Research Associate

Company description:

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Job description:

The Role

The Research Associate (RA) will play a central role in delivering this project. Working closely with the Principal Investigator, the RA will lead day-to-day experimental activity, including the recruitment and testing of participants, operation of surface EMG recording systems, and collection of high-quality datasets. They will be responsible for data processing, coding and data analysis, contribute actively to interpretation of results, and take the lead on drafting research outputs, thus a solid foundation in movement neuroscience are essential here. The role offers strong opportunities to develop advanced skills in human neurophysiology, signal analysis, and experimental design, as well as experience of transparent and reproducible research practices. Support for career development will be provided throughout, including close mentoring, opportunities to co-author publications, and engagement with interdisciplinary collaborators.

This project aims to improve how muscle signals can be used to control external devices, with a focus on making such systems faster to learn, more reliable, and easier to use alongside natural movement. Using laboratory-based surface EMG recordings from healthy volunteers, the research will compare different ways of mapping muscle activity to simple cursor-control tasks, measuring performance using well-established metrics of speed, accuracy, and stability. The work will also test whether incorporating information about rhythmic muscle activity can improve control compared with simpler approaches. This data will help to inform future development of practical myoelectric interfaces for research and real-world applications. In addition to the science this project will also explore, through focus group discussions, the ethical implications of large-scale neuromotor data collection, including privacy, user agency, consent, inclusion, as well as barriers to adoption.

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

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here  

Find out more about our Research Institutes here  

Contact for the post is Dr Demetris Soteropoulos (Demetris.soteropoulos@ncl.ac.uk)

The post is available until 31 December 2027.

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