Research Assistant

at  Kings College London

Job id: 093705. Salary: <£38,882 per annum pro rata, inclusive of London Weighting Allowance.
Posted: 04 February 2025. Closing date: 11 February 2025.
Business unit: IoPPN. Department: Basic & Clinical Neuroscience.
Contact details: Dr. Verity McClelland. verity.mcclelland@kcl.ac.uk
Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category: Research.
About Us
Our research programme links the world-renowned King’s College London (KCL) Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, the KCL School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences (BMEIS) and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital Complex Motor Disorders Service (St Thomas’ Hospital), a cutting-edge clinical service offering Deep Brain Stimulation for children with refractory movement disorders.
Our overall aim is to transform understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of childhood dystonia/dystonic cerebral palsy and to translate this knowledge into clinical practice, to improve outcomes and quality of life for children with these severely disabling movement disorders.
About The Role
We are seeking a research assistant with a degree in a biomedical engineering, electronic engineering or similar. The main purpose of the role is a) to develop devices to help children with severe motor impairment to participate in research paradigms involving controlled upper limb motor tasks; b) to develop systems to synchronise the tasks and neurophysiological recordings.
The role represents an exciting opportunity to work within a multi-disciplinary team linking clinical neuroscience with paediatric movement disorders in a programme of research aiming to transform understanding of childhood dystonia and dystonic cerebral palsy (DCP). The position is funded for 6 months at 0.8 FTE.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) is an established therapy for dystonia/DCP, which is often refractory to medical treatment. Evelina London Children’s Hospital has hosted a national paediatric DBS neuromodulation service since 2007. This project will focus on using newly-available DBS technology, which allows simultaneous stimulation and recording, to record real-time neuronal activity from the GPi, a key node in the sensorimotor network crucial to motor control.
You will work directly with children who have DBS for severely disabling movement disorders to develop the motor task paradigms and help to record the neurophysiological data (EEG and EMG). The project is integrated with other on-going clinical neurophysiological studies, allowing us to interpret GPi activity in the context of the wider sensorimotor network and dystonic muscle activity, and in relation to symptoms.
The successful candidate will also work within the wider research team to support other aspects of our research programme investigating neurophysiological markers of dystonia/dystonic cerebral palsy, including studies in neonates and infants.
You will work under the guidance of Dr Verity McClelland (CI) in a friendly, small, but growing team, and with our key clinical co-investigators: Dr Jean-Pierre Lin, Dr Daniel Lumsden and the multi-disciplinary clinical team at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. We are integrated with the Research Department of Early Life Imaging, part of the KCL School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences (BMEIS) and also have an established collaboration with Prof Etienne Burdet’s group at Imperial College London.

You will work across campuses, predominantly at Evelina/St Thomas’ Hospital but also including Denmark Hill campus.

• Please note that this role is part-time (0.8 FTE) and you will be offered a 6 month contract. The salary shown in this ad will be amended accordingly.

About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• Relevant degree or equivalent qualification
• Skilled in electronics and device development
• Skilled in coding using Matlab, including for interfacing with devices
• Skilled in signal processing
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills
• Excellent team-working skills
• Ability to work independently and use own initiative

Desirable criteria

• Experience in recording and analysing neurophysiological data (EEG/EMG)
• Experience in recruiting and working with patients, particularly children
• Knowledge of data confidentiality and data protection act
• Skilled in statistical analysis

Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Further Information
We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.
We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King’s.We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.
We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK

• Please note that this role is part-time (0.8 FTE) and you will be offered a 6 month contract. The salary shown in this ad will be amended accordingly