Research Postdoctoral Fellow - Kids NeuroDevelopment (KiND) Laboratory

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A Brief Overview
Under the direction/guidance of a mentor (principal investigator), assumes responsibility for a specific, on-going research project. The experience will serve to extend, refine and enhance skills necessary for professional and career development, and will enable the individual to broaden his/her scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. It is expected that this individual will conduct independent scholarly research, and will contribute directly to the overall research goals of the project and the research group.

This role will be expected to participate in project planning, recording and interpretation/evaluation of data, and communication of results. This position will also be expected to acquire technical, lab management, and manuscript/grant writing skills; and participate in seminars, lectures, poster sessions and presentations at national meetings. This role also may be required to supervise junior lab members, develop new methods and protocols for research, and assist with the development of other research projects in the lab.

The Kids NeuroDevelopment (KiND) Laboratory in the Lifespan Brain Institute at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Lauren K. White, seeks a Postdoctoral Scholar to work on a Wellcome Trust-funded project examining intergenerational mechanisms of anxiety risk.

The project, RAISE-AI (Resilience Across Intergenerational Stresses and Emotional Health through AI-Enabled Discovery), investigates how anxiety signals are transmitted from parents to children during naturalistic interactions. Using multimodal behavioral and physiological data (e.g., language, prosody, facial affect, posture, and autonomic physiology indexed by heart rate variability [HRV], including respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]), RAISE-AI integrates developmental science with generative AI approaches to identify mechanisms through which parental stress and anxiety shape children's emotional responses in real time. The resulting dataset includes high-resolution audiovisual interaction data, behavioral measures, and physiological signals, creating a unique opportunity to model the moment-to-moment dynamics of emotional communication within families and advance understanding of how anxiety risk develops across generations.

RAISE-AI is a large interdisciplinary collaboration spanning CHOP, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University.

Depending on the scholar's interests and background, work on the project may incorporate techniques such as:

• Multimodal behavioral analysis of parent-child interaction data
• Speech and language analysis and natural language processing
• Computer vision approaches to facial affect and posture
• Generative AI or machine learning approaches for modeling emotional dynamics
• Psychophysiological analyses (e.g., HRV/RSA)
• Longitudinal and developmental statistical modeling

A PhD in psychology, neuroscience, computer science, engineering, or a related field is required by the appointment date. Strong candidates will have interests in developmental science, mental health, computational methods, or multimodal behavioral data analysis. Researchers with interests in computational approaches to behavior, multimodal machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, or affective computing are especially encouraged to apply.

The project provides a rare opportunity to work with large-scale, high-resolution multimodal datasets of parent-child interactions, integrating audio, video, language, and physiological signals. Candidates interested in developing or evaluating AI models in real-world behavioral contexts, particularly those motivated by applications in mental health and human development, will find a rich collaborative environment bridging developmental science and artificial intelligence. The project will also generate open benchmarks, shared protocols, and publishable multimodal modeling contributions, creating opportunities for clinical, developmental, and machine-learning-focused publications.

The postdoctoral scholar will primarily be responsible for analyzing data, contributing to model development and evaluation, and leading scientific papers and conference presentations. Additional responsibilities may include collaboration with research staff and trainees and contributing to ongoing interdisciplinary research activities. The fellow will receive close mentorship from Dr. White and collaborators across institutions, with opportunities to develop independent research projects and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Position qualifications include strong data analysis and programming skills (e.g., Python, R, or related tools), experience working with complex behavioral or multimodal datasets, the ability to work independently and collaboratively on interdisciplinary projects, and excellent scientific writing skills.

What you will do

• Conduct independent scholarly research and develop new methods and protocols
• Participate in project planning, recording and evaluation of data
• Acquire technical, lab management and grant writing skills
• Participate in seminars, lectures, poster sessions and presentation at national meetings
• Supervise junior lab members
• Assist with other research projects

Education Qualifications

• Doctorate Required

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to wear a respirator device

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SALARY RANGE:

Salary ranges are shown for full-time jobs. If you're working part-time, your pay will be adjusted accordingly.

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