Mathematical Modeller and Statistical Epidemiologist in City of London

This permanent post sits within the Respiratory Section of the Immunisation and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Division (IVPD), within the Public Health Programmes directorate of UKHSA. The position is for an epidemiological modeller with skills in statistical epidemiology to work on respiratory virus preparedness in UKHSA, particularly influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunisation policy, with the potential to work in novel scientific and policy areas of respiratory disease immunisation and prevention, such as pandemic preparedness and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) pharmaceutical countermeasures. As well as requiring specific technical expertise, this post requires broad scientific knowledge and involves substantial interdisciplinary working (e.g., with medical, clinical, and scientific staff) within UKHSA and in other organisations, nationally and internationally.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development of modelling and statistical analyses related to viral respiratory infections, contributing to the whole lifecycle of research, including accessing and processing large datasets, performing analyses in software such as R, and writing reports.
• Design and build new models or adapt and extend existing models, as appropriate for application to immunisation policy questions.
• Keep abreast of the latest scientific knowledge around the transmission of respiratory diseases and incorporate that knowledge into existing transmission-dynamic models/cost-effectiveness analyses, e.g., by performing new analyses to update model parameterisation.
• Lead extraction and ingestion of data, data ethics and governance, development of processing pipelines and software development.
• Participate in quality assurance of work, both reviewing teammates' code and work, and asking for appropriate review of own work.
• Manage own programme of work, using considerable initiative and independence.
• Attend meetings, including team meetings, wider organisation meetings, and project specific meetings, including supporting project coordination in an appropriate framework and engaging with stakeholders and customers.
• Work with colleagues in UKHSA's IVPD division, SMED, JCVI, DHSC, academic institutions and other organisations as appropriate.
• Give presentations at national and international meetings, as appropriate.
• Write papers for high-quality peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Application Requirements

• Application form (Employer/Activity history section).
• Up to 1000-word statement of suitability. Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your statement of suitability must be no more than 1000 words. This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role.

If we receive a large number of applications an initial sift against the lead criteria will be conducted: "Significant experience of mathematical or statistical modelling in an epidemiological context, including extensive experience of transmission-dynamic modelling." Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we may longlist into 3 piles of: Meets all essential criteria; Meets some essential criteria; Meets no essential criteria. Candidates meeting none of the essential criteria will not be considered for shortlisting. Desirable criteria may be used if we receive a large number of applications.

Interview Process

You will be asked to prepare and present a 5-minute presentation at the start of your interview – "a recent piece of work you have led". Artificial Intelligence may be used to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Plagiarism may result in withdrawal of the application.

Eligibility

• UK nationals
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Technical Skills and Experience

• An undergraduate degree in a quantitative discipline (e.g., mathematics, statistics, physics, biology or economics).
• A postgraduate qualification in infectious disease dynamics, infectious disease epidemiology or a relevant quantitative discipline, such as mathematical and statistical modelling.
• Significant experience of mathematical or statistical modelling in an epidemiological context, including extensive experience of transmission-dynamic modelling.
• Experience of building and validating numerical mathematical/statistical models and ability to apply these to immunisation policy questions.
• Experience of working with a wide range of data, such as healthcare data, serology and pathogen genomics.
• Extensive experience of coding using R, Python or C++.
• Ability to pay attention to detail and devise ways of checking own work carefully (including debugging code), and strong skills in developing robust workflows, including version control and reproducible research.
• Collaborate across scientific disciplines/organisations and identify, formulate, solve problems, all whilst being able to demonstrate capability to plan over short and medium timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
• Ability to work both with considerable initiative and independence, and as a team member (in a multidisciplinary team), including initiating, planning and executing own work programme and coordinating with collaborators.
• Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the proven ability to (i) communicate complex ideas, methods, and results clearly and succinctly to a wide range of audiences, (ii) publish scientific papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals, (iii) give presentations at international meetings (conferences and invited presentations).

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of developing packages in R or comparable languages/environments.
• Familiarity with health economics.

Successful candidates must pass a standard disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates also require a (CTC) Counter-Terrorism Check.

Security and Vetting

As you will be based at one of our scientific campuses, you will be required to have a Counter-Terrorism Check security vetting check as a minimum. Individuals must have lived in the UK for the last 3 years. Exceptions may be made; please contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager for further advice.

Benefits

• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
• Access to retail discounts and cashback site.
• Promotion of flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours).
• All employees have the right to apply for flexible working.
• Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave package.
• Public holidays and one privilege day for the King's birthday.

Working Arrangements

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at our Scientific Campus in Colindale, London. You will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, averaged over a month) working on site at Colindale.

Additional Information

UKHSA is a system leader for health security, taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health. As the nation's expert national health security agency UKHSA will:

• Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation's readiness, defences and health security
• Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
• Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
• Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
• Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.

For more information, visit our careers site: UKHSA Careers.