Data Scientist

Job description

The MND Register is a project that aims to collect information about every person diagnosed with MND in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The team identify people using clinical data collected at diagnosis and during routine appointments and the project has been awarded approval for access to NHS Digital datasets.   

Working alongside the Project Managers and Principal Investigators, the Data Scientist will manage data collection, cleaning, extract preparation and routine analysis for the MND Register for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This will involve the creation and maintenance of data collection templates for individual sites participating in the MND Register, secure data storage and transfer, linkage of multiple sources of data, data analysis and writing papers for publication. You will be responsible for preparing anonymised data extracts to share with people requesting to use the data for research. In addition, the role will involve working with MND research teams throughout the UK to bring together research data into one linked data source. 

The Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience is involved in researching neurological disease including ALS/MND. The research spans investigation of the causes of disease and the translation of therapeutic discoveries into treatments. We work closely with staff at King’s College Hospital and the MND Association to ensure the project delivers useful outcomes to the patient community.  

This post will be offered on an a full-time, fixed term contract for 12 months. The latest possible end date is 31st December 2024.

Key responsibilities

• Database administration in MS Access and MS SQL  
• Data cleaning and analysis using R/Python 
• Web development 
• Writing up results for publication in academic journals 
• Data linkage 
• Integration of MND Register with other research projects locally and at other institutions 
• Contributing to ethical/ regulatory approval documents from a data perspective 
• Regular reporting to funders and other stakeholders about progress and milestones 

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  

1.       Postgraduate degree in biological, statistical, computer science discipline 

2.       Programming skills (SQL, Bash, R, VBA) 

3.       Experience of database design 

4.       Experience of data linkage of multiple, large datasets 

5.       Knowledge of GDPR 

6.       Attention to detail 

7.       Experience of designing and building web applications 

8.       Research study design and data analysis 

9.       Spatial analysis and mapping 

10.    Knowledge of use of routine healthcare datasets such as HES and ONS 

Desirable criteria

1.       PhD in biological, statistical, computer science discipline 

2.       Knowledge of ALS/MND 

3.       Understanding of population registers 

4.       Strong publication record 

This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service clearance.