Overview
Post-doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
About us
The Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences (FANS) is one of Europe’s largest research groups and one of the few teams in the world bringing together leading experts in brain development and pro and antisocial behaviours. We believe it is essential to investigate the determinants of typical development in order to understand variation in behaviour (or illness).
About the role
We are offering the opportunity within the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience for two post-docs to join our world class academic team in neurodevelopment.
This role will focus on data analysis and methods development to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms underpinning typical and altered neurodevelopment, brain structure, and function across the lifespan – including in neurotypical populations and those with neurodevelopmental, mental health, and psychiatric conditions. Specifically, the candidates will have expedited access to data from AIMS-2-TRIALS, the world’s largest multimodal, longitudinal autism study; the South African BONO cohort, and the SLAM Image Bank, one of the world’s largest, real-world imaging/clinical datasets that incudes individuals with a diverse range of mental health, psychiatric, and neurological conditions.
Leveraging these data, the candidates will develop and apply approaches to analyse brain structural development over time at the group, sub-group, and individual level (e.g., using normative modelling and clustering approaches to parse heterogeneity). The candidates will further have the opportunity to link imaging-derived phenotypes to (i) early life risk factors, e.g., to explore the impact of early adversity on subsequent brain development; (ii) clinical outcomes, e.g. to provide a basis for future research into brain-based biomarkers and to (iii) genomic variation, using novel imaging-transcriptomics approaches, e.g., to identify putative treatment targets.
To this aim, the successful applicants will work as part of an analytic team, including Prof Murphy (KCL), Dr Charlotte Pretzsch (KCL), and Prof Christine Ecker (Frankfurt). Beyond this core analysis team, the candidates will have the opportunity to collaborate with leading experts in research on foetuses/neonates/infants led by Prof Grainne McAlonan, Professor David Edwards, and Dr Dafnis Batalle; research on sensory processing by Dr Nick Putts; and inflammatory genetics.
The successful candidate will support other researchers and MSc/PhD students. They will develop novel scientific questions and lead on the analysis of specific aspects of translational science depending on their areas of expertise. It is expected that the candidate will also contribute to departmental teaching.
This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), until 30/11/2027.
Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- PhD in neuroscience/neuroimaging/neurobiology/ neuroinformatics/data science or a related field near completion *
- Previous experience in analysing neuroimaging (structural magnetic resonance imaging or low field neuroimaging) data across age-groups
- Advanced (statistical) data analysis (including e.g., normative modelling, clustering/subgrouping, longitudinal, multivariate approaches) and programming skills
- Ability to write complex reports and/or scientific publications, demonstrated through emergent track record of peer reviewed journal publications
- Ambition to apply for research grants
- Ambition to establish inter/cross-disciplinary collaborations
- Ability to think critically and independently, e.g., demonstrated through track record of developing own scientific ideas
- Enthusiasm and motivation to purse complex scientific projects
- Excellent organisational and time-management skills
Desirable criteria
- Teaching experience
- Ambition to involve stakeholder communities in the research process.
- Experience in working with clinical records databases.
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.
