Postdoctoral Research Associate in Naturalistic Working Memory & Virtual Reality Full-time NEW

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Naturalistic Working Memory & Virtual Reality

Department of Experimental Psychology, Life and Mind Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 2JD

The postholder will lead a programme investigating sensorimnemonic decisions: how people decide between using information held in memory vs using the external environment, during extended, naturalistic behaviour. The research will centre on immersive virtual-reality object-sorting and object-copying paradigms, complemented by in-person and online studies.

The postholder will develop and validate experimental manipulations, collect and analyse rich behavioural data, and produce openly reusable tasks, code, data and documentation. They will work closely with the Principal Investigators and project team while taking substantial responsibility for day-to-day scientific delivery.

The post is full-time and is fixed term for 12 months with a start date of 1 November 2026 or as soon as possible after this.

Applicants should have completed a DPhil/PhD in experimental psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience or a closely related discipline. They will need to be able to demonstrate experience of designing, programming and validating a fully operational virtual-reality object-copying task that is ready for immediate deployment in experimental research along with access to, and experience of operating, a fully developed online virtual-reality experimental pipeline that is ready for immediate deployment in research. Substantial experience designing, programming, validating and maintaining immersive virtual-reality experiments, using Unity or a comparable platform, including complex object interactions and high-resolution behavioural logging is also required.

Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. You will be required to upload a supporting statement addressing the selection criteria, your CV, and the contact details of two referees as part of your application. The closing date for applications is midday on 7th October 2026 and only applications received by this date will be considered.