DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Further Particulars:
Research Associate in Instrumentation and
Circuit Design
Job Title:
Research Associate
Department:
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Reports to
Dr Xiao Liu and Dr Wenhui Song
Grade:
Research Assistant Grade 6, salary range between £29,485 and
£31,091pa (inc. London Allowance of £2948, pa) depending on
the experience
Research Associate Grade 7, salary range from £33,686 to
£36,522 (inc. London Allowance of £2,948 pa) depending on the
experience.
Start Date:
The position is available from 1st November 2016 or as soon as
possible thereafter for a period of 12 months. Further funding
to support the post may be available.
A PhD degree (or about to submit) in a relevant subject is required. If the successful
candidate has not completed their PhD yet, appointment will be made at Research
Assistant level at grade 6 point 24-26, on the UCL salary scale £29,485 and £31,091
per annum) with payment at Grade 7, point 29 being backdated to the date of final
submission of the PhD thesis (including corrections).
Project Outline
Hearing impairment is one of the most common and most influential disabilities
worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people. Sensory neural hearing loss occurs
when there is damage to the sensory hair cells and/or the neural cells that connect to
them. Current treatment using cochlear implants provides the ability to hear spoken
language for profoundly deaf children and adults, resulting in improved speech,
language, educational and social outcomes. However, conventional cochlear implants
suffer from poor frequency selectivity and large crosstalk among different channels,
significantly compromising the quality of sound perceived by the patients. This is at
the moment one of the biggest challenges faced by the engineering community for
developing towards-the-nature cochlear implants.
This project is funded by EPSRC and in collaboration with UCL Division of Surgery and
Interventional Science, the UCL Ear Institute and London South Bank University. The
successful applicant will be part of the Sensors, Systems and Circuits Group in
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, UCL and work under Dr Xiao Liu.
The task of Department of Electronic and Electrical engineering is to seamlessly
connect the piezoelectric sensors at the front-end with neural tissue at the back-end
by appropriate interface circuits and electrodes. This research associate will
investigate different readout circuits for easily characterizing the piezoelectric
performance, optimize the electrode structure and distribution of electrical fields for
assisting the tissue growth, and develop a robust and flexible algorithm for frequency
separation (in audio band) and neural stimulation. This research associate will work
closely with our project partners who will be responsible for designing
piezoelectric/conducting materials and fabricating acoustic sensors. The success of
this project will provide a new piezo-nano-fibre based technique of sound
transduction, and a selective and energy-efficient method for neural stimulation for
future hearing aid devices.
The successful applicant will benefit from the state-of–the-art electronics assembly,
test and measurement facilities at the Department of Electronic and Electrical
Engineering, and advanced device-processing facilities in London Centre for
Nanotechnology.
Research Associate in Instrumentation and Circuit Design
Duties and Responsibilities
The Research Associate will be responsible for developing interface circuits between
the piezoelectric sensors and neural tissue at the Department of Electronic and
Electrical Engineering with assistance from members of UCL academic staff, other
undergraduate and postgraduate students, and technical staff. The following is
indicative of the duties and responsibilities associated with this post:
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Understand the requirements of the application and in consultation with the
project partners, fine-tune the specifications of the system to be produced.
Lead on the development of readout circuits for characterizing piezoelectric
output and electrode driving circuit for neural stimulation.
Design micro- and macro-electrodes and optimize the interfaces to the
piezoelectric nanofiber based acoustic sensor and neural tissue.
Create test bench for test the interface circuits.
Design and run experiments to fully test the prototype device and report on its
performance and safety according to the regulatory standards for medical
devices.
Assist the partners with experiments involving the use of the device in vitro and
in vivo tests.
Publish research in leading journals and present it at international conferences.
Regularly communicate and work in close collaboration with the Research
partners and contribute to the preparation of reports and the presentation of
results at progress/review meetings.
Contribute to the overall activities of the research team and department as
required.
Contribute to the preparation and drafting of research bids and proposals for
follow-on work.
Provide supervision, advice and guidance to undergraduate projects and PhD
students.
As duties and responsibilities change, the job description will be reviewed and
amended in consultation with the postholder, and will carry out any other duties as
are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the line manager
or Head of Department/Division.
The postholder will actively follow UCL policies including Equal Opportunities and Race
Equality policies, and maintain an awareness and observation of Fire and Health &
Safety Regulations.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Knowledge – including Qualifications
 A first or upper-second class undergraduate degree in electronic engineering,
biomedical engineering, or related physical science disciplines (essential).
 PhD in electronic engineering, biomedical engineering or related disciplines (or
about to submit) (essential).
 Proven capabilities in developing sensors, electronic instrumentations and
devices for industrial or medical applications (essential).
 Knowledge of fabrication and working principles of electrodes and neural
stimulators (essential).
 Knowledge of appropriate test and measurement methods (essential).
 Knowledge of using CAD software (or similar) for the design and simulation of
analogue and digital circuits (essential).
 Knowledge of PCB manufacturing process (essential)
 Knowledge of digital design techniques (e.g., VHDL, Verilog, FPGA
programming) (desirable).
 Knowledge of silicon technologies and integrated circuits (desirable).
 Knowledge in piezoelectric materials and sensors (desirable).
 Knowledge of multi-physics modelling and simulation (desirable).
Skills
 Skilled at design, simulation and layout of electronic systems on printed
circuit boards using off-the-shelf components (essential).
 Skilled at design, simulation and layout of analogue and digital integrated
circuits (desirable).
 Ability to independently test and debug complex electronic systems and
obtain measured results (essential).
 Ability to set up test bench and integrate multi-modular test systems
(essential).
 Ability to write up the results clearly and evidence of an appropriate number
of publications (essential).
 Ability to present information effectively to the other members of the team
and at project meetings with the other partners (essential).
 Ability to organise and plan work effectively to meet deadlines (essential).
 General research skills appropriate to PhD level (essential).
Experience
 Sufficient experience of analogue circuit design to be able to work without
much assistance (essential).
 Experience of microcontroller programming (essential).
 Experience of testing analogue circuits (essential).
 Experience of developing electronic devices and systems for signal
conditioning, instrumentation or biomedical applications (essential).
 Experience of LabVIEW programming (essential).
 Experience of FPGA programming (desirable).
 Experience of integrated circuit design and tape-out (desirable).
 Experience of designing microelectronic sensors (desirable).
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Experience of multi-physics modelling and simulation, e.g., using COMSOL
Multiphysics® (desirable).
Personal
 Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and
oral.(essential).
 Ability to present technical information effectively to a range of audiences
(essential).
 Commitment to high quality research (essential).
 Ability to work collaboratively and as part of a team (essential).
 The candidate should be able to manage their own time efficiently and take
responsibility for working to deadlines (essential).
 Commitment to UCL’s policies, e.g. equal opportunity, health and safety
(essential).
About UCL and the Departments of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University College London (UCL) was founded in 1826 as the third university in
England, after Oxford and Cambridge. UCL is the first university in England to admit
students of any race, class or religion, and the first to welcome women on equal terms
with men. UCL is organized into 11 constituent faculties, within which there are over
100 departments, institutes and research centres. UCL has 983 professors and more
than 7000 academic staffs who are dedicated to research and teaching of the highest
standards. Its student community is almost 36,000, the largest in the UK. There are 29
Nobel Prize winners and three Fields medalists amongst UCL’s alumni and current and
former staff. UCL is the top rated university in the UK for research excellence
(REF2014). It has a strong tradition and large knowledge base in medical research with
a dedicated institute on Healthcare Engineering and 10+ hospitals. UCL has world-class
support for researchers and has been voted the best place for postdoctoral
researchers to work for consecutive years by The Scientist magazine. The main campus
of UCL is located in central London, close to British Museum, West-End and Thames
River.
The Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL was established by
Professor Sir Ambrose Fleming in 1885 and has a very strong research culture, stateof-the-art research equipment and facilities, and a very rich history of many
fundamental research achievements in electronic and electrical engineering. The
department has received top ratings in every UK research evaluation carried out to
date.
Further information regarding UCL may be found at:
www.ucl.ac.uk/
Information about the departments may be found at:
www.ee.ucl.ac.uk
HOW TO APPLY
Please apply online via the following link:
www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/jobs
Job reference 1573646
If you experience any problem please contact Vicky Coombes at v.coombes@ucl.ac.uk
quoting Job reference 1573646
Interested applicants are encouraged to make informal enquiries to Dr Xiao Liu,
xiao@ucl.ac.uk
Closing date: 23rd September 2016
Thank you for your interest in this position.
UCL Taking Action for Equality