Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have a background in computer simulation, statistics, and data analytics? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities?

Cities have emerged as the dominant form of economic and social organisation at a global scale.  The new science of urban analytics envisions step changes in the health, prosperity, welfare and the quality of life for city inhabitants. It proposes to do this through the extraction of value from new and emerging forms of data, and by the development and deployment of methods in artificial intelligence and data science.  As a long-established centre of excellence for spatial analysis and geocomputation, Leeds is taking a leading role in driving the international research agenda for urban analytics.  

The Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) at the University of Leeds, in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute, is seeking 4 new post-doctoral researchers to join our emerging Urban Analytics group. We are looking for ambitious and driven researchers with the capability, inventiveness and initiative to work alongside our established team of internationally recognised academics to drive this activity to higher levels.

LIDA currently hosts 36 major programmes with research funding in the order of £50 million (www.lida.ac.uk). Successful applicants will also have the opportunity to develop international collaborations and relationships by working with scientists overseas at our partner Universities.  This position will therefore provide outstanding new networks for postdoctoral researchers to develop an exceptional programme of research innovation in line with the main aims of each project.

You should have a PhD (or be near to completion - i.e. your initial thesis needs to have been handed in at the point of application) in Geography, Computer Science, Mathematics/Statistics, Physics – or a related discipline with a significant component of programming and/or data science – and be able to demonstrate expertise in a range of data science approaches. 

You will be primarily responsible for carrying out research on one of the named projects below, but will also work collaboratively with other members of the urban analytics team. Therefore a flexible approach will be required in this role. When applying, please indicate if you have a preference for one of the projects in particular. The lead contact for each project is indicated next to the project and further information on each project can be found in the Additional Information section.

1. SPENSER – a Synthetic Population Estimation and Scenario Projection model: Dr Nik Lomax.
2. Uncertainty in agent-based models for smart city forecasts: Professor Nick Malleson.
3. Capturing relationships between individuals: Integrating Causal Inference and Agent-based modelling: Professor Alison Heppenstall.
4. Data Assimilation for Agent-Based Models (DUST): Professor Nick Malleson.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact one of the individual project leads: 

Professor Alison Heppenstall

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 3361, email: A.J.Heppenstall@leeds.ac.uk

Professor Nick Malleson

Tel: +44 (0) 113 343 5248, email: N.S.Malleson@leeds.ac.uk

Dr Nik Lomax

Tel: + 44(0)113 343 3321, email: N.M.Lomax@leeds.ac.uk

Location:      Leeds - Main Campus
Faculty/Service:      Faculty of Environment
School/Institute:      School of Geography
Category:      Research
Grade:      Grade 7
Salary:      £33,797 to £40,322 p.a.
Post Type:      Full Time
Contract Type:      Fixed Term (Fixed term for 2 years)
Closing Date:      Monday 11 November 2019
Downloads: Candidate Brief