Research Associate in Electronics and Electrical Engineering; Wearable Sensors Job Edinburgh area,City of Edinburgh Scotland UK

Position: Research Associate in Electronics and Electrical Engineering (Wearable Sensors)
Location: City of Edinburgh

Grade and Salary

Grade 7, £37,694 - £47,389 per annum

FTE and working pattern

Full time, 5 months fixed term contract

Reward and Benefits

33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator: to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

Purpose of Role

This Research Associate (RA) position will contribute to the “Flexi Sense” project within the Institute of Signals, Sensors and Systems at the Heriot-Watt University, which is funded by the EPSRC Cross-Institutional Impact Acceleration Award (IAA) funds and in collaboration with colleagues at University of Edinburgh.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Undertake research related to wearable pressure sensors for optimised compression therapy. This will entail both independent research work and working in collaboration with other researchers on the Flexi Sense and Flexi Shear projects. The successful candidate will proactively engage with collaborating researchers and clinical partners to identify fruitful lines of research and technology development in this area, with a view to understanding, defining, and quantifying target specifications of a future commercial sensor system for compression therapy, and the subsequent design and build of a functioning field-deployable prototype.

The candidate might also need to perform systematic characterisation of sensors using an experimental jig setup specifically for this task (60% of time).

Dissemination of research findings through internal reports, conference proceedings, and journal publications (15% of time).

Liaison with and support of colleagues on the EPSRC Cross-Institutional IAA funded Flexi Sense project, possibly including domestic and international travel and support of meetings at Heriot Watt University, at the University of Edinburgh, and the Pioneer Wound Healing and Lymphoedema Group (10% of time).

Develop plans for personal research and contribute to wider development of group strategy to identify and agree priorities for current and future work (5% of time).

Contribute to writing bids to win ongoing research grants. Provide guidance to other staff and students interested in integrating methods/results from this work into their own activity to ensure most effective use, particularly within Heriot Watt University and the University of Edinburgh (10% of time).

Key Contacts / Relationships

Frequent (daily to weekly) contact with other researchers in the project team and relevant research groups including academic staff, other researchers, technical staff, and PhD students.
Regular (weekly to monthly) contact with other researchers working on relevant projects in Heriot Watt University and the University of Edinburgh.
Regular (typically monthly) contact with key stakeholders, likely to include industry and clinical partners.

Planning & Organising

Work with the line manager to define and plan a programme of relevant research work and then to produce publishable results within appropriate timescales.
Work independently to plan the schedule of tasks to ensure that work of the projects progresses according to agreed overall timetable.
Organise own time so that different aspects of the project can proceed in parallel giving due consideration to the needs of other members of the team.
Be proactive in interacting with project partners to share data and ideas.
Take a leadership role in regular project meetings to report and review progress, and to generate new ideas and lines of research.
Determine the aims, objectives and deadlines for short to medium term work plan, in discussion with the Line Manager (particularly for medium term planning).
Contribute to long-term strategic planning and development of group activities, in discussion with the Line Manager and other researchers.

Problem Solving

Be resourceful in overcoming problems encountered in the development of new approaches and the implementation of existing techniques in the normal course of the research.
Define the methodology to solve the problems in the project.
Work in close cooperation with the other project investigators, project partners, technical staff, and PhD students working on the…