Research Assistant; Biological Ageing in Psychosis

The University of Oxford is a stimulating work environment, which enjoys an international reputation as a world-class centre of excellence. Our research plays a key role in tackling many global challenges, from reducing our carbon emissions to developing vaccines during a pandemic.

The Department of Psychiatry is based on the Warneford Hospital site in Oxford - a friendly, welcoming place of work with an international reputation for excellence. The Department has a substantial research programme, with major funding from Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and provides highly rated medical training in psychiatry. The Head of Department is Professor Belinda Lennox.

Reporting to the Dr Chloe Yap, the post holder is a member of the Immuno-Metabolism & Severe Mental Illness research group with responsibility for the provision of research support for a project investigating the role of accelerated biological aging in psychosis.

The post is a part-time, 7.5 hours per week (20.13%FTE), funded to 31 January 2028, and based in the Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital.

You will analyse large multi-modal datasets relevant to psychosis, including proteomic, metabolomic, neuroimaging and genomic data, and generate and apply biological ageing clocks across a range of omics modalities. You will select, adapt and develop appropriate analytical methodologies, as well as review and synthesise literature on biological ageing and undertake systematic literature reviews. You will contribute to research publications and conference presentations and support wider project planning and day-to-day project administration.

You will hold a first degree, for example in biomedical sciences, psychology or psychiatry, and/or have relevant experience, and be working towards a doctorate in psychosis. You will have experience using command line tools for reproducible data analysis, alongside skills in statistics, machine learning, data cleaning and analysis pipelines. You will also have experience working with large multi-modal datasets relevant to psychiatry and sufficient specialist knowledge of biological ageing to work within established research programmes. You will be able to communicate research findings clearly, including writing for publication, presenting data at conferences and representing the research group at meetings. Experience of contributing to research publications and working collaboratively within a research team, including contributing ideas for new research projects, would be desirable.