Title of the Position: Postgraduate Associate
Department and School: Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine
Anticipated Appointment Date: December 2025
Email/Website: thebabl.positions@yale.edu; www.thebabl.net
Introduction of School/Department:
The Yale Child Study Center, which serves as the Department of Child Psychiatry for the Yale School of Medicine, has been serving families through the integration of evidence-based clinical practice, training, and research for over 100 years. Within the Child Study Center is The Before and After Baby Lab (The BABL). The mission of The BABL is to use our prenatal findings to reliably identify families that may need additional support and guidance during pregnancy and the postpartum period to optimize parent and child well-being.
Overview of the Position:
The BABL seeks a postgraduate research associate to work on a NICHD funded study entitled “Neural mechanisms of psychological risk on mother and infant adjustment” (PIs Helena Rutherford and Ashley Groh). The primary objective of this project is to understand the interplay of maternal psychological risk and neural reactivity to infant cues (using EEG/ERP) on maternal and infant health and well-being across the perinatal period in a diverse sample of women. The postgraduate associate will be responsible for study management, recruitment, and behavioral and EEG data collection and analysis. The postgraduate associate will be overseen by Dr. Rutherford at Yale University.
The postgraduate associate will also support other tasks related to the team’s research, such as manuscript preparation, grant writing, presentations at conferences, design of future studies, and other duties as assigned. The position provides opportunities for publication and supervision by national leaders in parenting, neuroscience, and child development. This is an ideal position for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual looking to gain more research experience on topics related to parent-child relationships, neural processes (EEG/ERP), and development before pursuing a PhD in a related field (e.g., development psychology, neuroscience, clinical psychology, HDFS).
Mentoring
The postgraduate associate will be mentored by Dr. Rutherford, including with a focus on the research process as well as career paths, and will receive additional mentorship from Dr. Ashley Groh. The postgraduate associate will work closely with other members of The BABL, including postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and other postgraduate associates.
Training Goals
- Learn about maternal psychological risk. The postgraduate associate will receive training on how to assess psychological risk, including depression and anxiety, during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
- Learn about the maternal brain. The postgraduate associate will become familiar with EEG/ERP and its utility in measuring processing of infant emotional signals. The postgraduate associate will learn how to collect and analyze EEG data.
- Learn about assessments of caregiving in postpartum women. The postgraduate associate will learn how to administer self-report and behavioral assessments of caregiving and how they are scored / coded.
- Learn about child development. The postgraduate associate will be trained to assess different aspects of child development, including measurement of cognitive, motor, and affective development.
Education
Additional learning opportunities include attending the weekly Child Study Center grand rounds series devoted to various topics in child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry as well as journal clubs held in The BABL. There will be ample opportunity to learn about data management and analysis procedures in clinical studies. The postgraduate associate can also attend neuroscience workshops held at the Child Study Center to deepen their understanding of EEG/ERP as well as fMRI.
This position is a one-year appointment with a one-year renewal contingent upon satisfactory performance and availability of funding.
Location
Training will take place in person at The BABL at Yale Child Study Center.
Qualifications:
Qualified candidates will have completed, or will be about to complete, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, child development, neuroscience, or a related field. Prior experience with EEG/ERP is preferable but not required – training will be provided.
The successful candidate will have:
- Experience working with parents and infants/children
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Exceptional project management skills, including good attention to detail
- The ability to work both independently and in a collaborative environment
Process to Apply
Interested applicants should submit via e-mail a cover letter, resume or CV, and contact details for two referees to: thebabl.positions@yale.edu. Please make “BABL NICHD Postgrad Position” the subject line of your e-mail. Reviews of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled; for best consideration, please submit your application by 1st November 2025.