King's College London

About us:

King’s College London is one of the world’s leading universities, renowned for its excellence in research, education, and clinical innovation. The Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, based within the Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), is at the forefront of cutting-edge sleep research, integrating neuroscience, computational modelling, and clinical applications to advance our understanding of sleep-related brain processes. Our work spans multiple disciplines, including memory research, neurology, psychiatry, headaches, and pain, providing a comprehensive framework for investigating the role of sleep in brain function and dysfunction.

A key focus of our centre is the development and refinement of sleep EEG research pipelines, enabling high-resolution analyses of sleep architecture, neural oscillations, and cognitive function. Our projects employ advanced polysomnography (PSG), computational EEG signal analysis, and network-based approaches, bridging fundamental neuroscience with translational applications in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

We are seeking a highly skilled specialist to contribute to the SleepCity EEG project, ensuring the successful execution and optimisation of our bespoke EEG research pipeline. The appointed candidate will play a central role in advancing our research initiatives, enhancing our capabilities in data processing, analysis, and interpretation of sleep EEG, and contributing to novel discoveries in sleep neuroscience.

About the role:

King’s College London invites applications for a highly skilled specialist to join our research team at the Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre. The successful candidate will play a critical role in executing and finalising the bespoke SleepCity EEG project pipeline, contributing significantly to ongoing research in sleep neurophysiology and ensuring the continued success and advancement of our research initiatives.

This position requires expertise in sleep EEG processing and analysis, with a strong background in non-linear EEG methods, spectral analysis, and network-based approaches to sleep dynamics. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in Python programming and be proficient in handling large EEG datasets using publicly available polysomnography (PSG) analysis software. A deep understanding of sleep phenotypes, graphoelements, and their functional role in sleep cycling is essential, as is prior experience working with EEG signal processing and computational modelling of sleep dynamics.

The role involves developing and optimising the EEG analysis pipeline, overseeing the successful analysis and management of large-scale sleep EEG datasets, and ensuring seamless coordination with key collaborators. The candidate will be expected to train and support team members in using EEG analysis protocols, deliver weekly progress updates to the line manager, and contribute to manuscript preparation, including methodology sections and data visualisation.

Given the complexity of our current bespoke EEG pipeline—from data acquisition and pre-processing to advanced analyses of sleep architecture and spectral parameters—the candidate’s demonstrated experience in computational physics and dynamical systems modelling will be invaluable. Their strong programming background, including Python, C++, and Java, as well as their ability to work efficiently with shell scripting and remote server-based computational workflows, would be ideal in order to ensure they can fully integrate into the research team with minimal training. Their prior work in state-transition networks, scale-free spectral properties, and sleep EEG fractal dynamics would make them particularly well-suited to our ongoing projects.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to pioneering research in sleep neurophysiology and EEG signal analysis within a leading academic institution. The position is ideal for a researcher with a strong computational background who is eager to apply their expertise in EEG processing, sleep science, and network-based analysis methods to a highly specialised research setting.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential Criteria:

1. Expertise in sleep EEG analysis, including spectral analysis, non-linear EEG methods, and network-based approaches to sleep dynamics.
2. Proficiency in Python programming, with experience in EEG signal processing and computational modelling of sleep architecture.
3. Demonstrated experience working with large-scale EEG datasets, including pre-processing, artefact correction, and statistical analysis.
4. Familiarity with polysomnography (PSG) data analysis, including publicly available EEG analysis software.
5. Background in computational physics, neuroscience, or biomedical engineering, with a strong understanding of dynamical systems and neural oscillations.
6. Ability to work with remote server-based computational workflows, including shell scripting, high-performance computing environments, and cloud-based EEG data processing.
7. Proven ability to manage research projects independently, ensuring timely completion of analyses and deliverables.
8. Track record of contributing to scientific publications, particularly in sleep research, neuroimaging, or computational neuroscience.

Desirable Criteria:

1. Experience with advanced EEG connectivity analyses, including graph theory and state-transition network modelling.
2. Knowledge of programming languages beyond Python, such as C++, Java, or MATLAB, for EEG and neuroimaging applications.
3. Familiarity with machine learning approaches for EEG data analysis.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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