The TESIS node Portsmouth - represented by the Centre for Situated Action and Communication at the University of Portsmouth, Prof. Vasudevi Reddy, Prof. Alan Costall and Dr. Beatriz Lopez - will focus on questions related to the understanding of intentionality in infants and children.

The Portsmouth node has two positions available for early stage researchers (36 months duration). Candidates should be in possession of a relevant Masters degree (or close to obtaining it) with not more than 4 years of full time research experience. There are two projects involved in this node, and one early stage researcher will be allocated to each of these. Both the projects have relevance for our understanding of typical development and development in autism.

Project One: The Early Stage Researcher is expected to work on a project exploring infant awareness of adult intentional actions. In particular, the research will focus on infants' embodied and affective responses to gestures which they are likely to experience in everyday interactions with adults. The emphasis will be on the role of engagement and directedness in the developing awareness of intentions in early infancy.

Project Two: The Early Stage Researcher is expected to work on a project on young children's understanding of the intentionality of objects: that objects have intentions and what they are. This project will draw upon Gibson's concept of affordances and in particular the concept of canonical affordances. The studies in this project will complement and possibly challenge existing experimental research.

The Center for Situated Action and Communication at the University of Portsmouth has at its core the investigation of psychological phenomena as processes which take place in, and create, situations (both material and social). Research in the Centre has focused on a variety of domains ranging from early development and autism, and the perceptual control of action to language and discourse. There has been a general emphasis on engagement, embodiment, place and materiality and a challenge to internal mental representational accounts of action and communication.

The employed fellows will participate actively in an initial training network with expertise in the investigation of intersubjectivity and embodiment. This international network is funded by the European Commission FP7 and provides ideal research and training opportunities during a three year training programme consisting of high impact workshops, summer schools and conferences.

If you are interested in one of these positions, please send your application - preferably by email - including CV and two references (name, email, phone) before the closing date to the responsible coordinator:

Heribert Sattel, heribert.sattel@med.uni-heidelberg.de, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Vossstr. 2-4, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

Note: To encourage mobility, successful candidates may have spent at most 12 out of the last 36 months in the host country before appointment. Qualified women are especially encouraged to apply.

Closing date: May 31, 2011