Newcastle University
Research Associate
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Salary: £36,636 to £46,049 per annum
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 7 August 2026
The Role
The Research Associate (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 data processing, coding and data analysis, contribute actively to interpretation of results, and take the lead on drafting research outputs, thus a solid foundation 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. In addition to the science this project will also explore, through focus group discussions, the ethical implications of large-scale neuromotor data collection, including privacy, user agency, consent, inclusion, as well as barriers to adoption.
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/
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Contact for the post is Dr Demetris Soteropoulos (Demetris.soteropoulos@ncl.ac.uk)
The post is available until 31 December 2027.
Key Accountabilities
- Collect, analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions on the outcomes
- Co-ordinate own work with that of others, use problem solving to affect the achievement of research objectives and contribute to the planning of the project(s)
- Present information on research progress and outcomes to a Principal Investigator or groups overseeing the research project
- Write up results from own research activity and provide input into the research project’s dissemination, in whatever form (report, papers, chapters, books)
- Use research resources (including, where required, laboratories, workshops and specialist equipment) as appropriate
- Contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of the project
- Determine appropriate methodologies for research
- Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
- Contribute to the writing up of the research and its dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
- Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
- Contribute to grant applications submitted by others and develop own research objectives and proposals for funding
- Facilitate focus group discussions and extract qualitative insights into the ethical implications and adoption barriers of large-scale neuromotor data collection
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Knowledge in movement neuroscience
- Attention to detail and ability to work at high levels of accuracy
- Ability to present complex information effectively to a range of audiences
- Proven ability to analyse data and write-up results
- Experience of working collaboratively with colleagues
- Excellent IT skills in all major office applications
- The ability to use personal initiative and creativity to solve research problems
- Awareness of the research environment
- High level of analytical and problem solving capacity
- Ability to communicate complex information with clarity
- Experience of presentations at conferences and/or in high quality publications
- Experience with using electrophysiological stimulation techniques in human participants, including but not limited to, transcranial magnetic stimulation (and use of Brainsight neuro-navigation) and peripheral nerve stimulation
- Experience with using electrophysiological recording techniques in human participants, including but not limited to surface electromyography as well as motor unit recordings from limb muscles
- Experienced in using Spike2 data acquisition software to record electrophysiological data
- Experienced in coding for and running behavioural experiments with human participants and in writing custom code for data analysis in Matlab
- Experience with recruiting and screening for study volunteers
- Experience with composing Ethics applications for human experiments
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Attributes and Behaviour
- Commitment to working positively as a member of a multi-skilled research team
- Ability to negotiate and prioritise multiple, competing responsibilities and to work to deadlines
- Commitment to continued professional development
- Understanding of good practice in equality, inclusion and diversity
- Demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a team, including participating in research meetings but also the ability to work independently on own initiative and to meet deadlines
Qualifications
- PhD in Movement Neuroscience
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 29585
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