Research Fellow

Over the past 25 years, the Department of Imaging Neuroscience, home to the internationally renowned Functional Imaging Laboratory (FIL), has pioneered the development and application of imaging techniques to advance our understanding of the human brain. It continues to play a leading role in progressing and transforming research in many areas of neuroscience.

The Imagine Reality lab, based in the Department, studies how our brain gives rise to the mental images that we see in our imagination, to what extent imagining relies on the same neural mechanisms as perceiving the external world, how, given these shared mechanisms, our brain keeps imagination and reality apart, and how changes in these processes could affect mental health. To answer these questions, we use a combination of neuroimaging, machine learning, psychophysics, and computational modelling.

We are seeking a Research Fellow to work on the project “Revealing the neural computations that distinguish imagination from reality (MonitoringReality)”. The focus of the project is to uncover the neural mechanisms of perceptual reality monitoring: how the brain determines whether perceptual experience reflects reality or imagination.

You will undertake high quality research combining novel behavioural and neuroimaging experiments on human participants with state-of-the-art analysis approaches to uncover the neural mechanisms underpinning perceptual reality monitoring.

The role is available from 02 January 2025 and is funded by the ERC for two years in the first instance.

If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online, or have any queries regarding the application process, please contact the Institute of Neurology HR Team (ion.hradmin at ucl.ac.uk).

Informal enquiries regarding the role can be addressed to Dr Nadine Dijkstra (n.dijkstra at ucl.ac.uk).

For a full job description and to apply for this role please visit UCL’s online recruitment portal (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/search-ucl-jobs) and search using vacancy reference B02-07856.

Applicants must hold a PhD (or be close to obtaining a PhD) in a relevant discipline (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, or experimental psychology) and have demonstrable experience in at least one of the following areas of cognitive neuroscience research:

• (Visual) mental imagery
• Visual perception
• Reality monitoring
• Visual consciousness

Experience with neuroimaging analysis methods and using packages such as MATLAB, Python etc for statistical analysis is essential, as is experience with the recruitment and behavioural/neuroimaging testing of human participants, and with applying machine learning approaches to behavioural, fMRI, and/or MEG data.

Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Research Assistant Grade 6B (salary £38,357 - £41,005 per annum) with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis. It is expected that you will have had your viva prior to commencing in post.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits; visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

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