Senior Research Associate in Educational Neuroscience

The role

We are seeking to recruit candidates with a strong track record in synthesizing and communicating research from across a range of disciplines relevant to learning and education.

The successful candidate will join a newly-established research centre for educational neuroscience policy , a consortium of interdisciplinary experts from neuroscience, psychology, learning sciences, computer science, AI and machine learning, genomics and educational research. The centre is being led by UCL in partnership with Birkbeck and includes the following consortium partners: University of Surrey, Aston University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of East Anglia, University of Bristol and University of East London. The aim of the Centre is to synthesise and translate the latest research related to educational neuroscience (EN) into policy and practice to ensure everyone, workforce and children/ young people, meets their potential. The new centre comprises 6 Strands of work. You will be one of at least six researchers appointed to the centre, meeting regularly as a consortium, thus gaining from strong opportunities for multidisciplinary career progression and impactful research.

The appointment at the University of Bristol is 0.5FTE for twenty-two months.

You are invited to apply for an identical post offered by the University of Surrey (0.5 FTE). Link to advert here

Since most of the work can be undertaken remotely within the UK, it may be possible for both posts to be held by the same successful candidate.

What will you be doing?

You will join Strand 5, Workforce Development. This strand will identify workforce priority needs and help communicate evidence-based insights from educational neuroscience to inspire and develop the workforce. The work from Strand 5 will ensure that evidence from educational neuroscience can be used to helpfully augment, inform and transforms practitioners’ current knowledge and skills, addressing priority needs. You will be searching databases, sourcing and reviewing professional frameworks that support education professionals, synthesising interdisciplinary research evidence and mapping this to the priority needs of education professionals, and creating policy briefs. 

You should apply if

• You have a relevant postgraduate research degree in Psychology, Education or a related subject, or equivalent research experience in an academic, industrial or clinical setting.
• You have experience in translating research evidence to policy and practice, of conducting evidence synthesis and/or in-depth reviews (e.g. scoping reviews, integrative narrative review).
• You have experience in psychological methods (preferably both quantitative and qualitative methods) and preparing data for analysis.
• You can integrate interdisciplinary evidence, write clearly and concisely, and can work independently as well as collaboratively
• You have excellent data management, organisation and communication skills, with knowledge of research in relation to education and of the UK Education landscape.

Additional information

Contract type: Open Ended (Fixed funding until 31/03/28)

Work pattern: Part-time, 0.5FTE

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on Wednesday 27th May 2026

For informal queries please contact: Prof Paul Howard-Jones, Professor of Neuroscience and Education via email: Paul.howard-jones@bristol.ac.uk 

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