Senior Research Associate / Research Fellow in Assessing Impact of School-based Testing during the Covid-19 Pandemic (two positions)
Job Description
Interview date: To be confirmed
Senior Research Associates (two positions) in Assessing Impact of School-based Testing during the Covid-19 Pandemic
We are seeking two postdoctoral researchers with experience in infectious disease transmission modelling to work on a short-term project in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The project aims to assess the impact that regular SARS-CoV-2 testing of school-aged children in the UK during the pandemic had on school attendance, transmission within and outside of school environments, and wider community public health.
The work will include the development and parameterisation of a detailed geographically- and socially-structured model of within-school and community transmission, fitted to surveillance data collected during the pandemic. Researchers will collate and utilise a range of relevant data available for this project, including detailed school-based data, contact tracing information, and community testing and vaccination data.
This post is based within Lancaster Medical School and the Centre for Health Informatics and Computing and Statistics group at Lancaster University. The research project is a close collaboration with public health partners in UKHSA, the funders of the project. The project is expected to have significant impact in terms of informing national policy in both public health and educational domains. Further opportunity will be provided to engage in career development in research, leadership, and teaching skills. We equally encourage applicants who wish relocate to Lancaster or to work remotely for the duration of the project.
The posts are nominally at grade 7, but can be up to grade 8, depending on candidates’ experience and career-stage.
Essential attributes:
- PhD in infectious disease epidemiology or related topic, or extensive quantitative experience relevant to the project
- Experience in analysing epidemiological information
- Experience in handling large and complex data
- Experience in developing transmission models and fitting epidemic models to epidemiological data
- An understanding of the principles of statistical inference
- Fluent in modern programming practice in commonly-used epidemic modelling languages (i.e., R, Python or MATLAB)
- Experience of producing technical reports or publishing in peer-reviewed literature, appropriate to career stage
- Strong team-working skills
- Available for immediate recruitment
Desired attributes:
- Experience in social network analysis and/or network modelling
- Experience in analysis and/or modelling of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic data
- Knowledge of surveillance and testing activities, and intervention policy during the UK’s pandemic
- Awareness of the current literature surrounding SARS-CoV-2 testing regimes and school-based interventions
- Strong interdisciplinary communication skills
- Knowledge of modern open-source code development
Informal enquiries to Dr Sam Moore (s.moore12@lancaster.ac.uk), Dr Jonathan Read Jonathan.read@lancaster.ac.uk, or Dr Jemma Kerns j.kerns@lancaster.ac.uk (Director of research, Lancaster Medical School)
Please note: unless specified otherwise in the advert, all advertised roles are UK based.
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