Department of Psychology
A new Postdoc position is offered at the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex, to work with Dr. Sebastian Korb and his team on an international and multidisciplinary project entitled ‘Neuromuscular electric stimulation and social cognition’.
The project, which is financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), investigates the effects of facial somatosensory input on emotion recognition at the behavioural and neural level. Somatosensory input is delivered via neuromuscular electric stimulation, and brain activity in response to visually presented faces is measured with EEG/ERPs.
Appointment to this post will be made at Senior Research Officer level.
Duties of the post
This is an exciting opportunity for a post-doctoral researcher to work on the development of facial neuromuscular electric stimulation for the purpose of applying it to research questions relating to multisensory integration and theories of embodied cognition. The expected results will contribute to a better understanding of how the brain integrates visual and somatosensory information during face perception.
Duties will include engaging in individual and/or collaborative research activity; producing research outputs for publication at acceptable levels of volume and academic excellence and disseminating the results of research and scholarship through appropriate Knowledge Exchange activities; and contributing to the development and maintenance or research resources.
A full list of duties can be found within the jobpack attached.
Qualifications and Skills required
The successful candidate will hold a relevant doctoral level degree in cognitive or social psychology/neuroscience, ideally with a focus on emotion and/or face perception, or in other relevant fields (e.g. physiology, medical engineering) or be close to completion of PhD. You must also have previous experience with electrophysiology (e.g. EMG, EEG).
Applicants are expected to have evidence of a developing research agenda, engagement in high-quality research activity and a developing research profile; a developing record of publications in internationally recognised, reputable journals appropriate to career stage and discipline norms; and strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
Good statistical and programming skills in Matlab, R, and/or Python and having an interest in developing new technical tools to study fundamental questions at the intersection of social psychology and psychophysiology are essential for this post.
Please note this is a full-time position (36 hours per week) on a two-year fixed-term basis from the 1st of October 2020, or as soon as possible thereafter.
At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.
To support this commitment we have our Global Forum, a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based Faith Centre, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives. For more information see: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/student-facilities/religion-and-faith
Please see the attached job pack, which contains a full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application. Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please telephone the Resourcing Team (01206 876559).