#SGUnitedTraineeships

Programme Summary

In conjunction with Workforce Singapore, NTU offer traineeships to support the SGUnited Traineeships Programme. The Traineeships are part of NTU's efforts to create relevant and meaningful traineeship opportunities for our nation’s new graduates entering the workforce during this difficult time.

About School of Social Sciences (SSS)

NTU's School of Social Sciences has nearly 100 faculty members and more than 1,700 undergraduates who major in the four degree programmes the School offers: Economics, Psychology, Public Policy and Global Affairs, and Sociology. There are more than 180 graduate students in our PhD and MA programmes (by research), and MSc programmes in Applied Economics and Gerontology. The School’s holistic and rigorous education aims to prepare our students with analytical and critical capacities that can be applied in the classroom and future careers. Apart from being deeply engaged in their disciplinary pursuits, our faculty members are also at the forefront of cutting-edge research between the social sciences and other disciplines. We firmly believe that cross-fertilisation of disciplinary knowledge will contribute to global scholarship and help tackle complex challenges facing the world in the 21st century.

The Baby-LINC Lab in the Division of Psychology is headed by Asst Prof Victoria Leong. The lab conducts world-leading research on interpersonal neural connectivity between parents and infants, using a technique called “dual-EEG”. During early life, social interactions between infants and caregivers "gate" learning processes in the infant brain. In this project, the candidate will learn to analyse dyadic-EEG data concurrently collected from infants and their parents during naturalistic learning scenarios. The aim will be to examine how the parent-infant neural network is modulated by social cues such as eye contact and infant-directed speech in order to facilitate early learning. This project can be completed through 100% virtual coaching since a large amount of data has already been collected and is ready for analysis. However, should circumstances permit, hands-on training in EEG data acquisition may also be provided to enhance the trainee's learning experience.

Key reference: Leong, V., Byrne, E., Clackson, K., Harte, N., Lam, S., & Wass, S. (2017). Speaker gaze changes information coupling between infant and adult brains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), 114(50), 13290-13295

Job Description:

• Assisting with pre-processing of EEG datasets (e.g. checking for errors, removing artifacts)
• Assisting with video coding of infant and maternal behavior
• Assisting with statistical analysis of behavioural data
• Assisting with recruitment and screening of participants
• Coordinating day to day (online) research activities (e.g., recruitment and scheduling of participants)
• Performing other related duties assigned in support of the research projects

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field
• Basic proficiency in Matlab (preferred) or other programming languages.
• Good knowledge of statistics and statistical software packages such as R and Statistica (preferred)
• Interest in neuroscience and/or psychology
• Good attention to detail
• Effective communication and report writing skills 

Hiring Institution: NTU