Postdoc position in philosophy of psychology/cognitive science

Job description

The Cognition, Intention, and Action (CoInAct) Research Group and Section for Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invite applications for a full-time postdoctoral position in philosophy of psychology/cognitive science to be filled by 1 January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The position is for 2 1/2 years.

Information about CoInAct can be found at https://psychology.ku.dk/coinact/

Job content

The postdoc will be part of a project entitled Selection in Cognition funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and headed by Professor Søren Kyllingsbæk and Professor Thor Grünbaum.

The Selection in Cognition project develops and tests a new theory of basic cognitive selection mechanisms by combining methods and perspectives from experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, mathematical modelling, and philosophy.

The core idea is that selection in cognition may be understood as a biased competition between representations in a stochastic race (Grünbaum, Oren, & Kyllingsbæk, 2021; Oren et al., 2024; Kyllingsbæk et al., 2025).

A successful applicant is expected to familiarize themselves with recent work by Prof.

Thor Grünbaum and situate their research plan within the framework of the Selection in Cognition project.

For more information about the project, please contact Prof Thor Grünbaum (tgr@hum.ku.dk).

The postdoc should be a philosopher with expertise in philosophy of psychology broadly conceived (incl.

relevant epistemology, confirmation theory, philosophy of statistics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of the cognitive sciences).

Possible topics include the role of memory in temporally extended agency, recent discussions of reinforcement learning, or recent methodological discussions of construct validity and replication.

The postdoc is for 2 1/2 years, of which 2 years are dedicated to research and 1/2 year is dedicated to teaching.

The teaching duties will be placed throughout the period of employment.

The teaching will primarily be in philosophy of science and philosophy of cognitive science (for students in the cognitive science programme: https://studier.ku.dk/bachelor/kognitions-og-datavidenskab/) as part of team of teachers including Thor Grünbaum.

The successful candidate will be able to document relevant teaching experience.

Classes can be taught in English.

The successful candidate will be working in close collaboration with philosophers, cognitive psychologists, and other cognitive scientists and should be interested in theory development and testing.

The postdoc is not expected to conduct new independent empirical research during the period of employment.

It is expected that the successful candidate will be present, part of the team, and partake in the activities at CoInAct on a daily basis.

The postdoc will be physically located at the Section for Philosophy (https://comm.ku.dk/research/philosophy/), Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen.

Qualification requirements

Emphasis will be placed on the following:

For further details about the qualification requirements for postdocs, please refer to the job structure for Academic Staff at Universities: Bekendtgørelse om stillingsstruktur for videnskabeligt personale ved universiteter (Danish only).

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact the head of CoInAct, Prof.

Thor Grünbaum, tgr@hum.ku.dk, for further information about the position and the Selection in Cognition project.

Application

Submit the application online in Adobe PDF or Word format.

Please click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of this page.

The application must be written in English and include the following enclosures:

Should any material submitted consist of work with named co-authors, or work that is otherwise the result of collective academic endeavours, the extent of the applicant’s contribution to the work must be clearly stipulated (e.g., CRediT: https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/policies-and-guidelines/credit- author-statement).

The faculty may ask for a signed statement from the co-authors stipulating the extent and nature of each individual’s contribution.



Only material in English will be assessed.



Appointment procedure

After the application deadline, the Head of Department selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the appointment committee.

All applicants are notified whether their application has been accepted for assessment.

The Dean subsequently appoints an expert assessment committee tasked with carrying out an assessment of the selected applicants for the specific post.

Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee.

Applicants are ultimately offered the opportunity of commenting on the part of the assessment relating to themselves before the appointment is finalized.



Further information about the application procedure is available from HR South: hr-soendre@adm.ku.dk.

Please refer to ID number 211-2233/25-2I.



Salary and conditions of employment

Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC).

The salary range starts at approx.

DKK 33,660 (EUR 4,500) + an 18.7 % contribution to the pension scheme.

It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.



The Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) have further agreed on a protocol that makes it possible for international researchers employed by the University to achieve a pension exemption, whereby the pension contribution will be paid out as salary.

For more information about the different pension schemes, please read more here: Pension – University of Copenhagen



If you consider applying from abroad, you may find useful information on how it is to work in Denmark and at UCPH here : www.ism.ku.dk, www.nyidanmark.dk and www.workindenmark.dk



UCPH wishes to encourage everyone interested in this post to apply, regardless of personal background.



The closing date for applications is 30 September 2025 23:59 CEST.



Applications or supplementary material received thereafter will not be considered.

Required Skill Profession

Postsecondary Teachers