Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in TORUS Deployment Study

Salary:

Grade I, £38,249 - £44,128;

Grade J, £42,882 - £48,149 per annum

The role

A cure for Parkinson’s disease has been held back for decades by the extreme difficulty of measuring whether proposed new drugs actually improve the patient’s symptoms and daily life. The TORUS research programme aims to solve that problem through a novel platform of sensing technologies for use in patients' own homes along with an advanced data fusion and machine learning pipeline that measures changes in specific mobility-related behaviours over weeks and months.  This technology could then be deployed during clinical trials to better measure if proposed drugs actually improve patients symptoms and daily life. The programme concludes with a clinical proof of concept in a patient cohort, with the technology being deployed in approximately 30 homes across Bristol and Newcastle.

This is an exciting opportunity for a Research Associate to lead in the design and conduct of this proof-of-concept study. Working in collaboration with the wider TORUS team at University of Bristol and Newcastle University, alongside the NHS and prominent multinational pharmaceutical companies, this project offers an exceptional opportunity to drive impactful change at the intersection of Engineering, Computer Science, and Health Science. You will be part of a diverse and interdisciplinary team, combining expertise from various fields to tackle one of the most significant challenges in medical research.

What will you be doing?

Working in collaboration with an equivalent Research Associate at Newcastle University you will lead on the design and conduct of the TORUS deployment study. You will:

• Review the relevant literature relating to this work.
• Design, plan and execute research studies, including the TORUS proof of concept deployment study.
• Support the development of study documentation for submission to regulatory bodies, including NHS Research Ethics Committees.
• Recruit participants, ensuring to adhere to TORUS inclusivity and diversity ambitions.
• Collect, clean and analyse study data.
• Disseminate study results in peer-reviewed journals, conferences and seminars.
• Attend regular project meetings (in Bristol and less frequently in Newcastle) and prepare progress reports for the TORUS management team and advisory board.

You should apply if

You have:

• Experience working in a research team, carrying out data analysis and writing research papers.
• Experience working in a patient facing role, including ideally recruiting participants to a research study.
• Excellent communication skills, with an ability to communicate complex information tailored to different audiences.
• A passion for research and a desire to make a difference in the lives of people living with Parkinson’s.

Additional information

For informal queries please contact: Mae Hazell - Mae.hazell@bristol.ac.uk

To find out more about what it's like to work in the Faculty of Engineering, and how the Faculty supports people to achieve their potential, please see our staff blog:

https://engineering.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/category/engineering-includes-me/

Contract type: Open ended with fixed funding until 30/9/2028

Interviews are anticipated to place w/c 5th May 2025

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