Ref Number
B02-10784
Professional Expertise
Research and Research Support
Department
School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02)
Location
London
Working Pattern
Full time
Salary
£43,981-£52,586
Contract Type
Fixed-term
Working Type
Hybrid
Available for Secondment
No
Closing Date
24-Jul-2026
UCL is one of the world’s leading centres for neuroscience. The UCL Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research is a key part of this community, with a strong focus on basic and translational neuroscience. The Neural Circuits for Pain lab is led by Dr Liam Browne. We study how brain circuits contribute to chronic pain and other maladaptive brain states. We develop behavioural, optical, genetic and computational tools to study these circuits and to test new ways to control them. The lab uses optogenetics, chemogenetics, two-photon imaging, electrophysiology, machine learning, and quantitative behavioural analysis. This post is part of EPIONE, a major EPSRC and MRC-funded programme in neurotechnology for chronic pain. EPIONE brings together UCL, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, NHS clinicians, engineers, theorists, and industry partners. The aim is to develop adaptive technologies for the treatment of chronic pain. Chronic pain is a major clinical problem. It is also a hard systems neuroscience problem. The project asks how neural and behavioural state can be measured, how these states change in chronic pain, and how this knowledge can guide new neural interfaces. This role sits at the interface of systems neuroscience, neural engineering, and translational neurotechnology.
We are looking for a motivated, creative and technically strong Research Fellow to develop preclinical neurotechnology for adaptive neural interfaces. The role will involve chronic implantation in mice, neural recording, behavioural monitoring, coding, device control, and quantitative analysis. The post holder will build and test experimental systems that can sense neural or behavioural state and use this information to guide intervention in real time. This is a creative project with a clear real-world need. It brings together basic circuit science, chronic pain biology and implantable neural interfaces. The work will suit someone who likes to build new tools and use them to answer hard questions. The post holder will work across in vivo neuroscience, custom behavioural systems, data acquisition, analysis pipelines and closed-loop control. They will work closely with collaborators across EPIONE, including neuroscientists, engineers, theorists, clinicians, and industry partners. The expected outputs include new experimental tools, high-quality preclinical data, candidate device strategies, papers and conference outputs. The post holder will be supported to build a strong research profile. Where appropriate, they will also be supported in fellowship and grant plans.
The role would suit a systems neuroscientist, neuroengineer or hands-on in vivo neuroscientist who wants to work across brain circuits, behaviour, and neural interfaces. You will have a PhD, or be close to completion, in neuroscience, neurotechnology, bioengineering or a related field. You should have strong hands-on experience with in vivo mouse experiments, ideally including chronic implants, neural recording or long-term behavioural studies. This is a hands-on role. You should be confident working in an in vivo research setting and keen to develop high-level skill in preclinical neurotechnology. You should care about careful experiments, good records, robust design, and high standards in regulated research. You should also be comfortable with code and quantitative analysis. Experience with Python and similar would be a strong advantage. Experience building or adapting behavioural, recording or control systems would also be valuable. The strongest candidates will enjoy building devices, testing them, improving them, and using them to move brain circuit science towards translational impact for chronic pain. You should be able to take ownership of a project, work well with collaborators from other fields, and drive high-quality work towards papers, talks and future career development. This role would suit someone who wants to do rigorous systems neuroscience with a clear route to neural engineering and clinical translation.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a multidisciplinary team working across the Division of Medicine. 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 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.
As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality.
