Department
The at the University of Essex is a large, research-intensive department ranked in the top 20 in the UK for research power (REF 2021), holding an Athena SWAN Silver Award. It offers state-of-the-art facilities including EEG/ERP, eye-tracking, and access to the Centre for Brain Science, providing an excellent environment for researchers at all career stages.
We are seeking to appoint a Research Officer to work with Dr Silvia Rigato (PI), and Co-Is Dr. Maria Laura Filippetti, Dr Carina de Klerk and Dr Eszter Somogyi on an ESRC-funded project investigating the role of multisensory experience in the development of body representations.
We are a large and vibrant Psychology Department guided by our University’s founding principles of breaking new ground, of challenging existing expectations, and of making a meaningful difference in the world. To achieve these goals, we organise our research and our teaching under the broader theme of ‘Understanding Our Place In The World’. We approach our work within this novel framework across three areas of concentration: Thinking about the world, Interacting with the world, and Experiencing the world. This allows our staff to pursue their intellectual ambitions and to achieve research excellence, all while fostering an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach that utilises multiple methodologies.
We occupy purpose-built facilities including state-of-the-art EEG/ERP, eye-tracking, psychophysiology and computerised testing labs which includes The Babylab, focusing on infant development, The Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment Lab (SoNeAt) and the Essex Sleep Lab. Academics also have access to the Centre for Brain Science, which includes TMS, tDCS, fNIRS, and virtual reality. We are internationally known for excellence in research, having been ranked in the top 20 in the UK for research power in the 2022 Research Excellence Framework. We also offer an excellent BPS-accredited education to our students, with undergraduate and post-graduate courses guided by the Department’s overarching ethos. We were recently ranked top 25 in the World University Rankings by subject (2026). We are proud to hold an Athena SWAN Silver Award (2020) for our work on promoting gender equality.
The Research Officer post is part-time (0.8 FTE), and fixed term for 18 months due to funding, e.g. start on 1 June 2026 until 30 November 2027.
Duties of the Role
The postholder will closely work with a Senior Research Officer on studies that combine training paradigms and developmental cognitive neuroscience to study the development of own body representations in the first year of life. You will have an active role in carrying out the main activities to support the successful execution of this project, which range from participant recruitment, scheduling, assisting with lab and home visits, social media, and data coding.
You will receive training and support for these duties and will have regular meetings and correspondence with the PI and the Co-I’s.
Qualifications and Skills required
The successful candidate will hold a BSc/BA in Psychology or relevant discipline (e.g., Cognitive Neuroscience).
You will have knowledge of developmental psychology / cognitive neuroscience research and experience working with infants or children.
Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to work both independently and cooperatively as part of a team are essential.
The successful candidate will also have to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as part of the onboarding process.
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, 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: