Research Assistant/associate - Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom - Newcastle University

Newcastle University

Verified Company

Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Salary:

Research Assistant:
£30,619 to £32,411 per annum

Research Associate:
£33,348 to £43,155 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: 02 August 2023

The Role

You should have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Biomedical Science, Movement Science, Computer Science or related field (a PhD is essential for the Research Associate level), experience working with wearable devices data and digital outcomes; proficient and independent signal processing, statistical and computational skills, and ability to work independently and as part of a team.

You will work as part of a research team supporting the "Transforming the Objective Real-world measUrement of Symptoms (TORUS)" research programme.

A cure for Parkinson's disease has been held back for decades by the extreme difficulty of measuring whether proposed new drugs actually improve the patient's symptoms and daily life.

TORUS aims to solve that problem through a novel platform of sensing technologies for use in patients' own homes along with an advanced data fusion and machine learning pipeline that measures changes in specific mobility-related behaviours over weeks and months.

The vision of TORUS is therefore to create the capability to autonomously, continuously and objectively measure symptoms of illness (mobility-related activities of daily living) many times every day during the clinical trial of a new drug, in the patient's own home and for months at a time.

TORUS will achieve this goal by using a wrist-worn wearable integrated synergistically with AI-enabled cameras, led by codesign to ensure that decisions taken in TORUS reflect the views and priorities of diverse patients & families.

This 5-year programme grant has been funded over £6M from the EPSRC and is a collaboration between the University of Bristol and Newcastle University.

You will be expected to perform metrological characterisation of wearable devices (e.g., quantifying static/dynamic noise), collect and analyse gait, motor symptoms/motor function and activity data with wearable technology, novel and traditional gait analysis tools (e.g., instrumented mat, etc.), and publish and present key findings from the projects.

About Us:

The 'Brain and Movement (BAM) Research Group' are based at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit (CARU) a translational clinical research platform jointly run and managed by Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and also at The Catalyst.

Weblinks:

Key Accountabilities
Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, the postholder will contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of their studies, thus providing substantial 'added value'
Develop and carry out the specified project using appropriate techniques and equipment as outlined in the personal requirements
Determine appropriate methodologies for research, with advice and support where required
Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
Contribute to the writing up of their research for publication and 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
May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants

Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute.

May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research projects
High level of analytical and problem-solving capability
Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others
Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment
Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications
Expertise working with wearable device verification (e.g., quantification of static and dynamic noise) and dat