Research Assistant

Salary: £33,002.00 - £34,610.00 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 02 March 2026

The Research Assistant (RA) will play a central role in delivering this project. Working closely with the Principal Investigator, the RA will lead day-to-day experimental activity, including the recruitment and testing of participants, operation of surface EMG recording systems, and collection of high-quality datasets. They will be responsible for initial data processing coding and data analysis, contribute actively to interpretation of results, and take the lead on drafting research outputs, thus solid foundations in movement neuroscience are essential here.

The role offers strong opportunities to develop advanced skills in human neurophysiology, signal analysis, and experimental design, as well as experience of transparent and reproducible research practices. Support for career development will be provided throughout, including close mentoring, opportunities to co-author publications, and engagement with interdisciplinary collaborators.

This project aims to improve how muscle signals can be used to control external devices, with a focus on making such systems faster to learn, more reliable, and easier to use alongside natural movement. Using laboratory-based surface EMG recordings from healthy volunteers, the research will compare different ways of mapping muscle activity to simple cursor-control tasks, measuring performance using well‑established metrics of speed, accuracy, and stability.

The work will also test whether incorporating information about rhythmic muscle activity can improve control compared with simpler approaches. This data will help to inform future development of practical myoelectric interfaces for research and real‑world applications.

This post is full time, fixed term for a period of 6 months.

For informal enquiries contact:
Dr Demetris Soteropoulos (Dem)

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here:

Find out more about our Research Institutes here:

• Contribution to the research programme of the School/Institute under the clear guidance of a member of an academic staff or Principal Investigator
• Use initiative and creativity to analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions on the outcomes
• Co‑ordinate own work with that of others, deal with problems which may affect the achievement of research objectives and contribute to the planning of the project(s)
• Present information on research progress and outcomes to a Principal Investigator or groups overseeing the research project
• Write up results from own research activity and provide input into the research project’s dissemination, in whatever form (report, papers, chapters, book)
• Work to deadlines and manage, with support, competing priorities
• Ensure that personal knowledge in relevant fields of study is kept up to date
• Use research resources (including, where required, laboratories, workshops and specialist equipment) as appropriate
• Maintain academic standards and freedom, and work in accordance with university policies (e.g. equal opportunities, health and safety policies)
• Possible supervision and demonstration duties within undergraduate laboratories and example classes or in teaching small seminar classes
• Undertake relevant training and development activities to develop capacity for taking on wider responsibilities
• Develop, with advice, an awareness of own professional development needs and a personal development strategy

• Some subject knowledge in the relevant area
• Good level of analytical skills and the ability to communicate complex information clearly, both orally and through the written word
• The ability to work collaboratively with colleagues
• The ability to use personal initiative and creativity to solve research problems
• Experience with using electrophysiological stimulation techniques in human participants, including but not limited to,…