Research Assistant/Associate

Salary:

Research Assistant: £31,396 to £32,982 per annum

Research Associate: £33,966 to £44,263 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: 21 December 2023

The Role

An exciting opportunity for an early career scientist who is interested in human movement, wearable technology and digital outcomes. You will work in an interdisciplinary group who has an established international reputation in gait analysis and wearable technology analytics. 

You will have experience working with wearable sensor data and digital outcomes; proficient and independent signal processing, statistical and computational skills, and ability to work independently and as part of a team.

You will be mentored by an experienced member of academic staff throughout your term in one of our Research Institutes. 

Working as part of a research team supporting a range of projects aiming to look at the utility of wearable technology and digital mobility outcomes of real-world gait and physical activity to detect clinically relevant changes to post-diagnostic care, interventions and potential disease modifying effects. 

You will provide training and technical assistance, manage the transfer and analysis of gait/physical activity data collected with wearable technology, novel and traditional gait analysis tools (e.g. instrumented mat, etc.) and publish and present key findings from the projects.

The post is offered on a full time, fixed term basis for a period of 36 months.

Further information can be obtained by contacting Dr Lisa Alcock (lisa.alcock@ncl.ac.uk) and/or Dr Silvia Del Din (silvia.del-din@ncl.ac.uk)

About Us: The 'Brain and Movement (BAM) Research Group' are based at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit (CARU) a translational clinical research platform jointly run and managed by Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and also at The Catalyst

Weblinks:
Brain and Movement Research Team: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/bam/ 
Clinical Ageing Research Unit: https://www.newcastlebrc.nihr.ac.uk/research/research-infrastructure/clinical-ageing-research-unit-caru/  

Biomedical Research Centre – Digital Health, Ageing Innovation and Inclusion theme: https://www.newcastlebrc.nihr.ac.uk/digital-health-ageing-innovation-and-inclusion/ 
Translational and Clinical Research Institute:https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/translational/ 

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/ 

Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/
 

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles.  These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

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
• Manage large data transfer from multiple multi-centres projects (national and international, observational and interventional) 
• Manage workflow within the project for data management
• Communicate with, provide training and technical support to multiple centres involved in the national and international projects 
• Collect clinical data with wearable sensors and carry out technical validation if necessary
• Apply a plethora of existing and develop new signal processing techniques and algorithms to extract relevant digital mobility outcomes pertaining to gait and activity patterns in a variety of participant cohorts (e.g., older adults, people with Parkinson’s disease, dementia, etc.)
• Manage complex data sets
• Prepare reports and write papers

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
• Detailed subject knowledge in Biomedical Engineering, Movement Science or related field 
• 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
• Expertise working with wearable sensor data and analysis
• Experience with movement analysis and signal processing (especially as applied to locomotion/ gait)
• Expertise in developing novel algorithms, but also understanding, optimising and applying developed algorithms for extraction of digital mobility outcomes (e.g., gait outcomes)
• Very good knowledge of and experience using Matlab or equivalent programming languages (e.g., Octave, Python, etc.)
• Database and project management skills
• Knowledge of statistical techniques
• Good information technology and computing skills and experience with cloud computing platforms (Desirable)
• Experience working with older adults and/or patient groups (Desirable)
• Understanding of neurodegenerative conditions, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease (Desirable)

Attributes and Behaviour

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Capacity for original thought

Qualifications

• Good honours degree (or equivalent) with some subject knowledge in Biomedical Engineering, Movement Science or related field (Research Assistant)
• A PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Movement Science or related field (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: 26420