Research Associate in Pathogen Surveillance (fixed-term)

Research Associate in Pathogen Surveillance (fixed-term) The Centre of Excellence in Water Based Early Warning Systems for Health Protection is working to transform public and environmental health management, establishing the first Urban Living Lab facility; a state-of-the-art digital water sensing platform, training base and ideas hub. The centre combines sensing, mathematical modelling, data analytics and informatics with epidemiology and public engagement tools to provide low-cost and real-time community-wide testing of population health and the environment. Applications are invited for a Research Associate position to develop methods to survey pathogens in wastewater and other environmental water sources using molecular techniques, including genomics. Projects could focus on capturing a broad range of viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens, or more high-resolution approaches on focal taxa. We aim to expand established methods for routine monitoring to include source attribution and the detection of rare or emerging pathogens including polio and mpox, or antimicrobial resistance genes. Techniques can include (but are not limited to) genomic metagenomics, probe capture enrichment and dPCR. A synthesis of these molecular with chemical and sensor data being generated by other members of the centre would be particularly desirable. About the role The successful candidate will work very closely with other Research Associates, academic leads, technical specialists (water, mass spectrometry and data engineer) and PhD students in the Centre to deliver a unique water-based early warning system for (infectious) disease diagnostics. About you Our ideal candidate will have: Experience in working with water samples and experience in bioinformatics. A PhD (or equivalent) in pathogen genomics or a related discipline. Excellent communication skills. Potential to publish in high-quality journals. Demonstrated awareness of the latest developments in this field of research. Further information For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Helena Lake, Centre Manager, at [emailprotected] or Professor Edward Feil at [emailprotected]. A lower grade offer may be made (Grade 6) with a comparable reduction in responsibilities and amendment in job title to Research Assistant, if a suitable applicant cannot be found to fill the Grade 7 position. Applicants will need to be within six months of their course completion date and will be promoted to Research Associate once their PhD has been awarded. What we can offer you: Find out more about our benefits. We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equality and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students, so we encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment. We are very proud to be an autism-friendly university and are an accredited Disability Confident Leader; committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff. Find out from our staff what makes the University of Bath a great place to work. Follow us @UniofBath and @UniofBathJobs on Twitter for more information. Further details: We are constantly seeking to reduce the unconscious bias that enters any assessment process, with the goal of creating an inclusive and equal assessment process. To support this, personal details such as your name may be removed from application forms at the initial shortlisting stage. #J-18808-Ljbffr