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Research Associate / Research Fellow in Medical Statistics

Employer
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Location
London (Greater) (GB)
Salary
Grade 6, £38,826-£45,649 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance / Grade 7, £46,934-£55,299
Closing date
7 Nov 2021

Job Details

Job description

Applications are invited for a full-time medical statistician in the Department of Population Health Sciences, within the School of Life Course and Population Sciences. The appointment will be as Research Associate or Research Fellow, depending on knowledge, skills and experience and the area of work. The post is divided 50/50 between the Research Design Service (RDS) and Unit for Medical Statistics (UMS). The two units are co-located, and members of both units work closely together.  

 

In the RDS role, you will be part of a large and collaborative team of research advisers, providing expert advice to researchers applying for grant funding. You will provide advice on the design of studies such as feasibility trials, cluster trials, diagnostic accuracy studies, and studies using large routine databases. You will gain invaluable expertise in how to put together a strong grant application, enabling you to support researchers to improve their chance of obtaining funding, while also developing important skills for your own future research career. Previous members of RDS have been successful in receiving prestigious fellowships with NIHR and Wellcome (  https://www.rds-london.nihr.ac.uk ). 

 

In the UMS role, the postholder will be an engaged and ambitious statistician with experience in contributing statistical input to research projects and/or clinical trials. Working as part of a vibrant and growing Medical Statistics group supporting research at the cutting edge of population health and applied research.  

 

The post holder will collaborate with colleagues across and beyond the multi-disciplinary Department of Population Health Sciences to provide statistical expertise and collaborative support for clinical trials and research conducted within the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) and KCL, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, and King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.  They will be responsible for supporting research collaborations locally, nationally, and internationally.  The post holder will be expected to both contribute on research grants, and to inter-disciplinary programmes of applied health research, within the School’s priority research areas.  

 

The postholder will take day-to-day responsibility for the statistical aspects of specific studies such as clinical trials and/or other clinical studies and epidemiological studies. This will include project planning and protocol development, study conduct, plans for all statistical analyses and liaising with the appropriate multidisciplinary teams to represent statistics role in the projects. In addition, the postholder will contribute to statistical consultancy working with clinicians, MedTech and Pharmaceutical organisations. All work will be supervised by a senior academic lead from the Group. 

 

The postholder will also provide some time in supporting teaching and learning in relation to Biostatistics and Epidemiology and contribute to teaching on the undergraduate medical curriculum and the post graduate courses (currently a campus-based MPH and an online MSc Public Health). 

 

Unit for Medical Statistics (UMS)

UMS currently includes 10 statisticians. Group members have substantial expertise in early and later phase clinical trials (NIHR, MRC, Welcome Trust, BHF and charities), epidemiological studies, registers and databases and have specific methodological interests in prognostic models, early phase trial design, and biomarkers enrichment/prediction. Members of the group collaborate in a range of clinical areas within and outside King’s, including stroke, cardiovascular disease, respiratory medicine, infectious disease, liver disease, ophthalmology, paediatrics, sexual health, and dermatology. All members of UMS contribute to a King’s-wide statistical consultancy and statistical services established and led by the group. The statistics service includes a range of support and collaborative ventures within and externally to King’s. The group contributes to teaching statistics to undergraduates in medicine and postgraduates in public health and other specialities. We have strong links with the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at King’s, Research Design Service (RDS) London, and the King’s Clinical Trials Unit (KCTU) and form one of the two main statistical groups affiliated to the KCTU. 

 

This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract until 30 Sep 2023 in the first instance. 

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent

 

Key responsibilities

•        Contribute to the development and/or dissemination of sound methodology, including data form design, writing statistical analysis plans and protocols, appropriate to the group’s portfolio of studies.  

•        Plan and execute study design and conduct data handling and data analyses for specific clinical studies in collaboration with senior colleagues. 

•        Analyse and interpret research data using appropriate statistical packages, including Stata. 

•        Identify and solve specific statistical and methodological problems with support from senior colleagues that arise in collaboration with senior statistical colleagues. 

•        Disseminate research findings through high quality papers submitted to peer reviewed journals and presentations at national conferences and research meetings. 

•        Collaborate with colleagues in the preparation of funding applications for new studies. 

•        Liaise with colleagues within and external to King’s and build networks for the exchange of information and to form relationships for future collaboration. 

•        Take part in consultancy activity advising researchers across King’s Health Partners Trusts to generate third-stream income 

•        Participate in teaching medical statistics across the existing postgraduate taught course programmes and summer schools  

•        Demonstrate a commitment to enhancing equality and diversity, and specifically to the principles of the Athena SWAN Charter. 

 

RDS role specific: 

•        With support from senior colleagues, provide expert advice on study design to researchers developing grant applications, including feasibility trials, definitive trials, diagnostic accuracy studies, and prediction models 

•        Assist researchers with all aspects of preparing a robust grant application, including refining the research question, presenting a strong rationale for the proposed study, consideration of ethical issues, appropriate public engagement, constructing a suitable research team, and dissemination strategies 

•        Provide advice on a range of NIHR and other peer-reviewed funding schemes, helping clients to target grant applications effectively 

•        Act as a case manager for your own clients, and facilitate input from other methodologists within RDS as appropriate (including health economists, qualitative methodologists, and behavioural scientists) 

•        Represent RDS London at regional and national outreach and promotional events, and lead presentations and workshops 

 

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

Research Associate 

Essential criteria 

1.      PhD in applied statistics, or PhD near completion or have extensive equivalent research experience 

2.      Sound knowledge of the design of observational and interventional research studies, including clinical trials 

3.      Experience of conducting statistical analyses within health research studies, including randomised clinical trials 

4.      Experience of analysis using various statistical packages, including R and Stata 

5.      Track record of publications in peer reviewed journals and conference presentations 

6.      Experience of reviewing research proposals or ideas, identifying issues and giving detailed constructive feedback 

7.      Ability to work independently and as a collaborative team member to meet tight project deadlines 

8.      Have strong attention to detail and be able to work to standard operating procedures for statistics 

9.      Flexible and adaptable to new areas of work as required 

10.  Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias 

 

Desirable criteria 

11.  Teaching Qualification 

12.  Knowledge of the requirements of research funding bodies in the UK 

13.  Experience of working with a range of phases of clinical trials (Phase I, II, III, and feasibility trials) 

14.  Consultancy experience in either a Clinical Trials Unit, Research Design Service, Clinical Research Organisation, or equivalent 

15.  Experience of developing research proposals for submission to funding bodies, as part of research collaborations 

 

*Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

 

Research Fellow

Essential criteria 

1.      PhD in applied statistics, or extensive equivalent research experience 

2.      Extensive knowledge of the design of observational and interventional research studies, including clinical trials 

3.      Extensive experience of conducting complex statistical analyses within health research studies, including randomised clinical trials 

4.      Extensive experience of complex analysis using statistical packages, including R and Stata 

5.      Track record of lead author publications in peer reviewed journals and conference presentations 

6.      Experience of reviewing research proposals or ideas, identifying issues and giving detailed constructive feedback 

7.      Ability to work independently and as a collaborative team member to meet tight project deadlines 

8.      Have strong attention to detail and be able to work to standard operating procedures for statistics 

9.      Flexible and adaptable to new areas of work as required 

10.  Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias 

 

Desirable criteria 

1.      Experience of contribution to grant application in clinical research  

2.      Teaching Qualification 

3.      Knowledge of the requirements of research funding bodies in the UK 

4.      Experience of working with a range of phases of clinical trials (Phase I, II, III, and feasibility trials) 

5.      Consultancy experience in either a Clinical Trials Unit, Research Design Service, Clinical Research Organisation, or equivalent 

Further information

Candidates are strongly encouraged to specifically address the essential criteria outlined in the Person Specification in their covering letter.  

 

The Department of Population Health Science’s research comprises Analytics (broadly defined as the discovery and interpretation of meaningful patterns in quantitative and qualitative data), Investigation (broadly exploring analytical solutions to complex problems at the individual as well as population level) and Applied Research (broadly using analytics, including laboratory investigations, to identify needs and propose or evaluate new solutions to global societal health and social problems). This informs our approach and focus to developing and conducting research that addresses major questions, such as long-term conditions, multimorbidity, and environmental impacts on population health.   

 

This is an exciting time as the department has recently the newly formed School of Life Course and Population Sciences. This will bring together very considerable clinical, scientific, and population/global health strengths. There are already many examples of joint working and collaboration with our new School, and it is envisaged that there will be significant opportunities to collaborate further and draw upon the critical mass of clinical, methodological, and applied researchers in the new, integrated School. The School will be one of the largest in the Faculty with strong links to the NIHR BRC and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration and with King’s Health Partners Clinical Academic Groups and Institutes, with the enormous potential to further leverage these synergies. 

About the Faculty:   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/index.aspx 

 

Company

King's College London is one of the top 20 universities in the world and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 27,600 students (of whom nearly 10,500 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 6,800 staff.

King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King’s was ranked 6th nationally in the ‘power’ ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than £684 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.

King’s £600 million campaign, World questions|KING’s answers, has delivered huge global impact in areas where King’s has particular expertise. Philanthropic support has funded new research to save young lives at Evelina London Children’s Hospital; established the King’s Dickson Poon School of Law as a worldwide leader in transnational law; built a new Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital; allowed unique collaboration between leading neuroscientists to fast-track new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, depression and schizophrenia at the new Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute; created the Cicely Saunders Institute: the first academic institution in the world dedicated to palliative care, and supported the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership in the Ebola crisis. Donations provide over 300 of the most promising students with scholarships and bursaries each year. More information about the campaign is available at www.kcl.ac.uk/kingsanswers.

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KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
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