Senior Research Associate

About the team:

This senior research role will be located in the School of Psychology based in the Brooks Building on our Manchester campus within the Faculty of Health and Education. The school is home to our translational and computational neuroscience research group, who are using advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques combined with computational modelling to develop new treatment strategies for people with movement disorders.

We are a team of basic and computational neuroscientists, movement disorder clinicians, and movement scientists. We collaborate across the UK and internationally with academics, charity and industry partners, and our work is supported via a range of funders including UKRI.

About the project:

Our groundbreaking research project aims to revolutionize the treatment of Parkinson's disease through the development of a comprehensive "Digital Twin" of the Parkinson's brain. This virtual model will predict how a patient's brain responds to treatments like medication and deep brain stimulation (DBS), enabling personalised and precise treatment strategies. Additionally, we are creating a tool that will allow people with Parkinson's to monitor their own brain activity and make informed decisions about their health. By combining cutting-edge neuroscience, computational modelling, and AI, our project promises to transform the lives of people with Parkinson's disease globally.

About the role:

This is a 100% FTE, 4-year fixed term senior research post and is intended to deliver the projects described above. The post is offered at Grade 8 or Grade 9, depending on skills and experience. This represents an outstanding opportunity to contribute to the development of novel and innovative research, and to develop your own research goals as part of our team. The role will involve developing advanced large-scale computational models of the motor and related systems using existing data from our group and international databases. You will carry out sophisticated computational analyses to understand how changes in the brain contribute to Parkinson's symptoms and to develop novel treatment strategies by modelling how interventions such as medication and brain stimulation modulate those changes.

You will work with our national and international collaborators to deliver this work, and some travel abroad may be required to collect data and to disseminate findings.

About the candidate:

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive experienced researcher who has expert knowledge of applying advanced analytical techniques and computational modelling to multimodal neuroimaging data; and who is confident in building and supporting internal and external collaboration networks that support the needs of the research. You will focus on developing and applying computational models to analyse existing data, aiming to understand the underlying mechanisms of Parkinson's disease and the effects of various treatments. The successful candidate will evaluate research outcomes, disseminate findings to relevant groups and research communities. We expect the successful candidate to develop their own research program, and we will support them in attracting external funding to advance their work.

To apply:

If you would like to apply, please take the time to consider the essential criteria in the job description and provide us with a CV that demonstrates your suitability for the role.