UNIVERSITY OF YORK DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY Research Associate Ref: 4053

The Department of Psychology at the University of York is seeking a full time Research Associate to work on a project entitled ‘Assessing visual cortex in candidates for retinal prosthetics’. The project will use MRI methods to measure changes in the function and structure of human visual cortex in patients with visual loss resulting from age-related macular degeneration before and after implantation with retinal prosthetics. It is funded by the Wellcome Trust through the Centre for Chronic Diseases and Disorders (C2D2) at the University of York.

The successful candidate will design and run neuroimaging experiments in patients using MRI, fMRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), present findings at meetings and prepare manuscripts for submission to leading journals. The work will be based at the University of York, supervised by Dr Heidi Baseler and Prof Tony Morland, in collaboration with Profs Paulo Stanga (Manchester), Ione Fine (U of Washington), Geoff Boynton (U of Washington), Dr Victoria Allgar (York) and Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (California).

Ideally, candidates will have a PhD in vision science, neuroimaging, neuroscience, experimental psychology, medicine or related area at the time of taking up the appointment. However, applicants without a PhD, but with relevant research experience in vision science and/or neuroimaging will be considered. While the post is in the Department of Psychology, those with qualifications in other disciplines – such as Physics, Maths, Computer Science, Engineering or Medicine - will be considered for the post. Experience in human neuroimaging in techniques such as structural MRI, fMRI and MRS will be particularly valuable, but applications from those with experience in only one of these areas will be considered. Experience publishing in high profile, peer-reviewed journals is desirable. As this study involves working with macular degeneration patients, experience with similar patients or other sensitive groups with visual impairment would also be helpful.

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Heidi Baseler (Email: heidi.baseler@york.ac.uk mailto:heidi.baseler@york.ac.uk; Tel: +44 (0) 1904 322862) or Professor Antony Morland (Email: antony.morland@york.ac.uk mailto:antony.morland@york.ac.uk; Tel: +44 (0) 1904 322860). General information about the department is available at http://www.york.ac.uk/psychology.

The salary is £30,434 a year. The vacancy is full time and the hours of work are 37 per week. The appointment is available immediately until 31 January 2017.

Closing date: Midnight on Friday 27 February 2015.

For further information and to apply on-line, please visit our website: https://jobs.york.ac.uk

The University of York is committed to promoting equality and diversity. The Department of Psychology holds an Athena Swan Silver Award, demonstrating a commitment to supporting women in science.