King's College London

About us

Our research programme links the King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, the KCL Centre for the Developing Brain and the Evelina Children’s Hospital Complex Motor Disorders Service (St Thomas’ Hospital), a cutting-edge clinical service offering Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) 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 psychology, biomedical science and/or neuroscience-related area to join our team.  The main purpose of the role is to investigate the delivery of EEG-based neurofeedback via a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to children/young people with dystonia/dystonic cerebral palsy and to explore the potential role of cognitive strategy use in the children’s engagement with the neurofeedback paradigm.

This role represents an exciting opportunity to work within a multi-disciplinary team linking clinical neuroscience with paediatric movement disorders.

You will support the current study “Enhancing Sensorimotor Processing in Childhood Dystonia”, funded by the Rosetrees Trust (PI Dr Verity McClelland).  The study uses neurophysiological techniques (EEG and EMG) to investigate sensorimotor processing and its development in children with dystonia and dystonic cerebral palsy, aiming to improve patient outcomes.  You will work directly with children who have severely disabling movement disorders, as well as healthy volunteers, to record neurophysiological data, run the BCI-neurofeedback studies and explore individuals’ cognitive strategies.

You will also work within the wider research team to support other aspects of our research programme, including investigating sensorimotor processing in neonates and recording data from the basal ganglia in children with implanted DBS.

You will work under the guidance of Dr Verity McClelland (Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist and MRC Clinical Research Fellow) in a friendly, small, but growing team, and in collaboration with other professionals within the Complex Motor Disorders Team at Evelina.  You will also receive training/supervision from our collaborator Dr Hortensia Gimeno (clinical academic occupational therapist and Director of Therapies Research at Barts Health NHS Trust), who has specialist expertise in cognitive approaches to rehabilitation in children, young people and adults.

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

This is a full-time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 12 months

About you

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

Essential criteria

1.       Relevant degree or equivalent qualification (psychology, neuroscience, natural sciences)

2.       Clinical Research experience in a relevant subject

3.       Experience in recruiting participants for clinical studies

4.       Excellent verbal and written communication skills

5.       Excellent organizational skills

6.       Ability to work independently and use own initiative

7.       Excellent time-management skills

8.       Excellent team-working skills

Desirable criteria

1.       Experience in managing research data in line with Good Clinical practice

2.       Knowledge of data confidentiality and data protection act

3.       Experience in working with children and their families

4.       Previous experience in recording EEG

5.       Previous experience with patient and public involvement activities (PPI)

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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 able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK. Please note this is dependent on the salary offered which is based on your experience and will be discussed at the offer stage.