Research Fellow - Medical Statistician - Institute of Applied Health Research

Position Details

Institute of Applied Health Research

The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,395 to £39,609. With potential progression once in post to £42,036 a year

Full time/Permanent

Grade 7

Closing Date: 6th October 2019

Job Purpose

To create and contribute to the creation of knowledge by undertaking a specified range of activities within an established research programme and/or specific research project. We are seeking a medical statistician to join the Centre for Patient Reported Outcomes Research (CPROR) to support our research themes in the application of patient reported outcomes (PROs), in particular aligned to the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre for Inflammatory Disease. In addition the post-holder will to contribute to the development of research methodology in the PRO field and provide broader statistical leadership within the team.

Main Responsibilities (as appropriate to the specific role and purpose)

• Plan,publish and execute high quality research.
• To plan and carry out research, using appropriate methodology and techniques.
• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or collaborative research, with assistance of a mentor if required.
• Act as a statistical collaborator on multiple projects.
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and implementation of cutting-edge statistical methods around PROs.
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding.
• Analyse and interpret PRO data to include analysis of an existing Rheumatoid Arthritis database to undertake a longitudinal investigation of symptom trajectories in individuals with clinically suspect arthralgia and assess the relationship between PRO data and clinical outcomes.
• Establish methods for future PRO data collection for integration with -omic data for use in prognostic models.
• Provide statistical support to team members as required.
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding.
• Provide statistical guidance to CPROR staff and PhD students.
• Undertake management/administration arising from research.
• Contribute to Institute research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to CPROR and Institute teaching activities.
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader.
• Collect or source research data as required (seeking necessary approvals); this may be through a variety of research methods.
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars, oral presentation at national/international conferences and as posters
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines.

Person Specification

• First degree in area of specialism and a higher degree or equivalent experience in medical statistics or mathematics, statistics or bioinformatics with a strong background in medical statistics. Candidates from related disciplines with a sound and proven background in these and excellent quantitative skills are encouraged to apply.
• Knowledge of patient reported outcomes highly desirable
• Demonstrate an understanding of both applied health research/medical statistics
• Innovate and develop ideas into grant proposals.
• Learn and keep abreast with the latest statistical methodology developments
• Write concise and timely scientific papers and reports
• Plan and prioritise work effectively to meet deadlines
• Proven and extensive experience within the field of medical statistics
• Good presentation skills and ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Ability to interact with academic and industry partners and explain complex ideas to non-scientists in a comprehensible way.
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary environment including patient partners
• Proficiency in modern programming languages (e.g. R, SAS, STATA or other relevant packages)
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes

Informal inquiries can be made to Joanna Hine, J.Hine.1@bham.ac.uk

We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community'