coordinating project work across the DZPG sites, by organizing interdisciplinary collaboration and providing supervision for the data harmonization and analysis tasks led by the project group

• A PhD in psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, bioengineering, or related discipline
• Ability to write clean and efficient codes to preprocess, analyze, and interpret complex health data, ensuring data privacy and security
• To help develop and sustain an IT infrastructure across the Department of Psychiatry and the MPI of Psychiatry that enables the curation and processing of large-scale multi-modal datasets; for this requirement previous expertise in IT systems of data curation and sharing (e.g., DataLad, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service Healthcare) will be particularly relevant
• Demonstrated experience in developing and using machine learning strategies to train and validate diagnostic and prognostic models for patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders using different modalities, such as e.g., neuroimaging data, omics, clinical information, or digital phenotyping datasets
• Several years of experience in multicenter collaborative research, including leadership responsibilities
• Demonstrated ability to publish scientific reports in peer-reviewed journals
• Excellent communication, analytical, and organizational skills
• Proficiency in English is essential, while knowledge of German would be advantageous

• An exciting, responsible, and diverse position with opportunities to shape your role 
• Work in a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and international environment 
• A full-time position (50% TV-L [KUM] and 50% TVöD Bund [MPI-P]) at the E 14 pay scale for two years, with the possibility of extension 
• The Max Planck Society provides various training opportunities for professional and career development 
• Convenient access by public transportation and an employer subsidy for jobtickets 
• Temporary housing provision if needed 
• Support in finding childcare and care for family members 

We hope to have sparked your interest and we look forward to receiving your online application, indicating your possible starting date as well as the following documents:

• Letter of motivation expressing your research interests along with a brief summary of your previous projects 
• A complete CV and your contact details 
• At least two relevant references 

Applicants with dissabilities with equal qualifications will be given preferential treatment. Women are especially encouraged to apply.