Job 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: 10 August 2023
The Role
We are seeking a Research Assistant/Research Associate with a background in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design or related fields, with specific interests and/or experience in Digital Health and health technologies to work on an exciting new Digital Health project, TORUS. Candidates will ideally have strong skills/experience in human-centred design, co-design processes for engaging with diverse stakeholder communities, interface prototyping and evaluation of digital technologies. You will have working knowledge of preparing research study protocols for ethical review. Experience working with people living with Parkinson’s Disease is a significant bonus.
You will be expected to collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of researchers across departments at Newcastle University and University of Bristol, and the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD). You will be based in Open Lab , a world-leading HCI research group within School of Computing. The post will involve working with end-user communities and other key stakeholder groups to help design and evaluate interface aspects of a novel platform of technologies for movement analysis, for conducting at home assessments of mobility and physical activity. Work will also include collaboratively exploring the data ethics of such systems. You will collaborate with researchers in our Faculty of Medical Sciences and at partner institutions to publish and present key findings from the project.
The project is funded through the UKRI EPSRC “Transforming the Objective Real-world measUrement of Symptoms (TORUS)” research programme led by Prof Ian Craddock at UoB. TORUS aims to tackle the challenges of understanding if proposed new drugs actually improve people with Parkinson’s symptoms and daily life function. This will be achieved through a novel platform of sensing technologies for use in people with Parkinson’s own homes along with an advanced data fusion and machine learning pipeline that measures changes in specific mobility-related behaviours over weeks and months.
You will work with Professor Abigail Durrant and the broader team within Open Lab, a supportive community of interdisciplinary researchers and designers with a world leading reputation for HCI and the co-design of community-focused civic and health technologies. You will also work in close collaboration with HCI and design researchers in the TORUS team at UoB, including Professor Kenton O’Hara and Dr Aisling O’Kane.
You will benefit from being based in the multi-award-winning Urban Sciences Building on the Newcastle Helix site, a ‘living laboratory’ and an exemplar of sustainable urban development in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.
This position is available immediately on a full time, fixed term basis for 30 months from the start date.
To apply, please complete an online application and upload a plain text copy of your CV and cover letter only. In your cover letter, you should evidence how you meet or exceed the essential requirements for the role. Please note, any other ‘Additional Document’ you upload may not be received by the reviewing panel.
For informal enquiries about this position, please contact Prof. Abigail Durrant ( abigail.durrant@newcastle.ac.uk ).
For more information about the School of Computing and our research at NU, see here .
Key Accountabilities
- Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, the postholder will contribute ideas and design insights, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of project 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 design methods for research, with advice and support where required
- Prepare, submit and manage ethics applications and processes for research
- Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
- Contribute to the writing up of research for publication and dissemination, through conference and journal publications
- Present research findings, at appropriate academic and/or industry conferences or public engagement events
- Work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the department.
- Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment
- May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate and MSc research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students
- May contribute to public engagement events around university research
- May contribute to grant application development for further funding
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
- Detailed subject knowledge in the area of research
- Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research project
- High level of analytical and problem-solving capability
- Interpersonal skills and demonstrable experience of communicating complex information with clarity and to encourage commitment of others
- Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment
- Demonstrable knowledge of human-centred design and co-design/ participatory design methods for digital technology development
- Experience in design and prototyping tools such as Adobe Creative Suite
- Experience in working in interdisciplinary environments
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Demonstrable knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Track record of leading publication(s) for high quality conferences and/or journals in a related field
Desirable
- Programming skills (e.g. for interface development across platforms)
- Experience of working with people living with Parkinson’s Disease
Attributes and Behaviour
- Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise tasks (time management)
- Ability to work independently, and flexibly as part of a multi-disciplinary team and contribute to the development of effective and mutually supportive working relationships and practices
Qualifications
- PhD in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Computer Science, or related field (awarded or close to submission)
- Good honours degree (or equivalent) in relevant subject
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 silver 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.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 25815
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