Temporary Vision Research Assistant

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.

The Role
Would you like to do research in basic vision science with real-world applications? Are you highly skilled in colour vision testing and keen to develop your expertise in behavioural experiment design? If yes, we want someone like you for the role of temporary part-time research assistant in the Hurlbert Colour Vision Lab at Newcastle University.

Colour vision deficiency (CVD) affects approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females in the UK. People with CVD are often excluded from professions and occupations, for example, authorised firearms officer roles in the UK police, where colour cues are considered critical to job performance. Yet empirical evidence is lacking for the relationship between CVD and operational performance in many such roles.

In this role, you will carry out specialist colour vision testing of individuals with normal and anomalous colour vision to characterise their low-level chromatic discrimination abilities and diagnose the specific type of colour vision deficiency where it exists. You will also help to design and run additional experiments assessing the use of colour in specific visual tasks. You will be responsible for recruiting participants, carrying out the specialist assessments, collating the data, and preparing summary charts of the results.

You will work as a research assistant within a research team, taking part in regular project meetings that may involve external collaborators, presenting and discussing your progress, and contributing to written reports of the research.

In this temporary part-time role, you will be based at our Newcastle upon Tyne campus that has excellent transport links and state of the art facilities. You will also have working space and resources in the Biosciences Institute in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. The working hours will generally be 10 hours/week, with testing of participants generally happening between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. The total number of hours for this role will ideally be between 120 and 150, with the role starting no later than 3 August 2026 and finishing before 31st December 2026, but there is flexibility around the hours and timings.

How to apply: Please send us a CV together with a covering letter outlining why you are interested in the role and giving examples to illustrate how you meet the essential criteria in the job description (available on the university's website, accessed by the 'Apply' button). Below are some of the key criteria to focus on:

• Understanding and facility with use of colour science concepts, terminology, and metrics.
• Previous direct experience of and proven skills in colour vision testing.
• Previous direct experience of recruiting participants for colour vision experiments.
• High level of practical problem-solving capability.
• Excellent oral presentation skills.

Please contact Professor Anya Hurlbert (anya.hurlbert@ncl.ac.uk) or Ilgin Cebioglu (I.cebioglu2@ncl.ac.uk) for informal enquiries.

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/.
Find out more about our Research Institutes here:
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/.

Advert information