Ethnic minority groups within the UK mental healthcare system experience stark inequalities, including lower access to evidence-based treatments and higher rates of detention. In addition, life expectancy in people with mental disorders is 15-20 years lower than the general population, mostly due to preventable long-term physical health conditions, also noted in ethnic minority groups. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified inequalities, though evidence to support this statement is currently patchy.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced quantitative researcher to join an interdisciplinary team and lead work examining trends in mortality and healthcare utilisation in people with mental disorders and multimorbidities (two or more conditions), with a focus on exploring ethnic inequalities. You will be comfortable working within a team which will include peer researchers leading qualitative data collection, as well as senior quantitative researchers working remotely across universities. You should have expertise in working with large-scale electronic health records and it would be desirable (though not essential) if you had prior exposure working with large datasets such as the Clinical Practice Research Database (CPRD) or the Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS). 

Ideally, you should have a background in epidemiology, statistics, quantitative social sciences, data sciences or a related discipline with a strong quantitative component, and it is essential that you are conversant with working in statistical packages such as STATA, R, MPLUS or equivalent. You will be supported to lead analyses examining trends using a natural experiment study design (e.g. interrupted time series) and supported to conduct advanced statistical analyses using multiple imputation and propensity scores, as appropriate.

You will also be encouraged to lead presentations of the findings to our stakeholders, who include public health, the third sector, commissioners and people within health. You will be expected to demonstrate good interpersonal and teamwork skills, as a key part of the role will be to work closely with the research team, who will be generating insights through qualitative data collection. This is a 12-month project with strong support for further career development, which may include training in relevant statistical procedures/other transferable skills and mentorship from a multi-disciplinary team. You will be encouraged to pursue your own research interests within this field.

This is a full-time post, fixed-term contract for 12 months.

Key responsibilities

• Management of large datasets to support analyses by wider research team 

• Lead analyses of trends in mortality and service use over time, using appropriate methods (e.g. interrupted time series)

• Lead the writing of at least one peer reviewed publication of quantitative findings

• Provide regular brief plain English summaries and reports of findings for dissemination to stakeholders and within the research team, which include people with lived experience

• Present research findings at regular intervals to research team

• Support PI with day to day administration of project (organising meetings with other team members, note taking, circulating agendas etc)

• Use initiative to liaise with other quantitative researchers within the team and/ or work closely with the PI/ Co-Is to ensure collaborative working, sharing of expertise in methods, outputs and syntax, to support rapid/ timely production of main findings

  The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

• PhD (or evidence of equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline, including epidemiology, statistics, quantitative social sciences or population health

• Evidence of working independently to manage large datasets and successfully leading quantitative data analyses with appropriate statistical methodologies

• Evidence of using specialist statistical packages such as R, STATA or MPLUS

• Evidence of leadership in project management and strong administrative and time-keeping skills

• Able to write clearly and at the appropriate level for a range of audiences across disciplines (this may include academic/ research community, policy makers, as well as lay public)

• Able to present findings in a clear and accessible manner over a variety of media, including remote/ online presentations

Desirable criteria

• Experience of leading analyses of time trends using appropriate methodologies (such as interrupted time series analyses)

• Experience of data management/ analysis of large-scale electronic health records

• Experience of applying appropriate methodologies to enhance causal inferences (for example propensity scores and multiple imputation) and potentially working with hierarchical data using appropriate methodologies (e.g. multi-level regression)

• Demonstrable evidence of previous leadership in academic/ research project management, evidenced through published peer reviewed manuscripts, reports or other project outputs.

• Knowledge or experience of qualitative/ mixed methods research approaches and/ or working with researchers using these methodologies

Further information

The post is available immediately. Applicants must be flexible in terms of working arrangements, which will include remote working but may include working on location at the King’s College London, (IoPPN) Denmark Hill campus, if needed and if restrictions are lifted.  Applicants must be based in the UK. The successful candidate will need to apply and receive relevant approvals in order to access data and adhere to relevant data access governance procedures.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and Occupational Health clearance.

This advertisement does not meet the requirements for a Certificate of Sponsorship under Home Office regulations and therefore the university will not be able to offer sponsorship for this role.