Role:  Research Associate in FPGA Neuromorphic Computing (NERVOUS Project)

Department:  School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems

Grade: Grade 6/7 (£33,020 - £36,654 per annum)

Responsible to: Principal Investigator

Campus: Derry~Londonderry

Fixed-Term until 7th February 2027 / Full-Time

Job Purpose:

The School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems at Ulster University hosts the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC). Its mission is to understand how the brain works at multiple levels, from cells to cognition and apply that understanding to create realistic models and construct technologies that solve the complex issues that face people and society.

A cross-disciplinary team of researchers from the Universities of Ulster and York are working together on the EPSRC-funded project, ‘Nervous Systems’, to design and use artificial spiking neural networks (SNNs) as embodied electronic nervous system, developing a novel nervous system-inspired hardware architecture and design methodology, and applying them to real world tasks including autonomous fault detection and prediction.  Our aim is to develop this scalable embodied Nervous System, including a new hardware architecture and design methodology.

The postholder will work with us on the leading-edge research required to achieve the ambitious objectives of the ‘Nervous Systems’ project, and will be responsible for performing excellent research in exploring SNN solutions to detect and classify anomalies (errors) in electronic systems, and contributing to their hardware translation and validation in creating the novel Nervous FPGA-based hardware system.

Closing Date:  16th April 2026

Guidance regarding applications can be found here:  https://recruitment.ulster.ac.uk/information-for-applicants/what-to-expect-from-the-application-and-interview-process. If you are still having issues, please contact email: sj.mcfarlane@ulster.ac.uk stating the vacancy reference number.

Click on the links below for any relevant documents – Please note, these documents will not be available after the job advert closes. Please ensure that you download and save these.

Candidate Briefing Document - 041766

Salary Scale

Please be advised that due to the minimum salary thresholds imposed by the UKVI, this post will not qualify for university sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please check your options here:  https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa

If you have any specific queries regarding eligibility to work in the UK, our Resourcing Compliance team may be able to help: Resourcing-compliance@ulster.ac.uk

We may create a 12-month waiting list for same or similar roles within the Department / Faculty.  The University reserves the right to extend the waiting list across the University if required for certain posts.

Ulster University recognises the potential benefits that Generative AI tools (for example Chat GPT) may bring to some candidates during the application process. In particular, we recognise the positive impact such tools may have with regard to equality, diversity and inclusion. When using AI, however, we encourage candidates to use the technology responsibly, ensuring that submitted applications provide an accurate representation of your skills, abilities and experience. Our selection activities are designed to robustly test and evaluate the extent to which candidates meet the selection criteria outlined for each role. This includes the use of interviews, presentations, written exercises and other additional selection activities as appropriate for each role. 

The School of Computing, Engineering & Intelligent Systems holds a Bronze Athena SWAN Award in recognition of our commitment to advancing Gender equality in higher education. You can read more about what this means at   https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-charters/transformed-uk-athena-swan-charter and on our University website   https://www.ulster.ac.uk/peopleandculture/employee-benefits/equality-diversity/athena-swan. The University has a range of initiatives to support a family friendly working environment, including flexible working.