Department : Department Of Psychology

Position Type : Research

Grade 6 (£26,715 - £32,817)

A 36-month fixed-term full time Research Assistant (RA) position is available at the Department of Psychology at Durham University. The successful candidate will join the research project NewSense led by Prof Marko Nardini and funded by the European Research Council. The project is studying people’s abilities to learn to use new sensory signals to augment their perceptual and motor skills. For example, people will be trained to use new auditory or vibro-tactile cues to judge where objects are in space or what material they are made from. Many studies are carried out using immersive virtual reality to place people in novel but highly-controlled multisensory environments. The work has applications to improving perception in people with sensory deficits, as well as to expanding the limits of perceptual experience and abilities in healthy people.

The project uses a combination of behavioural testing, neuroimaging, and comparison of behavioural and neuroimaging data with the predictions of different mathematical models. The role of the RA is to work as part of a larger team, assisting with collecting behavioural and neuroimaging data, mainly with healthy adults. This will include scheduling and coordinating participants, including those in long and complex follow-up studies. The RA will also help to refine experimental designs during piloting, and assist with some of the initial analysing and summarising of data.

The post will provide excellent research experience and training, including opportunities to gain experience in preparing data for publication and presenting results at conferences. While these are not requirements of the post, they are available for a post-holder who is looking to gain this experience. The role does not require programming or mathematical modelling, but the post-holder can also gain some experience in these fields if they wish.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by February 3rd 2020, but there is some flexibility around this date.

For informal enquiries please contact the Principal Investigator, marko.nardini@durham.ac.uk. All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence.

This post is full time & fixed term for 36 months.

Closes midday on : 16-Oct-2019