AKT Associate in Stochastic Modelling and Simulation - 0109-24

View All Vacancies Management Science
Location:  

Bailrigg

Salary:  

Starting Salary up to £36,000 per annum (commensurate with experience)

Closing Date:  

Monday 19 February 2024

Interview Date:  

Wednesday 21 February 2024

Reference:  

0109-24

The Management Science department of Lancaster University Management School is looking to employ an Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) Associate for a 4-month project in partnership with Berry Consultants. The aim of the project is to develop a simulation optimisation approach, to explore a variety of trial configurations in a systematic way and to enable the identification of the best.

Berry Consultants' mission is "Changing the World Through Innovative Clinical Trial Design". A statistical consulting company specializing in innovative clinical trial design, analysis, execution, and software solutions for the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, Berry Consultants’ primary services, among others, include designing adaptive clinical trials and licensing FACTS (Fixed and Adaptive Clinical Trial Simulator) software which is the most powerful, flexible, and fastest simulation tool on the market for advanced clinical trial design. See more at https://www.berryconsultants.com/ .

The Department of Management Science at Lancaster University (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/our-departments/management-science/ ) has one of the largest number of Operational Research and Systems teaching staff in the country, with an outstanding research and publishing record. With a worldwide reputation as an international centre of excellence, this department has a distinguished history of helping organisations solve real problems. The project will be supervised by Dr Luke Rhodes-Leader and there will be an opportunity to interact with other members of the "Simulation and Stochastic Modelling” research group (https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/organisations/simulation-and-stochastic-modelling ).

The four-month AKT Associate position comes with a competitive salary at Post-doctoral Research Associate level up to £36,000 per annum. You will be employed by Lancaster University and most of the work will be carried out on-line whilst working collaboratively with the team at Berry Consultants. You will have regular (minimum weekly) meetings with both the academic and company supervisors and 4 in person meetings at Lancaster University and the Berry Consultants office in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. 

You will have a knowledge of statistics, simulation output analysis and some basic knowledge in simulation optimisation algorithms. The ability to produce high quality computer code that performs the simulation output analysis and interacts with Berry Consultants’ existing simulation model will also be important to enable the implementation of the algorithms and interface with the existing simulation model. Knowledge of command line programming and one other programming language will be necessary. Above all, you must be able to take ownership of the project, formulating a clear plan for its successful execution.

Ideally you will have, or be successfully pursuing, a PhD (or have equivalent research experience) in Statistics, Operational Research, Management Science, Business Analytics, Machine Learning, Computing, Applied Mathematics, Engineering or related discipline. Alternatively, BSc (Hons) or MSc degree with a strong numerical and/or computational component at 2:1 or above.

This AKT project is funded by UKRI through Innovate UK. This programme has been designed to create short-term collaborations between a university and business to deliver a rapid and targeted intervention to accelerate the development of an innovation project, with potential for significant impact on the business. AKT projects are delivered by graduates who benefit from the opportunity to work on a strategically relevant project within industry, whilst receiving support and guidance from university academics. More information about the Accelerated Knowledge Transfer programme can be found at Accelerated Knowledge Transfer – Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (ktp-uk.org).

This is a full-time role, offered as a fixed-term contract for four months. However, it could potentially be fulfilled by one candidate working part-time (minimum 0.8 FTE) or arranged as a job share for two candidates who can work in parallel to deliver the project (if you’re interested in this arrangement and can suggest another candidate to work with, please indicate this in your covering letter and direct them to apply). 

External candidates need to be available to start the job by 18th March and internal candidates by 25th March. 

The role could also be considered as a secondment opportunity, approval from your current line manager should be sought.

Please contact Luke Rhodes-Leader ([email protected] ) if you would like further information. We warmly welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their age, religion, gender identity or expression, race, disability or sexual orientation, and are committed to promoting diversity, and equality of opportunity.

Further details:

Please note: unless specified otherwise in the advert, all advertised roles are UK based.

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