Research Fellow - School of Psychology

Research Fellow

School of Psychology

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £41,526 to £49,553, with potential progression once in post to £55,570

Grade 8

Full time

FTC for 3 months

Closing date: 18th November 2019

Background
A postdoctoral research fellow in haptic modelling is required to join a BBSRC funded project led by Prof Alan Wing on Aging Touch in the Sensory Motor Neuroscience (SyMoN) Lab at the University of Birmingham. The position runs for 3 months 1 Nov 2019 to 31 Jan 2020. The research team also includes Drs Max Di Luca and Roberta Roberts at the University of Birmingham, Dr Harriet Allen at the University of Nottingham and Dr Marta Arroyo at the Procter and Gamble Brussels Innovation Centre.
The postdoctoral research fellow is required to work with the research team to develop closed loop control of a robotic device in a VR environment including optical motion capture and force-torque measurement to collect psychophysical and physiological data relating to multisensory perception of surface texture and the effects of aging.

Summary of Role

• Contribute to the creation of knowledge by undertaking software development, experimental design, data collection, analysis and modelling within the BBSRC Aging touch research project.
• Work within the BBSRC Aging touch research project including psychophysical modelling of the somatosensory neural transduction and coding processes underlying the perception of touch.

• Design robotic software for data collection in a VR environment including optical motion capture and force-torque measurement, analyse and interpret research findings and results.

• Prepare report of the methodology and results collected for publication.

Main Duties/Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include:

• Development of research objectives and proposals for the Aging touch project, with assistance of a mentor if required.

• Development of software for robotic haptic device control and data collection in VR environment including optical motion capture and force-torque measurement.

• Develop psychophysical models of aging touch spanning peripheral transduction, and central integration of neural somatosensory information.

• Analysis and interpretation of data in terms of models.

• Applying knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding.

• Disseminating research findings for publication, research seminars etc.

Person Specification

The successful applicant will have a good honours degree in STEM or Psychology and/or a Masters in Psychology or related area and a PhD in Computer Science or Robotics. They will also have experience in psychophysics (preferably including touch), inferential statistics, computational modelling (including sensory motor control or robotics). He or she should have demonstrable skills in programming (eg matlab, python, C++, R). Being able to work independently, professionally, and ethically as part of a team is essential.
Applicants should provide a covering letter to specify how you consider your background and skills will contribute to the project including evidence of research experience and ability to present and publish results.

For further information about the project, please contact Dr Max Di Luca M.DiLuca@bham.ac.uk or Professor Alan Wing at A.M.WING@bham.ac.uk

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