Research Fellow in Spatial Trajectory Analysis (ENVGE1121)

Are you an ambitious researcher looking to contribute towards the COVID-19 pandemic response? Do you have an established background in data science and behavioural analysis? Do you want to further your career in one of the UKs leading research intensive Universities?

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the precarious situation in which healthcare workers find themselves where treating infectious disease. The infectiousness and asymptomatic nature of COVID-19 means that healthcare workers are both at high risk of infection and of transmitting the virus to non-COVID patients within the hospital. To mitigate these risks, a better understanding of the behavioural and spatial factors affecting virus exposure and transmission is needed.

The SAFER project, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) on COVID-19 Rapid Response funding, aims to understand patterns of COVID-19 transmission within a hospital setting and develop optimal approaches for reducing transmission risk. To achieve this, the study will track, analyse, and subsequently model the behaviour, activities, and attitudes of a large cohort of healthcare workers at University College London Hospital (UCLH). Participating healthcare workers will furthermore submit to regular COVID-19 testing and supporting virological analysis will enable a detailed spatiotemporal analysis of transmission pathways. 

The project is a collaboration between University of Leeds, University College London, and UCLH. There are two Research Fellow positions available at Leeds. The researchers appointed will be expected to work closely with colleagues at UCL to deliver the project objectives. 

In this particular role, you will work on collecting and analysing the spatial trajectories of participating healthcare workers at UCLH (n ~ 500), combining data collected on COVID-19 virus testing, sequencing, and exposure, with survey insights relating to infection control measures (e.g. PPE, hand washing). Our data analyses will aim to identify transmission pathways in space and time and expose the behaviours and environments that contribute to risky behaviour. These findings will feed into agent-based modelling for future policy and behaviour change interventions.

Please note that these positions will be required to start as soon as possible, but we will consider flexible working arrangements.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Professor Ed Manley

Email: E.J.Manley@Leeds.ac.uk 

Closing Date: 06 Jun 2020
Category: Research