"Research Assistant (Level 2) or Postdoctoral Researcher (Level 1) in statistical image processing (BROKENSONG project)"

The Role

The Music Department at Maynooth University invites applications for a 12-month position as either a Research Assistant (Level 2) or Postdoctoral Researcher (Level 1) (depending on qualifications and experience), with a speciality in statistical image processing to work with Professor Karen Desmond’s research team on the project ‘Polyphonic Singing and Communities of Music Writing in Medieval Britain and Ireland, c. 1150 to c. 1350’ (BROKENSONG) (funded by a 5-year ERC Consolidator Grant https://ahi.maynoothuniversity.ie/brokensong/). The position is full-time but a part-time working arrangement may be considered. The place of work is Maynooth University, Ireland. remote work from another country cannot be facilitated.

Do you want to work in Ireland on an exciting European Research Council funded project on uncovering lost musical notations on faded and damaged music manuscripts? We seek a candidate with extensive experience in scientific image processing, and either knowledge or aptitude to quickly learn multispectral imaging (MSI) standards and processing techniques in order to do the post-processing the MSI files of medieval manuscript pages captured for this project, to create the workflow for the image post-processing, to describe and document the image data and metadata (compiling a data sheet etc. for each set of images), including uploading and documenting the raw and processed images on the project’s open-source repository using either the Xenodo or OpenAire platform, and uploading and/or creating links to the post-processed images to the project’s Github so that these images are accessible through the project’s website. In addition, the candidate may work with the project team on research trips to the UK, assisting in the capture of multispectral images of the manuscripts in the UK.

The BROKENSONG project examines singing in medieval Britain and Ireland during a transformative period of western music history, c. 1150-1350. The project team is digitally encoding approximately 700 music compositions copied on over 120 fragmentary music manuscripts. The project reconstructs lost vibrant musical cultures and communities.

Many of these manuscripts are severely damaged or palimpsested (where the ink of original music notation was scraped off the parchment, and then overwritten with other contents, leaving only its residue visible through MSI). The project has commissioned multispectral images of these damaged and palimpsested leaves from various UK institutions, and this year will conduct research trips to the UK to capture the remaining images. The candidate recruited for this position will primarily work with the raw image files and do post-processing using HOKU/ENVI and other tools to enhance the legibility of the music notation on these leaves and then organize and document the research data in our open-source repository.

Salary

Research Assistant, Level 2 2026: €38,674 - €43,872 (7 points) p.a.

Or Postdoctoral Researcher, Level 1: €46,805 – €47,405 (2 points) p.a.

Appointments will be made in accordance with public sector pay provisions.

Closing Date:

23:30hrs (local Irish time) on Sunday, March 29th, 2026.

Please note all applications must be made via our Online Recruitment Portal at the following link:

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/human-resources/vacancies

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified above. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system.

Late applications will not be accepted.