Research Assistant (Fixed Term)

Job description

Salary
£32,080 to £35,608 per annum, depending on skills and experience.

Closing Date
Tuesday 06 October 2026

Reference
SCI2263426

In this role you will support the delivery of two exciting, EPSRC-funded research programmes at the University of Nottingham, working across AI, human-computer interaction, and creative technology.

60% of the role will be spent on "Here I Am: AI-Assisted Life Story Work for Everyday Dementia Care", a feasibility project led by Dr Tom Lodge, in collaboration with co-investigators at the Institute of Mental Health and the School of Computer Science. Life story work is a well-established part of person-centred dementia care, helping people living with dementia to capture, preserve and share meaningful personal narratives with those around them. This project will co-design, develop and evaluate an AI-assisted system, using conversational AI and digital tools, that makes routine, low-burden life story work possible in home, community and care settings. You will play a hands-on role across every phase of the work: facilitating co-design workshops, shaping prototypes, conducting participant-facing research with people living with dementia and their family carers, collecting and analysing data, and helping translate the findings into a protocol for follow-on research.

The remaining 40% of the role will support Somabotics: Creatively Embodying Artificial Intelligence, an EPSRC Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowship led by Professor Steve Benford. Somabotics explores how people "make meaning" through art and embodied experience, partnering with award-winning artists to create robotic artworks, from robots that embrace and groom people, to robots that dance and play music with them. By investigating these systems through an artistic lens, the project aims to create AI artworks that embrace ambiguity, evoke interpretation and champion improvisation. The post holder will help deliver soma design workshops and collaborations with artists, prototype with soft and rigid robots, run mixed-methods user studies, and contribute to the conceptual, methodological and ethical thinking behind the programme, as well as co-author papers and other outputs.

The post holder will be working with people living with dementia and their family carers, and conducting research that touches on sensitive personal experience, so the ability to build trust and rapport with participants, and a sound understanding of research ethics, safeguarding, data protection and informed consent, are central to the role.

The successful applicant will have practical experience applying AI and/or NLP tools, such as conversational agents in research or applied contexts, alongside strong analytical skills. Candidates should have experience of designing and conducting user studies with members of the public, including vulnerable or hard-to-reach groups, and be a confident, empathetic communicator. Experience of participatory or co-design methods, accessibility and inclusive design principles, soma design, robot prototyping and artist-led methods is essential, while prior experience in digital health and social care would be an advantage.

The post holder will work under the supervision of Dr Tom Lodge and Professor Steve Benford in the School of Computer Science, Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham, contributing to two live research programmes while also having the opportunity to help shape their own research profile and outputs.

Candidates should hold, or be near completion of, a PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Health, Psychology, or a related discipline.

The post will be available from 1 st December 2026 and is for one year. Hours of work are full time (36.25 hours per week). The position is based in the School of Computer Science on our Jubilee Campus in Nottingham.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to [email protected]. Please note that applications should not be sent directly to this email address.

For more details and/or to apply on-line please click here. If you are unable to apply on-line please contact the Human Resources Department, tel. 0115 9515206