Research Assistant/Associate in Closed Loop Stimulation

Salary:

Research Assistant: £32,296 to £33,882 per annum

Research Associate: £34,866 to £37,999 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 11 November 2024

The Role

Your role will be to develop and test new approaches to control oscillatory activity in the nervous system. You will use electrophysiological methods in healthy human volunteer subjects, as well as in people with movement disorders.

The project will use the principles of closed loop stimulation, in which non-invasive stimuli will be delivered with timing determined from a recording of endogenous brain or muscle activity. Algorithms developed in the research group allow us to adjust stimulus timing either to enhance or suppress oscillations. Experiments will seek to provide evidence of the efficacy of these algorithms.

This post is fixed term with an end date of 31.05.25.

For informal enquiries contact: Prof. Stuart Baker, stuart.baker@ncl.ac.uk

Key Accountabilities

• Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, the postholder will contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of their studies, thus providing substantial 'added value'
• Develop and carry out the specified project using appropriate techniques and equipment as outlined in the personal requirements
• Determine appropriate methodologies for research, with advice and support where required
• Contribute to grant applications submitted by others and in time develop own research objectives and proposals for funding
• Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
• Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
• Contribute to the writing up of their research for publication and dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
• Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
• May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants
• Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute.
• May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
• Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
• Detailed subject knowledge in the field of neural control of movement
• Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research projects
• High level of analytical and problem-solving capability
• Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others
• Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment
• Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications
• Experience of research into the control of movement using electrophysiological methods
• Experience using the Matlab environment for analysis of electrophysiological data
• Experience of methods for behavioural analysis, either in humans or in animals

Attributes and Behaviour

• Well motivated scientist with interest in control of movement
• Punctual and well organised
• Good people skills
• Able to work to defined protocol

Qualifications

• Good honours degree (or equivalent) with some subject knowledge in the relevant area (Research Assistant)
• A PhD in the neural control of movement (Research Associate)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 27735