Temporary Vision Research Assistant

Location: Newcastle, GB

Temporary Vision Research Assistant

Requisition ID

29650

Location

Newcastle, GB

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Contract Type

Fixed Term

Working Pattern

Part Time

Posted Date

5 Oct 2026

Salary: £33,951 to £35,608 per annum, pro rata

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date:  19 October 2026

The Role

Would you like to do research in basic vision science with real-world applications?   Are you highly skilled in colour vision testing and keen to develop your expertise in behavioural experiment design?   If yes, we want someone like you for the role of temporary part-time research assistant in the Hurlbert Colour Vision Lab at Newcastle University.

Colour vision deficiency (CVD) affects approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females in the UK. People with CVD are often excluded from professions and occupations, for example, authorised firearms officer roles in the UK police, where colour cues are considered critical to job performance.  Yet empirical evidence is lacking for the relationship between CVD and operational performance in many such roles.

In this role, you will carry out specialist colour vision testing of individuals with normal and anomalous colour vision to characterise their low-level chromatic discrimination abilities and diagnose  the specific type of colour vision deficiency where it exists.  You will also help to design and run additional experiments assessing  the use of colour in specific visual tasks.   You will be responsible for recruiting participants, carrying out the specialist assessments, collating the data, and preparing summary charts of the results.

You will work as a research assistant within a research team, taking part in regular project meetings that may involve external collaborators, presenting and discussing your progress, and contributing to written reports of the research.

In this temporary part-time role, you will be based at our Newcastle upon Tyne campus that has excellent transport links and state of the art facilities. You will also have working space and resources in the Biosciences Institute in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. The working hours will generally be 10 hours/week, with testing of participants generally happening between 8am and 6pm on weekdays.   The total number of hours for this role will ideally be between 120 and 150, with the role starting no later than 3 August  2026 and finishing before 31st December 2026, but there is flexibility around the hours and timings.

How to apply: Please send us a CV together with a covering letter outlining why you are interested in the role and giving examples to illustrate how you meet the essential criteria in the job description. Below are some of the key criteria to focus on:

Understanding and facility with use of colour science concepts, terminology, and metrics

Previous direct experience of and proven skills in colour vision testing

Previous direct experience of recruiting participants for colour vision experiments

High level of practical problem-solving capability

Excellent oral presentation skills

Please contact Professor Anya Hurlbert ([email protected]) or Ilgin Cebioglu ([email protected]) for informal enquiries.

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/

Find out more about our Research Institutes here

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

Key Accountabilities

Collect, analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions on the outcomes

Co-ordinate own work with that of others, use problem solving to affect the achievement of research objectives and contribute to the planning of the project(s)

Present information on research progress and outcomes to a Principal Investigator or groups overseeing the research project

Write up results from own research activity and provide input into the research project’s dissemination, in whatever form (report, papers, chapters, books)

Use research resources (including, where required, laboratories, workshops and specialist equipment) as appropriate

Recruit participants, assess colour vision abilities using specialist tasks

Contribute to discussions on experiment design

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Understanding and facility with use of colour science concepts, terminology, and metrics

Previous direct experience of recruiting participants for colour vision experiments

Excellent IT skills in all major office applications

Attention to detail and ability to work at high levels of accuracy

Ability to present complex information effectively to a range of audiences

Proven ability to analyse data and write-up results

Experience of working collaboratively with colleagues

The ability to use personal initiative and creativity to solve research problems

Desirable

Experience with colour naming experiments

Fluency in both English and a second language

Attributes and Behaviour

Ability to work collaboratively within an interdisciplinary team

Keenness to discuss and debate alternative solutions to complex problems

Strong work ethic

Ability to work to deadlines, while staying clam

Aware of ethical issues involved in behavioural data collection and assembly

Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in relevant discipline (awarded or near-completed)

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