Senior Research Associate (1541-23-R)

This is an exciting opportunity to work in a novel and high impact project: ‘Culex distribution, vector competence and threat of transmission of arboviruses to humans and animals in the UK’, an inter-disciplinary project funded by the UKRI DEFRA One Health Approach to Vector Borne Diseases. The projects aim provide preparedness for future disease outbreaks - in people and/or animals - of West Nile or Usutu, through the understanding of the risk of virus transmission and how this risk may vary across England and Wales. Understanding this risk will enable us to identify years or areas of higher or lower risk and may enable the targeting of control measures.

You will work in the areas of spatio-temporal epidemiological modelling and disease transmission simulation scenarios. This exciting opportunity will allow the postholder to work on a multi-institutional project within a team of world-leading health experts. If you are passionate about using your skills in statistical modelling to make a difference to complex problems such as emergence of new diseases, then we would love to hear from you.

You should have good knowledge of spatio-temporal epidemiological modelling; show a high proficiency in working within the R statistical environment; demonstrable experience of analysing spatial and temporal data for research purposes; experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams; and effective communication skills. Experience on Bayesian hierarchical modelling is desirable.

You will be based at the Lancaster Ecology and Epidemiology Group, Lancaster Medical School, and will work with spatial epidemiologist Dr Luigi Sedda, along with teams at Liverpool University and UK Health Security Agency.

Lancaster University is in the UK top 10 University according to the Complete University Guide 2024.  Lancaster Medical School, one of the UK top departments for development and application of geographical analyses of health conditions and diseases, is committed to engage with local, national and international communities to understand and tackle the health challenges we face in UK and around the world. We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect.  The Faculty of Health and Medicine provides an environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each employee, promoting a healthy work-life balance. We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis, as well as the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education.

The post includes a competitive salary, a generous pension scheme and annual leave entitlement, as well as access to a range of learning and development courses to support your personal and professional development. You will join us on an indefinite contract however, the role remains contingent on external funding which, at this time is for full time for 18 months in the first instance.  The position is available from 1st of June 2024, and we are open to discussing flexible working arrangements including home working, working week and days/hours worked, flexible start and finish times or condensed hours.

Applications should include 1) a letter of application (max 2 pages, standard A4, font 11, 1.15 interline) outlining how your experience/skills map with the job description and person specification, and 2) a CV. Any queries about the post and the project can be made to Dr Luigi Sedda, l.sedda@lancaster.ac.uk.

Closing Date: 08 Apr 2024

Department: Research

Salary: £38,205