Research Audiologist

**About us**:
Bionics Institute is an internationally recognised, independent medical research institute that solves medical challenges with technology.

We lead the world in the research and development of innovative medical devices and therapies to improve human health.

Our multidisciplinary team comprises world-class scientists, engineers and researchers, and our laboratories are located in St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, close to our clinical collaborators.

Together we transform the lives of people with a range of conditions, including hearing impairment, Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, stroke, arthritis and diabetes.

**The research projects**:
The successful applicant will be part of the clinical hearing research team, led by Professor Colette McKay.

This team consist of clinicians, engineers, PhD students, and neuroscientists, and is currently working on two broad aims.

The first aim is to enable fast-tracked early intervention for infants with hearing loss, thus improving language learning outcomes.

We are developing a novel diagnostic system, called EarGenie, which uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy, to image the infant's brain response to hearing sounds and to distinguishing between sounds.

The other main aim of the team is to optimise the outcomes for people who receive a cochlear implant.

There is currently a very wide variation in outcomes.

We are identifying mechanisms that underlie poor outcome, and trialing methods to overcome them.

The successful applicant will be contributing to research that supports both of these aims and will report to Professor Colette McKay.

**About you**:
The Research Audiologist will provide key clinical expertise to the research team, as well as participating directly in experimental studies as described below.

They will also provide general research assistance such as helping with recruitment and research governance activities.

Opportunity to learn about and contribute to experimental design, analyses, and research presentations will be provided, which can lead to enrolment in PhD studies if the incumbent so desires.

The successful applicant will provide assistance in participant recruitment and management, perform behavioural and imaging tests with cochlear implant patients and infants, liaise with collaborating audiology clinics and infant recruitment sources, assist with preparation of ethics and other research management documents, and participate in the publication and dissemination of research findings.

**Key responsibilities**:
The main roles of the successful applicant are as follows:
Improving cochlear implant outcomes:

- Manage recruitment of adult cochlear implant users via liaison with the cochlear implant clinic at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and manage their participation throughout the research project.
- Undertake participant testing (after training). Testing in adult CI users consists of psychophysical measurements, speech perception tests, fNIRS imaging measurements, audiological and cognitive assessments.

Fast tracking early intervention (EarGenie):

- Manage recruitment of infants for the EarGenie project, including liaising with VIHSP, Hearing Australia, and other collaborating audiology clinics.
- Undertake participant testing (after training): Testing in infants includes fNIRS imaging, behavioural measures of speech perception, and standard audiological measurements

Across both projects:

- Be responsible for the appropriate storing and management of project data as per the Institute's policies
- Manage ethics committee approvals, reports, and updates
- Contribute to the analysis of data, writing of scientific publications, and preparation of data for presentation to in-house seminars, as well as national and international conferences
- Participate in team activities such as weekly lab meetings and seminars
- Provide other assistance to the research group as required
- Other relevant duties as directed

**Level of supervision and independence - general**:
Position holder is informed of outcomes that are expected and when they are expected to be achieved.

Position holder can determine own priorities and some work methods and has some scope to be able to choose from established procedures to achieve work goals.

**Problem solving and judgement - interpretative**:
**Interpersonal and organisational skills - strong**:
The successful applicant must have excellent interpersonal and written communication skills to interact directly with other clinicians and people with hearing loss and their families.

The applicant will be a team player who has the ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising clinicians, engineers, and scientists.

**Essential selection criteria**:

- Master of Clinical Audiology or equivalent

**Desired selection criteria**:

- Clinical Experience in paediatric diagnostic audiology and/or working with Cochlear implant users
- Experience with man