Research Assistant/Associate

Salary:

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

Research Associate: £33,966 to £36,024 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: 20 October 2023

The Role

Your role will be to develop and test a new protocol to enhance connections between the brain and the spinal cord. You will use electrophysiological methods including transcranial magnetic brain stimulation and electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves in human volunteer subjects. The new protocol involves a portable device designed to be used at home, and which delivers stimuli intended to induce long-term changes in motor pathways. You will be responsible for all parts of the project, including recruitment of volunteers, conducting experiments, analysing data and drafting reports for publication. 

The project is funded by the Inspire Foundation. After initial optimisation of the new protocol in our laboratories in Newcastle, you will then work collaboratively with our colleagues at the Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata, India (INK) to translate the approach to people with spinal cord injury. You will then administer a clinical trial at INK to test whether the approach can deliver enhanced function in spinal cord injured individuals. This will involve a period of a few months spent in Kolkata.

This post is fixed term until 31 August 2026. For informal enquiries contact: stuart.baker@ncl.ac.uk

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here.

Find out more about our Research Institutes here.

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

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 area of research 
•    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 
•    Ability to work with human volunteer subjects, recruiting, scheduling appointments, explaining protocols and taking consent
•    Ability to perform electrophysiological studies in human volunteers using methods such as transcranial magnetic brain stimulation

Desirable
•    Academic knowledge of the neural control of movement
•    Experience of electrophysiological methods such as transcranial magnetic brain stimulation
•    Experience of the MATLAB programming environment, and the ability to write scripts to analyse electrophysiological data

Attributes and Behaviour
•    Well organised and good at timekeeping and communication, to enable management of volunteer appointments
   

Qualifications

•    A PhD in relevant area (required for appointment at Associate level)
•    Honors degree in relevant subject (for appointment at Assistant level)
 

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.

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

Requisition ID: 26156