We are seeking a full-time research associate in Newcastle University’s Translational and Clinical Research Institute. The appointee will join a new research group, led by Dr William Sedley, also including two PhD students. The group forms part of Newcastle University’s larger Auditory Cognition Group (www.auditorycognition.org), with PIs including Tim Griffiths, Adrian Rees, Chris Petkov, Yukiko Kikuchi and Kai Alter.
The appointee will join a Wellcome Trust funded programme of research for 5 years, focusing on the fundamental question of how the intensity and loudness of stimuli are processed and represented in contemporary accounts of brain function such as predictive coding. This question is highly important and widely relevant in both basic science and a range of clinical disorders from tinnitus to chronic pain, yet has received little dedicated attention.
The programme of research focuses on human studies with both healthy controls and clinical populations (mainly tinnitus and hyperacusis). These are conducted in a dedicated EEG, physiology and psychophysics laboratory in Newcastle, at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging in London (for MEG and fMRI), and in the Human Brain Research Laboratory in Iowa (for invasive neurosurgical recordings from epilepsy patients). The appointee will be expected to spend time working in all of these centres (travel and accommodation expenses covered). National and international collaborators on the programme include Karl Friston (London), Maria Chait (London), Tim Griffiths (Newcastle) and Matthew Howard (Iowa).
Start date: 1st of July 2021, or as soon after as possible
Contact: william.sedley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx