Research Associate in Functional Brain Mapping

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) in functional brain mapping (FBM) to work on a project aimed at discovering neuromarkers that facilitate stratification of patients with Alzheimer´s disease. The position is currently for 2 years, with possibility for further extension subject to securing funder’s approval.

Job Ref at http://www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs: 1632872

Salary: £26,844 to £39,347

Closing Date: 4th April 2017

Duties

The successful candidate will use MEG data recorded during cognitive tasks, stimulations, and resting state protocols to explore functional connectivity and other appropriate measures for characterizing individuals with different stages of AD and detecting individuals at the risk of developing AD. S/he will also develop and evaluate methods for assessing treatment effects on individuals with AD in collaboration with industry.

Northern Ireland Functional Brain Mapping (NIFBM) facility

The NIFBM is located at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (isrc.ulster.ac.uk) of Ulster University, Magee campus, Derry~Londonderry. It is the only brain imaging facility anywhere in Ireland and only one of nine in whole of UK to use a state-of-the-art magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure brain activity. The facility attracts clinicians and researchers from across Northern Ireland as well as Republic of Ireland. It is equipped with the latest whole head 306 channels Elekta Neuromag MEG TRIUX system, which also includes a 128-channel EEG recording system. We offer several advanced techniques for brain stimulation and analysis that allow us to obtain better results and guarantee a high quality service for both research and clinical applications. The ISRC is a major research unit in the Faculty of Computing and Engineering and hosts around 80 researchers including academic staff, research associates and PhD students organized in four research teams: Neural Systems and Neuro-technology, Computational Neuroscience and Neural Engineering, Cognitive Robotics, and Ambient Intelligence and Virtual Worlds. Based at ISRC, the successful candidate will have an opportunity to interact with researchers from related ISRC teams as well as Biomedical Sciences Research Institute (5* research rating), and the recently developed Centre for Stratified Medicine at Ulster University.

Eligibility Requirements

An eligible candidate should have a degree in Computing Science, Electronic Engineering, Physics, or a closely related discipline, or a higher degree in the same or related subjects. Applicants with other relevant degrees e.g. medicine, neuroscience or biomedical sciences may also be considered, subject to demonstration of substantial neuroimaging expertise. A PhD degree in an area relevant to the post is also an essential requirement. It is also required that a candidate:

Has extensive hands-on MEG experience including protocol design, setting up experiments and stimulations, and data acquisition;
Has strong skills and expertise in MEG analysis using modern tools such as Fieldtrip, SPM, MNE, and/or Brainstorm;
Has research track record in cognitive neuroscience and/or Alzheimer’s disease supported by at least two high quality journal publications suitable for submission in to UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF);
Is a self-motivated individual, enjoys working in a team and interacting with researchers and study participants.

Please apply on-line by visiting either our university web-site http://www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs or the advertisement appearing at:

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AXT197/research-associate-in-functional-brain-mapping/

For more information, please contact Prof. Girijesh Prasad, Principal Investigator & Director NIFBM. E-mail: g.prasad@ulster.ac.uk, Phone: 028 71675645.