Research technician

Salary: £27,319 to £28,031 with progression to £29,588 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: 09 January 2026

The Role

We are looking for a talented, motivated Research Technician to join a cutting-edge project at the intersection of cancer immunology, radiation biology, and liver disease.

You’ll work alongside Mr Abdullah K. Malik, Clinical Research Fellow in Hepatobiliary and Transplant Surgery, and Professor Derek Mann, Professor of Hepatology and Head of the Newcastle Fibrosis Research Group. Together, you’ll explore how radiation shapes immune responses in liver cancer, helping to unlock new treatment strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the world’s third leading cause of cancer-related death.

This is your chance to contribute to a multidisciplinary, high-impact research programme funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), LIVErNORTH, and the British Association of Surgical Oncology.

This post is offered as a 100% FTE fixed term for 1 year from the start date. Applicants who wish to work less than full time may be considered.

For informal inquiries, contact: Mr Abdullah K. Malik (abdullah.malik@newcastle.ac.uk) or Professor Derek Mann (derek.mann@newcastle.ac.uk).

Please note that if you are successful to this role, you will require medical clearance.

Key Accountabilities

• Drive experiments using human and mouse models of liver cancer to uncover how radiation affects immune and stromal dynamics
• Apply techniques such as PCR, ELISA, cell culture, viability assays, flow cytometry — and gain experience in immunohistochemistry and tissue-based imaging
• Take ownership of day-to-day lab work, data recording, and experiment planning
• Contribute to presentations, reports, and manuscripts, with your work directly feeding into ongoing publications
• Be part of an enthusiastic, collaborative team working at the forefront of liver cancer biology and translational research

The Person

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Demonstratable work experience in a relevant technical laboratory role, e.g. experience of PCR, ELISAs, sterile cell culture, viability assays
• Excellent team working skills
• Technical and problem-solving capability
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Attention to detail and proactive approach to duties
• Thorough working knowledge of health and safety procedures, and experience of safe working within a laboratory setting

Desirable

• Experience of tissue staining and/or immunohistochemistry
• Experience of flow cytometry, spatial transcriptomics and/or bioinformatic analysis
• Experience of (or willingness to perform) research on small animals (mice)
• Ability to design and execute experiments independently
• Experience of presenting research at academic conferences

Attributes and behaviour

• Passionate about cancer research and/or liver diseases
• Eagerness to develop new skills
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Collaborative approach to working
• To exhibit University and Faculty values and principles

Qualifications

• BSc (or equivalent) in Biomedical Sciences or a related field

Desirable

• MSc or MRes in Biomedical Sciences, Cancer Research or a related field
• Professional registration with an accredited professional body (including HEA) or working towards this on appointment

Success factors

Team-working

• Co-operative
• Respects expertise and contribution of others, even if own opinion is different
• Keeps team members up to date with progress
• Involvement with team tasks
• Willingness to help others and share workloads
• Supportive of team decisions
• Respects the value that different views bring to the team

Planning and organising

• Planning and managing own work
• Works in a planned and structured way
• Uses own and others’ time effectively
• Sets own priorities in conjunction with team and area objectives
• Plans workload and tasks in a systematic way
• Ensures that all activities are completed on time
• Uses systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date
• Keeps work systems up to date, neat and tidy
• Ensures that others know how process and systems work

Embracing change

• Making improvements in your own role
• Comes forward with new ideas and concepts
• Anticipates change and prepares for it
• Adaptable to change or unexpected circumstances
• Willing to experiment, enterprising in approach
• Builds on others’ ideas and suggestions
• Willing to change ways and policies in light of new information

Communication

• Clear communicator
• Is factually correct and gives consistent verbal and non verbal messages
• Clear and concise; gets the message across to others
• Chooses communication tools appropriately e.g. selective use of emails and other channels of communication
• Tailors content of communication to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately
• Uses face to face communication regularly; team meetings, one to ones, informal discussions/chats, briefing sessions etc
• Can hold attention of others using appropriate techniques; questioning, rhetorical questions, changing tone and pace of voice and animated style

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 Gold 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: 28949