Research Fellow, Imaging/Cognitive Neuroscience

Department of Psychology

Location:  Egham
Salary:  £36,438 to £38,516 per annum - including London Allowance
Post Type:  Full Time
Closing Date:  23.59 hours GMT on Monday 01 November 2021
Reference:  0921-345

Full-Time, Fixed-Term

Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow in the Psychology Department.

We are seeking an enthusiastic, productive and highly-skilled early-career scientist for a postdoctoral research position linked to a recently awarded BBSRC grant held jointly across Royal Holloway, University of London, and Cardiff University (e.g., Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CUBRIC). This exciting project will apply state-of-the-art 7-Tesla MRI (and connectom diffusion MRI) to examine the functional neuroanatomy and connectivity of the human subiculum and broader hippocampal network. The studies will focus primarily on the fine-grained mapping of hippocampal network connectivity, as well as developing novel naturalistic cognitive paradigms to examine how the subiculum constructs representations of scenes and events.  

The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary research team across Royal Holloway and Cardiff University and will be expected to work closely with a second postdoctoral researcher based at CUBRIC. This will include conceptualisation, implementation, design/analysis and dissemination of multimodal neuroimaging studies, as well as other activities linked to the grant (e.g., arranging regular online meetings, public engagement, supporting early-career researchers/students). The post-holder will also be expected to spend time at the partner institution when feasible. In line with our commitment to open science, they will be expected to implement reliable, reproducible, and efficient approaches to data management, thus ensuring the long-term value of these data for the wider neuroimaging community. There will also be the opportunity to analyse existing in-house and publicly available multimodal imaging datasets across human and nonhuman primates (structural/diffusion MRI, 3T/7T resting and task-fMRI). The research fellow will be expected to provide mentorship and support to junior researchers and students in the team on imaging data analyses.  

Successful applicants will have a Ph.D. in cognitive/imaging neuroscience, experimental psychology, or related field (e.g., computational neuroscience or computer science). Strong skills in advanced statistical methods (e.g., MVPA, intersubject correlation analysis and/or network analyses), manuscript preparation, and working closely with other institutions are essential. A primary interest in the neuroscience of memory and spatial navigation and/or the analysis of existing large-sample datasets is desirable.

This full-time position is available to start as soon as possible. This is a fixed-term post until 30/09/2024.

Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Carl Hodgetts ([email protected] ) or Prof Andrew Lawrence ([email protected] ) and more information about the project can be found here: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV010549%2F1 . 

To find out more about Dr Carl Hodgetts’ Connected Memory Lab at Royal Holloway, please visit www.connectedmemorylab.com . You can also visit the websites of Prof Andrew Lawrence  (co-PI), Dr Jiaxiang Zhang , Prof Kim Graham , and Prof John Aggleton  to find out more about the work of the co-investigators.

In return we offer a highly competitive rewards and benefits package including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement 
• Training and Development opportunities
• Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution 
• Various schemes including Cycle to Work, Season Ticket Loans and help with the cost of Eyesight testing. 
• Free parking 

The post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London.  As described above, the post will also require the research fellow to some spend time at Cardiff University for research activities such as data collection and project meetings. 

To view further details of this post and to apply please visit https://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk . For queries on the application process the Human Resources Department can be contacted by email at: [email protected]  

Facilities

The Psychology Department, located in Egham, close to Central London, has an excellent research profile (rated 6th in the latest Research Excellence Framework) and benefits from state-of-the-art research facilities (e.g. MRI, TMS, EEG, cognitive behavioural testing suites, Babylab). Data collection and regular meetings will take place at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), which houses a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities and world-leading expertise, with 4 human MRI systems (2 x Siemens Prisma, 1 x Siemens Connectom, 1 x Siemens 7T), MEG, EEG, TMS, tDCS, clinical research units and testing labs. Further details of CUBRIC can be found on their webpage (http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cubric ).

Please quote the reference: 0921-345 

Closing Date:   Midnight, 1st November 2021

Interview Date: TBC 

Further details:   Job Description      Person Specification