Research Assistant (Part-time)

About us

The mission of the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health is to maximise and advocate for the holistic health of all children, young people and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement. The UCL GOS ICH, together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, forms the largest concentration of children’s health research outside North America. The 2024-29 GOS ICH strategy focuses on its five scientific programmes. GOS ICH’s activities include active engagement with children and families, to ensure that our work is relevant and appropriate to their needs. GOS ICH generates the funding for our research by setting out our proposals in high quality applications to public, charitable and industrial funding bodies and disseminates the results of our research by publication in the medical and scientific literature, to clinicians, policy makers and the wider public. The Institute offers world-class education and training across a wide range of teaching and life learning programmes which address the needs of students and professional groups who are interested in and undertaking work relevant to child health. GOS ICH holds an Athena SWAN Charter Gold Award.

About the role

This work is part of a project entitled “Protecting language function in children undergoing brain surgery” and funded by the Great Ormond street Hospital Children’s Charity. The project aims to optimise and develop a new collection of functional MRI (fMRI) tasks/techniques for language mapping (to identify brain regions responsible for language function) in children who are undergoing brain surgery and speak more than one language. The post therefore represents an excellent opportunity for a postgraduate-level researcher to further develop their skills in advanced MRI and to gain experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment involving cognitive neuroscientists, MRI specialists, paediatric neurologists and radiographers. The role involves the design and analysis of new fMRI tasks, but also volunteer recruitment and data collection. This is a part-time (0.5 fte) post available until 30/06/2027, in the first instance.

About you

You have a postgraduate degree in MRI, Neuropsychology or similar, and have a strong interest in developmental neuroscience. You have excellent communication skills, both written and oral, and you are able to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team. Ideally, you will have experience of MRI and data governance, as well as experience of task-based functional MRI.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: • 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) • Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme • Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) • Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan • Immigration loan • Relocation scheme for certain posts • On-Site nursery • On-site gym • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay • Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service • Discounted medical insurance Visit Reward and benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We particularly encourage applications from candidates underrepresented in UCL’s workforce, including those from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, and – for Grade 9 and 10 roles – women.

Read more: UCL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Applicants should also familiarise themselves with UCL’s policies on: Prevention of Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy and Personal Relationships Policy.

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact Madhur Sharma on ich.hr@ucl.ac.uk quoting job reference.