Research Technician in Behavioural Neuroscience

Hours: full time considered up to a maximum of 1.0 FTE/ 36.5 hours per week.  

Requests for flexible working options will be considered (subject to business need). Due to the nature of the laboratory and animal research work, the role will require regular on-campus attendance.

Location: Brighton, United Kingdom
Contract Type: Fixed term from 01 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, with potential for extension
Reference: 
Grade and Salary: Grade 4, spinal point 2, £26,707 per annum, pro rata if part time.

Closing date:  HR will enter this date once discussed with you. Applications must be received by midnight of the closing date.
Expected Interview date: HR will enter this date once discussed with you  - please indicate if this is an in-person interview only.
Expected start date: 1 October 2026 

About the role

A BBSRC-funded Research Technician position is available in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex. The post will support a behavioural neuroscience project investigating neuronal mechanisms related to cue-evoked appetitive behaviour and related experimental work in mice.

The successful candidate will provide dedicated technical support to ongoing project work in the Koya laboratory. The role will involve mouse behavioural experiments, behavioural data acquisition, confocal microscopy, dendritic spine analysis, microscopy image processing and quantitative analysis, and associated laboratory record-keeping.

This is a short fixed-term replacement post, initially from 01 October 2026 to 31 December 2026

About you

We are seeking a Research Technician with existing, project-specific expertise in behavioural neuroscience. Due to the short duration of the initial appointment, the successful candidate must be able to contribute to the project from the outset with minimal additional training.

The project cannot be delivered within the initial three-month period unless the appointee already has the required technical competencies. Applicants must therefore be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria:

Practical experience conducting mouse behavioural experiments in a research laboratory setting.

Direct experience using Med-PC IV for behavioural experiment control, data acquisition, and/or behavioural task implementation.

Competence in confocal microscopy, including image acquisition from neuronal tissue samples.

Practical experience with dendritic spine analysis or closely related neuronal morphology analysis.

Proficiency using Fiji/ImageJ for microscopy image processing and quantitative analysis.

A valid Home Office Personal Licence with the relevant permissions required for the mouse behavioural and/or regulated procedures involved in the project.

Ability to work independently, accurately, and safely within established laboratory protocols from the start of the appointment.

Good laboratory record-keeping, data organisation, and communication skills.

Ability to comply with University, local laboratory, and UK legislative requirements relevant to animal research and laboratory work.

Experience with appetitive learning, cue-evoked seeking, behavioural neuroscience methods, transgenic mouse colony work, or the development and optimisation of behavioural neuroscience research tools would be advantageous.

About our School

Please find further information regarding the School of Psychology.

The School of Psychology is proud to hold a Silver Athena Swann Award.

Why work here

Find out more about our reward and benefits package.

Find out about our equality, diversity and inclusion

Further Key Information

Please contact Eisuke Koya (E.Koya@sussex.ac.uk) for informal enquiries.

Eligibility

The University requires that work undertaken for the University is performed in the UK.

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