Announcements

IGEMS is an international consortium of 21 longitudinal twin studies of adult development and aging from five countries (Australia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United States). Its combined sample of 145,011 twins, aged 18 to 108 at intake, carries harmonized measures of physical health and functional ability, cognitive health, emotional health, and adult and rearing socioeconomic status, along with AD/ADRD diagnoses and registry linkages where available and polygenic scores for 19,352 individuals. The IGEMS pilot program funds new research using these data and brings new investigators and new disciplines into the consortium.

We invite submissions for a special issue of Behavior Genetics focusing on the development and application of causal methods in behavior genetics research.

We are excited to invite you to our virtual seminar series hosted by the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS), the Behavioral Genetics Association (BGA) and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) that addresses the topic of how behavioral and psychiatric genetics moves from genetic association to biological mechanism, and on the complementary roles and limitations of different experimental systems (e.g. NAMs vs animal models vs AI-computational modeling).

The Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) Board of Directors is engaged in a fundraising effort to ensure that psychological science is adequately represented and advocated for on Capitol Hill. (BGA is a member of FABBS).

At BGA 2024 we memorialized the work and scientific life of Peter McGuffin, and his musical legacy. Please find here the link to recording of a memorial speech by Prof. Anita Thapar.

Submit a full paper reporting your research to Behavior Genetics. Manuscripts can be submitted to Behavior Genetics at: https://www.springer.com/journal/10519

The Executive Committee aims to construct a comprehensive list of behavior genetics training programs for 2023-224. Please add yours today!

We are excited to share that the Department of Psychology at Utah State University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Clinical or Counseling Health Psychology with a strong background in Clinical Neuroscience whose research examines the intersection of psychological processes, health, and neuroscience. The successful candidate will join our APA-accredited Combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology Ph.D. specialization and contribute to our new undergraduate Behavioral Neuroscience major.

The Department of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Psychology with a focus on Personality Psychology and individual differences, including Psychological Disorders, with an appointment to begin in Fall 2027. Research areas of interest for this position are open; however, we have a preference for approaches involving Large Language Models (LLMs), computational methods, behavioral genetics, or biological methodologies. Applicants may conduct research in a wide range of subfields within personality psychology. Possible subfields include, but are not limited to, traits, motives, biological perspectives (neuroscience, evolutionary, behavioral genetics), development and health, affective and cognitive science, and narrative approaches to personality.

The Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, invites applications for up to 3 tenure track Professorships at the Assistant level (job posting: 75031) or Associate/Full level (job posting: 75033), with an academic appointment in affiliated departments or another appropriate academic unit aligned with research expertise and interests. We anticipate that the appointments will begin August 2027.
Assistant Level Positions: https://jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDetail/Assistant-Professor-s-Tenure-Track-Institute-for-Behavioral-Genetics/75031
Associate/Full Position: https://jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDetail/Open-Rank-Tenure-Track-Professor-in-the-Institute-for-Behavioral-Genetics/75033

The UMN Department of Psychology seeks postdoctoral fellows interested in conducting innovative multidisciplinary research in domains including psychology, genetics, statistics, and other quantitative methods, and/or human neuroscience. Fellows are supported by a T32 training grant funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. The purpose of the training program is to provide research and training opportunities to encourage the development of multidisciplinary skills within or across the above domains as they relate to drug use, addiction, psychopathology, and behavior. Multiple positions are available with start dates after July 1, 2026. Applications are considered on a rolling basis.

Areas of specialization within child clinical psychology are open, but not limited to, candidates whose research would synergize with our current expertise in community and school-based prevention, childhood adversity and maltreatment, cognitive-neuropsychological bases of attention and behavior, stress and coping, emotion regulation, and developmental psychopathology. Two priority areas are: (1) mental health needs of and interventions for children, adolescents, including, but not limited to, families of color and other marginalized populations, and (2) mechanism-driven research in developmental psychopathology to elucidate pathways to risk and resilience. Candidates with other related research programs will also be considered and are encouraged to apply.

A new Postdoc vacancy in the Population Genetics of Human Communication (PGHC) research group, at the Max Planck Institute Nijmegen, Netherlands

The University of Minnesota seeks postdoctoral fellows interested in conducting innovative multidisciplinary research in domains including psychology, genetics, statistics, and other quantitative methods, and/or human neuroscience. Fellows are supported by a T32 training grant funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. The purpose of the training program is to provide research and training opportunities to encourage the development of multidisciplinary skills within or across the above domains as they relate to drug use, addiction, psychopathology, and behavior.

Postdoctoral traineeship at the University of Minnesota focused on genetic and neurobehavioral aspects of addiction and psychopathology.

Post-doctoral training opportunities are available through an NIH-funded T32 training grant administered through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Several investigators may serve as possible mentors for an outstanding candidate who wishes to further their training in behavior genetics. Projects include large human genetics studies, molecular genetics, and mouse behavioral studies aimed understanding genes related to substance use disorders.

We are looking for talented junior scientists to join our International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Two fully-funded 4-year PhD fellowships (2024-2028) are available to carry out cutting-edge research on genetics and development of human language, with several innovative projects to choose from, co-supervised by leading researchers at the Max Planck Institute and our partners at the Radboud University. Projects include investigating rare DNA variants in genes that cause developmental speech/language disorders, and neuroimaging genomic analyses of language circuits in the brain. Application portal opens Dec 4th 2023 and closes Jan 8th 2024. Full information and FAQ can be found here: https://www.mpi.nl/imprs-phd-fellowships-2024

The Max Planck Research Group Biosocial at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin seeks applicants for 1 Postdoctoral Position (m/f/d) on Developmental Sociogenomics (E 13 TVöD 100%).

The conference brings together scientists who are working with TwinLife data or are interested in doing so. We aim to encourage exchange of ideas and discussions on research questions and/or findings, and thus to strengthen and initiate collaborations. You are welcome to present new research ideas, methods, or findings. You can also join the conference without a contribution. There will be plenty of space for discussion and exchange on research topics and methods. You do not have to be a current TwinLife data user to participate!

In recent years, the availability of large-scale genomic data has started to revolutionize our understanding of mental disorders at the genetic level, yet is largely theory-neutral, not explaining why risk alleles persist and mental disorders are so common. Conversely, evolutionary psychiatry and psychopathology offer a rich variety of theoretical models and hypotheses to explain mental disorders at the evolutionary level, but have yet to fully take on board the findings of recent genetics. This disconnection is reinforced by the lack of shared conferences and other spaces for dialogue. And yet, the potential for synergy and cross-fertilization is striking; it is time to break down the existing disciplinary barriers and make decisive steps toward an integrative biology of mental disorders. This workshop will bring together emerging and established investigators working on all aspects of evolutionary psychiatry/psychopathology and the evolutionary genetics/genomics of mental disorders.