Research Associate in Cardiff

We are seeking a Research Associate to join a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship programme at Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science, led by Dr Dean D’Souza. This research programme addresses a fundamental question: How do exploration and learning self‑organise in the first years of life? We integrate naturalistic and experimental approaches to examine exploration as a core engine of adaptive development. Infants are conceptualised as active agents who shape their own learning by sampling information, reducing uncertainty, and updating predictions.

We are building an ambitious multimodal infant dataset integrating:

• Head‑mounted cameras
• Screen‑based and head‑mounted eye tracking
• Inertial sensors
• fNIRS neuroimaging
• Information‑theoretic and computational modelling

These converging methods allow us to trace exploration moment by moment, linking behavioural organisation to environmental complexity and neural dynamics. This post offers substantial intellectual scope and leadership potential. Depending on your expertise and interests, you might:

• Characterise developmental reorganisation of exploratory behaviour across naturalistic and laboratory contexts
• Model exploratory regime dynamics using tools from machine learning, information theory, dynamical systems, or related quantitative approaches
• Examine how neural coordination supports curiosity, uncertainty reduction, and predictive processing

Across all pathways, the goal is the same: to contribute to a mechanistic account of how infants adapt to complex environments. This role is particularly well suited to candidates seeking to build an independent research profile in developmental science, computational cognitive science, or cognitive neuroscience. The successful candidate will take intellectual leadership in advanced quantitative analysis and theoretical development, with scope to initiate new directions and establish an independent trajectory within the programme.

You will be based in the Early Learning and Neurodevelopment (ELAN) lab within the Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science. Facilities include state‑of‑the‑art eye tracking, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and magnetoencephalography with optically pumped magnetometers (OPM‑MEG). The centre has strong links to the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), one of the largest and most technologically advanced imaging centres in Europe. Both sit within Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, ranked 6th in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021). You will join a supportive, collaborative, and intellectually vibrant community that values curiosity, innovation, and rigorous scientific practice.

We strongly encourage applications from researchers from underrepresented backgrounds and are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. If you are motivated by big theoretical questions, excited by rich multimodal data, and eager to help shape a new, process‑based science of development, we would love to hear from you.

This position is full‑time (35 hours per week) and fixed‑term until 14 April 2028. Salary: £41,064 – £46,049 per annum (Grade 6). Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances. Please note that it is not expected that we will appoint above Grade 6.32, currently £41,064 per annum. Cardiff University offers many excellent benefits, including 45 days annual leave (incl. bank holidays), local pension scheme, a cycle‑to‑work scheme and other travel initiatives, annual increments within the pay scale, and more. It’s an exciting and vibrant place to work with many different challenges and is a proud Living Wage supporter.

Closing date: Sunday, 14 June 2026.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. We especially welcome and encourage applications from those from under‑represented groups within the University workforce, such as those who identify as LGBT+, BAME or those with disabilities. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

Cardiff University is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions we will evaluate applicants on the quality of their research, not publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which the research is published.