Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Public Health Economics

The College of Medicine and Health

The College wishes to recruit a full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Public Health Economics to support the work of Professor Antonieta Medina-Lara. This post is available

immediately to 30th April 2025. The contract duration may be extended subject to available funding. The successful applicant will work in the Health Economics Group at the University of Exeter.  

The post

The Health Economics Group is one of 15 Groups working within the Institute of Health Research, University of Exeter Medical School (UEMS). UEMS is engaging in world leading research that has national and global impact. It is an exciting time for UEMS, as we look to capitalise on our success to date through ambitious plans to further strengthen our research excellence and to deliver a first-class student experience. Our ambition is to be driving major improvements in patient care and reductions in health risks in the population, underpinned by a substantial and sustainable critical mass of world leading researchers. We are continuing to invest in ambitious plans to grow, as a central priority of university strategy.

The Health Economics Group, led by Professor Anne Spencer, conducts high impact policy-relevant research, and provides quality education to advance the use of health economics and public health economics to improve population health. Our aim is to contribute to health and healthcare in the UK and internationally by conducting research on economic aspects of health and disease. A key focus of our health economics research is to inform decisions around the delivery of health care from the evaluation of health interventions and systems to the exploration of factors that determine health and wellbeing.  

Current activities within the Health Economics Group cover a wide range of applied and methodological projects, across many disease areas. The Group has a strong programme of research in health outcomes, health valuation/preference elicitation, global health, and a broad programme of work in involving applied methodological research and economic evaluation.

This is a new post to support the delivery of the health economics work (Discrete Choice Experiments, Cost-Effectiveness Analyses and Modelling Demand) of a decision support tool to optimise community-based TaIlored ManagEment of Sleep (TIMES) for people living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment and sleep disturbance as well as working on an NIHR project that is looking at what is the impact of food taxes and subsides, particularly in relation to salt, saturated fats and fruit and vegetable consumption, have on CVD risk and health inequalities (COPPER CO-designing for healthy People and Planet: food Economics policy Rearch). This is an exciting opportunity for an exceptional and ambitious Health Economist to work on a large, multi-disciplinary programme and project.

Main duties and accountabilities (Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Public Health Economics):

1. To undertake high quality health economics research, including where appropriate:

• Collaborative research support to multi-disciplinary research teams on provision of health economic analyses
• Critical review and synthesis of relevant literature
• Quantitative analyses and presentation of data
• Undertake Health Economic analyses (e.g. economic analyses on health care costs and outcomes, cost-effectiveness analyses, preference based studies, and outcome research).

2. To contribute to teaching and learning programmes in the School and to supervise postgraduate research students.

3. To work in collaboration with colleagues to support research activities and planning across the research group, including:

• Mentoring colleagues with less experience and advising on their professional development
• Supporting colleagues in developing their research techniques
• Developing productive working relationships with other members of staff
• Contributing to the production of collaborative research reports and publications
• Writing or contributing to publications of research findings in peer reviewed journals
• Make presentations at conferences and/or academic research meetings

About you

The successful applicant will be able to present information on research progress and outcomes, communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronically and prepare proposals and applications to external bodies.

Applicants will possess 3 years of experience working in health economics and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the health economics and of research methods and techniques to work within established research programmes. Applicants will be able to conduct statistical analysis of cost-effectiveness analysis, secondary data analysis and design discrete choice experiments.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role by clicking on the attachment.

What we can offer you

• Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research;
• Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly
• An Innovation, Impact and Business directorate that works closely with our academics providing specialist support for external engagement and development
• Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career

• A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 150 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 and QS World University Ranking 2022). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2017.

Our research income in recent years means we’re the fastest growing UK Research University with some of the world’s most influential scientists, and we seek to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today through this. 98% of our research is of international quality (2014 Research Excellence Framework). We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research – Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

With over 27,000 students and 6,400 staff from 180 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community. Reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

For an informal conversation regarding this post or any other future opportunities in our Health Economics Group, please Professor Antonieta Medina-Lara ([email protected] )