1-2 Research Assistants (Summer Position), Sport and Health Sciences

We are seeking 1-2 RESEARCH ASSISTANTS (summer position) for the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, starting 4 May 2026 or as agreed thereafter, for a maximum of four months. This position is part of a Research Council of Finland-funded research project examining the associations between physical activity and health in older adults.

The work includes:

preprocessing, quality control and archiving of research data

basic analysis of physiological signals such as respiration and heart rate

documentation of data analysis procedures

tasks related to research data management

literature searches and reading of relevant scientific literature

assisting in preparation and execution of laboratory or field measurements using wearable sensors, depending on skills and interest

Required qualifications:

near-completed or recently completed Master's degree in a relevant field, such as exercise physiology, gerontology, public health, sports and exercise medicine, health technology, biomedical engineering, or health-focused data science

interest in research on ageing, physical activity, wearable technology, and health

thorough and independent working style

ability to follow rigorous and transparent research practices, including careful documentation, data handling accuracy, and adherence to ethical and data-protection guidelines

demonstrated ability to handle quantitative data, including cleaning and organising datasets, computing basic descriptive statistics (e.g., means, SDs, correlations), and producing data summaries and simple visualisations using Excel, Python, R, or similar tools

good command of English (written and spoken)

Considered an advantage:

experience with laboratory measurements and physiological data analysis

understanding and analysis experience of metabolic thresholds

programming skills (Matlab, Python, R or similar)

experience in research data management workflows

interest in pursuing doctoral studies in the Doctoral Programme in