Research Assistant at the Donders Centre for Cognition: Theoretical Modelling of Conversational Repair

Employment 0.75 - 0.8 FTE Gross monthly salary € 3,202 - € 4,159 Required background Research University Degree Organizational unit Faculty of Social Sciences Application deadline 22 September 2026 Do you want to understand the cognitive processes underlying everyday conversation? As a research assistant, you will critically evaluate cognitive theories and use computational modelling to formalise hypotheses about conversational repair.

Human conversations are remarkably flexible. To make that possible, people do much visible ‘work’ to keep conversations on track and quickly resolve breakdowns in communication. For example, by asking for clarification (known as ‘conversational repair’) when your conversation partner unexpectedly changes topic. However, there is much we do not yet understand about the invisible work that people do, inside their minds, to resolve such communicative breakdowns. This project aims to explore this gap by investigating the cognitive capacities that underlie this ability through computational cognitive modelling.

You will work together with Dr Marieke Woensdregt to elaborate and further specify an existing formalisation sketch that was developed as part of the Master's thesis project of Ana Luísa Valladares Lanza Guimarães, MSc. This formalisation sketch was developed to outline which components are involved in the cognitive capacity for initiating repair in response to an unexpected topic shift in conversation. This research assistantship forms part of a research project that focuses on conversational context (i.e. what was said before) and how that plays a role in shaping expectations. The goal is to formalise and evaluate hypotheses about how previous utterances might shape expectations about what type of utterance is likely to follow next (e.g. something topically related or not?).

Your tasks will include:

• Reading and summarising relevant literature about the cognitive/interactive capacity of interest from the fields of conversation analysis, psycholinguistics and cognitive science.
• Formalisation of one 'case study' component of the cognitive capacity of interest (most likely focusing on how conversational context shapes expectations).
• Co-writing a conference paper together with Dr Marieke Woensdregt (and possibly other collaborators).
• If the conference paper is accepted: Presenting the project at an international conference.
• Co-writing a journal article with Dr Marieke Woensdregt (and possibly other collaborators).
• Active participation in the biweekly lab meetings of the Computational Cognitive Science research group. At Radboud University, I have the opportunity to concentrate on important topics like diversity and inclusion. Inti Brazil Associate Professor of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology Read Inti's story

Does this sound like you?

• You hold a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence.
• You have experience with theoretical modelling for cognitive science, including having formalised verbal theories yourself (see van Rooij & Blokpoel, 2020 ).
• You are familiar with the theoretical commitments and methodology of conversation analysis.
• You are familiar with and committed to taking a 'non-makeist' approach to theoretical modelling for cognitive science (see van Rooij et al., 2024 ).
• You have a strong interest in conducting research at the interface between cognitive science and language sciences.
• You are committed to research integrity, which also means not using any form of 'generative AI' for any research-related activity (see Guest et al., 2026 ).
• You are committed to work towards decolonising cognitive science (see Birhane & Guest, 2021 ). What we offer you

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• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 8 months.
• Your salary within salary scale 7 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. Additional employment conditions

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Work and science require good employment practices. Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions reflect this. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself. For example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports membership. In addition, you receive a 34% discount on the sports and cultural activities at Radboud University as an employee. And, of course, we offer a good pension plan. We also give you plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

Where you will be working

This research assistantship forms part of the project ‘Sorry, what? How people resolve unexpected topic shifts in conversation, and what we can learn from computational cognitive modelling’, which is led by Dr Marieke Woensdregt, and funded by an SSH XS grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). You will be embedded in the Computational Cognitive Science (CCS) lab led by Prof. Iris van Rooij. The CCS lab is part of both the Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Donders Centre for Cognition.

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre that houses more than 700 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes:

• Language and communication.

• Perception, action and decision-making.

• Development and lifelong plasticity.

• Natural computing and neurotechnology.

Excellent, state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as ‘excellent’ and recognised as a ‘very stimulating environment for top researchers, as well as for young talent’. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary and supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.

Faculty of Social Sciences

At the Faculty of Social Sciences, humanity and society are our focus; we study how people behave, think and feel. Within this context, we look at themes such as human behaviour and the human psyche, education and upbringing, communication, society and culture. The faculty provides education to 6,000 students and employs 700 staff. Education is organised into six programme clusters: Psychology; Artificial Intelligence; Pedagogical Sciences and Educational Sciences; Communication Science; Sociology; and Cultural Anthropology and Developmental Sociology, and the Radboud Centre Social Sciences as an institute for post-master education have been merged into the Social Sciences Education Institute. Our research is carried out within three research institutes: the Donders Centre for Cognition, the Behavioural Science Institute, and Radboud Social Cultural Research.

Radboud University

At Radboud University, we aim to make an impact through our work. We achieve this by conducting groundbreaking research, providing high-quality education, offering excellent support, and fostering collaborations within and outside the university. In doing so, we contribute indispensably to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. To accomplish this, we need even more colleagues who, based on their expertise, are willing to search for answers. We advocate for an inclusive community and welcome employees with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives.

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Is this the job for you?

Address your letter of application to Marieke Woensdregt. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application. We look forward to receiving your application.

The first interviews will take place on Friday 2 October. You will preferably start your employment on 1 November 2026.

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Application deadline 22 September 2026