Research Assistant

Newcastle University - Faculty of Medical Sciences

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 Assistant (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 initial data processing coding and data analysis, contribute actively to interpretation of results, and take the lead on drafting research outputs, thus solid foundations 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.

This post is full time, fixed term for a period of 6 Months

For informal enquiries contact: Dr Demetris Soteropoulos (Demetris.soteropoulos@ncl.ac.uk)

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here

Find out more about our Research Institutes here

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