The Research Support Assistant will provide closely defined research support for the Welsh dolphin acoustics project through the application of a range of techniques and/or to collect and analyze data that enable the project to progress. The role holder will seek to undertake training and development in order to gain the necessary skills and experience to apply for future Research Associate positions, with support and guidance from line manager and project team.
Standard Responsibilities
- Conduct experiments or other forms of research studies with access to guidance and direct supervision from other members of staff but occasionally be operating with some level of independence.
- Collect and record data from experiments or other forms of research studies such as field visits, ensuring that protocols and practices are adhered to, thereby enabling results to be valid and useful for the project.
- Make some limited contribution to the design of the experiments or other forms of research studies or amendments to protocols; this will be done in consultation with a senior project team member.
- Analyze data and present the results to the project team, as required.
- Write up results of their research work and/or methods for publications developed by supervising academics or project team.
- Drive your own professional development and, with support from the line manager, actively look for opportunities to develop skills, knowledge and experience.
- Responsible for administrative work associated with their research; organizing meetings, taking minutes to ensure project actions are logged
- Using a combination of automated algorithms and manual data processing to identify bottlenose dolphin signature whistles in a multi-year acoustic dataset
- Assisting with management of the long-term acoustic dataset, ensuring data are appropriately stored, backed-up and organized
- Regularly updating the project team and contributing to progress reports for funders
- There will be opportunities to conduct quantitative and statistical analysis and be involved in peer reviewed publications, with the support of the wider project team
- Although this role does not require fieldwork, there may be occasional opportunities to participate in acoustic recorder deployments and retrievals with Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (part of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales) based in New Quay, Wales.
This opportunity is suited to a motivated researcher, with an aptitude for quantitative methods and who wishes to gain experience in the field of cetacean bioacoustics. The project team will provide training on the analytical methods, but prior experience with PAMGuard and/or MATLAB would be advantageous. You will join Prof. Stephanie King’s group at the University of Bristol, whose research focuses on cetacean communication and cognition, and collaborate with Dr. Sarah Perry at the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, bridging academic research and conservation. The current research activity is financially supported by the Nature Networks Fund, as part of a project awarded to the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. The Nature Networks Fund is funded by the Welsh Government and administered by The National Lottery Heritage.
Salary range: £34,132 – £39,355 per annum
Application deadline: June 29, 2025
