The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (ION) in Queen Square was established in 1950, merged with UCL in 1997, and is a key component of the Faculty of Brain Sciences (FBS), School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS), at UCL. The Institute has eight academic research Departments (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/research/research-departments), which encompass clinical and basic research within each theme. In parallel, there are currently six Divisions representing clinical professional affiliations.

The mission is to translate neuroscience discovery research into treatments for patients with neurological diseases. In addition, a number of important research centres are based at the ION, affiliated with one of our academic research departments: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/research/research-centres

The Institute is closely associated in its work with the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery (NHNN), University College London Hospitals’ NHS Foundation Trust, and in combination they form a national and international centre at Queen Square for teaching, training and research in neurology and allied clinical and basic neurosciences. The Institute also has active collaborative research programmes with other centres of excellence and works in close partnership with them: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/about/related

About the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging

The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (WCHN) at the UCL Institute of Neurology is an interdisciplinary Centre for neuroimaging excellence. It hosts and trains over 100 clinicians, scientists and support staff, and interacts with over 200 collaborators both at UCL and throughout the world.

Our vision is to deliver clinically-transformative applications of neuroimaging that provide personalized prognosis and treatment planning. We investigate how the human brain functions in health and disease and how this knowledge can inform neuroimaging technologies, we seek to establish non-invasive measures of brain function that can be used to identify the physiological processes associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders, deliver personalized prognoses, and develop or assess potential treatments.

Within public engagement, we aim to embed public engagement into the research process, equipping our researchers with the skills and experience to readily engage a wide community in their research.

 About the Role

We are currently seeking a Public Engagement Assistant to assist with our work. Projects include:

1. Our Annual UCL World Stroke Day Forum which brings together hundreds of stroke survivours, charities, researchers and clinicians to share and engage on the latest in stroke rehabilitation and research
2. Co-producing a new toolkit for patents and young people to gain understanding of what is happening in the brain during OCD
3. Developing a clinical toolkit to aid conversations around the risk of dementia for people with Parkinson’s

The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging has a strong culture of public engagement. We run a large number of projects working with people with neurological conditions, their Carers and their loved ones. The final decision on which projects to the intern will be assigned to will be made following discussion between the intern and Public Engagement team. Responsibilities across the projects may include:

1. Developing content for the website and other communications outputs
2. Event management including all aspects of event delivery
3. Assisting in focus groups, workshops and development of project materials (e.g. school kits)
4. Working closely with the researchers, clinicians, artists, designers and creative facilitators on projects
5. Any other tasks related to the running of projects.

The post holder would be assisting the Public Engagement team to help deliver their projects, working primarily with the Public Engagement Coordinator and Communications and Engagement Officer. We are seeking someone with strong communications and organisational skills, experience of working with a diversity of people and lots of creativity! Prior experience in Public Engagement is not required, however experience of working with patients would be an advantage.

The post holder will have the opportunity to suggest and embark on projects of their own dependent on time availability and are encouraged to discuss these with the team.

As part of this internship, you will be able to attend training to explore all the opportunities available to someone embarking on a public engagement career.