About the role
Senior Research Officer (Internal) - CSEE
Reference: REQ10225
Job details
Job referenceREQ10225 Application closing date18/10/2026 LocationColchester Salary£38,784 per annum Employment typeFull-time, Fixed term Job category/typeAcademic Attachments REQ10225 Jobpack.pdfSenior Research Officer (Internal) - CSEE
Job description*** Internal Applicants Only ***
Department
The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering has a strong, internationally recognised research profile spanning artificial intelligence, machine learning and biomedical signal processing. The School hosts active research in neurotechnology and brain-computer interfacing, and provides access to substantial computing resources, including a GPU-enabled high-performance computing cluster. This post sits within PaiNeuro, an interdisciplinary project working towards objective pain measurement using neurophysiological signals, in collaboration with Vestre Viken Hospital Trust in Norway.
Duties of the Role
Working under the direction of the Principal Investigator, Dr Sebastian Halder, the post holder will carry out the advanced computational analysis for the project, developing and evaluating machine-learning methods that distinguish pain-related from pain-free states in clinical EEG, with particular emphasis on models that generalise to previously unseen participants. Specifically, the post holder will:
- Develop and maintain reproducible EEG preprocessing, artefact-handling and feature-extraction workflows.
- Implement and compare deep-learning approaches for EEG-based pain prediction, including architectures that capture spatial and temporal structure in the data.
- Develop Riemannian geometry-based methods using EEG covariance representations.
- Investigate cross-participant generalisation, including transfer learning, domain alignment and one-class classification approaches based on pain-free EEG.
- Validate models rigorously using held-out participant data and report performance using appropriate classification metrics.
- Contribute to scientific publications, open-source software, data documentation and the public release of code and curated data.
- Work closely with the Principal Investigator and the clinical collaborators in Norway, contributing to regular interdisciplinary project meetings.
Skills and qualifications required
Applicants will have, or be close to completing, a PhD in computer science, electronic engineering, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, machine learning or a closely related discipline. The following are essential:
- Strong Python programming skills and experience with scientific-computing and machine-learning libraries.
- Experience applying machine learning, including deep learning, to EEG or other high-dimensional biosignals.
- A sound understanding of robust model evaluation, including participant-level cross-validation and testing on independent data.
- The ability to work independently while contributing effectively to a multidisciplinary research team.
- Strong academic writing and spoken communication skills.
The following are desirable:
- Experience with deep-learning architectures for time series or neural signals, such as convolutional or recurrent networks.
- Experience with Riemannian geometry methods for covariance-based signal classification.
- Knowledge of transfer learning, domain adaptation or one-class classification and anomaly detection.
- Familiarity with tools such as MNE-Python, PyTorch, Braindecode or pyRiemann.
- Experience working with clinical data, research governance and open, reproducible research practices.
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.
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 email [email protected]
*More information: Working at the University
Apply online Send to a friendSenior Research Officer (Internal) - CSEE
Job description*** Internal Applicants Only ***
Department
The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering has a strong, internationally recognised research profile spanning artificial intelligence, machine learning and biomedical signal processing. The School hosts active research in neurotechnology and brain-computer interfacing, and provides access to substantial computing resources, including a GPU-enabled high-performance computing cluster. This post sits within PaiNeuro, an interdisciplinary project working towards objective pain measurement using neurophysiological signals, in collaboration with Vestre Viken Hospital Trust in Norway.
Duties of the Role
Working under the direction of the Principal Investigator, Dr Sebastian Halder, the post holder will carry out the advanced computational analysis for the project, developing and evaluating machine-learning methods that distinguish pain-related from pain-free states in clinical EEG, with particular emphasis on models that generalise to previously unseen participants. Specifically, the post holder will:
- Develop and maintain reproducible EEG preprocessing, artefact-handling and feature-extraction workflows.
- Implement and compare deep-learning approaches for EEG-based pain prediction, including architectures that capture spatial and temporal structure in the data.
- Develop Riemannian geometry-based methods using EEG covariance representations.
- Investigate cross-participant generalisation, including transfer learning, domain alignment and one-class classification approaches based on pain-free EEG.
- Validate models rigorously using held-out participant data and report performance using appropriate classification metrics.
- Contribute to scientific publications, open-source software, data documentation and the public release of code and curated data.
- Work closely with the Principal Investigator and the clinical collaborators in Norway, contributing to regular interdisciplinary project meetings.
Skills and qualifications required
Applicants will have, or be close to completing, a PhD in computer science, electronic engineering, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, machine learning or a closely related discipline. The following are essential:
- Strong Python programming skills and experience with scientific-computing and machine-learning libraries.
- Experience applying machine learning, including deep learning, to EEG or other high-dimensional biosignals.
- A sound understanding of robust model evaluation, including participant-level cross-validation and testing on independent data.
- The ability to work independently while contributing effectively to a multidisciplinary research team.
- Strong academic writing and spoken communication skills.
The following are desirable:
- Experience with deep-learning architectures for time series or neural signals, such as convolutional or recurrent networks.
- Experience with Riemannian geometry methods for covariance-based signal classification.
- Knowledge of transfer learning, domain adaptation or one-class classification and anomaly detection.
- Familiarity with tools such as MNE-Python, PyTorch, Braindecode or pyRiemann.
- Experience working with clinical data, research governance and open, reproducible research practices.
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.
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 email [email protected]
*More information: Working at the University
Apply online Send to a friendHow to apply
Read the full posting, then apply through the employer's own site. Applications are handled by the institution, not by AcademicGates.