Position Details
School of Psychology
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874
Grade: 7
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2027
Closing date: 10th March 2025
UK Travel may be required for this role
Background
This project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, aims to understand individual variability in children’s perceptual decision-making abilities.
As children get older, they pick up evidence quicker and make decisions less cautiously in visual motion tasks (Manning et al., 2021, Comp Brain & Behav), and evidence accumulation is reduced in dyslexic but not autistic children (Manning et al., 2022, Sci Reports, J Neuro). However, a prominent and unresolved feature of these datasets is the considerable variability between participants in all groups: some children require lots of evidence before committing to a decision, while others emphasise speed. An intriguing possibility is that this variation could affect how children learn and perform in assessments. In this project, we will first establish how meaningful this variability is.
We will address:
1. How consistent are individual differences in decision-making parameters across tasks?
2. How stable are these individual differences across time (i.e., test-retest reliability)?
3. Which transdiagnostic factors are linked to these individual differences, including attentional, reading and social-communication skills?
If stable individual differences in decision-making are identified across tasks and timepoints, we will be in a position to understand how these relate to everyday decision-making, learning and attainment.
The project is funded by a Philip Leverhulme Prize awarded to Dr Cathy Manning, Associate Professor of Psychology. The post-holder will be undertaking a specified range of activities within this project, based within the Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, which is part of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences.
Role Summary
* Work within Dr Manning’s Leverhulme grant investigating children’s decision-making abilities
* Design the study and measures, with supervision from Dr Manning
* Recruit and test child participants, with support from placement students
* Analyse and interpret research findings and results
* Write papers and disseminate results.
Main Duties
* Develop research objectives and study design, with assistance of Dr Manning
* Design and program stimuli and tasks to measure children’s perceptual decision-making skills
* Develop and maintain relationships with families, schools and parent organisations to facilitate recruitment
* Collect research data from child participants on computer-based tasks, and from their parents using questionnaires
* Contribute to the development of a participant database
* Apply complex statistical techniques (e.g., Bayesian diffusion models) to analyse the data
* Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters
* Supervise placement students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate
* Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
* Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
* Undertake management/administration arising from research
* Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
* Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
* Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines (e.g., recruitment, difficulties with technology)
* Promote equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
Note, flexible working (e.g., evenings and weekends) may occasionally be required due to the requirement for collecting data from children who attend school.
Person Specification
* First degree in area of specialism and a PhD (or near to completion) relevant to research area or equivalent qualifications
* Ability to work sensitively with children with varying needs (e.g., sensory and communication differences) and other stakeholders (e.g., autistic adults, autism charities, parents, schools)
* High level analytical and statistical capability (essential), including experience applying cognitive models e.g., diffusion models (desirable)
* Ability to programme stimuli and tasks (desirable), or a willingness and capability to learn (essential)
* Ability to communicate complex information clearly, and write work suitable for publication
* Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods (e.g., diffusion models, Bayesian statistics, test-retest reliability, psychophysics, developmental testing)
* Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
* Ability to contribute to the planning and organising of the specific research project
* Ability to supervise placement students during data collection
* Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.
DBS required
The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.
Informal enquiries to Cathy Manning, email: c.manning@bham.ac.uk
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