Research Associate

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We are looking to recruit a talented, pro-active and enthusiastic Research Associate in Data Science/ Biostatistics to join our program of research funded by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

You will be working across the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the School of Public Health and the Department of Brain Sciences. These two Departments host two of the fourteen BRC Themes : the Multimorbidity and Brain Sciences Themes respectively. Both BRC Themes aim to deliver world class research at the local, national and international level and translate scientific advances into improvements in health.

Specifically, you will be developing new ways to identify individuals at risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, to identify modifiable risk factors dementia risk and to understand factors influencing progression of dementia. You will contribute to cutting-edge research into neurodegenerative disorders and to make a significant impact on public health through the development of new prevention and treatment strategies for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. You will be working with lead scientists in fields of neuroimaging, neurobiology, and genetics, as well as experts in statistics, data science, and machine learning. You will also explore and develop new research avenues in the area within the team and will be offered excellent training opportunities.

• You will conduct and assist a programme of research in epidemiology in collaboration with PIs, the research team and external collaborators.


• You will undertake complex epidemiological/statistical analysis of health and exposure data, using appropriate statistical software, as directed by senior researchers.


• You will work with a range of data (e.g. longitudinal questionnaire, routine health records, omic data), undertaking in-depth data checking and cleaning to achieve high levels of data quality.


• You will maintain accurate and complete records of all findings and ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times.


• You will undertake literature searches and critical reviews of evidence in support of the project programme.


• You will write scientific papers and to publish in high quality journals.


• You will work with Database Managers to resolve data quality issues and create and apply data cleaning protocols to the datasets, for the epidemiological aspects of data management.


• You will effectively liaise with project partners e.g. academic, commercial entities etc.


• You will prepare and present research material to peers, collaborators, funders, or at national and international conferences.


• You will assist with obtaining and maintaining ethical approval.

• Hold a PhD in Epidemiology or medical statistics or a closely related quantitative discipline.


• A strong background in epidemiology/ statistics.


• Demonstrable experience of the statistical analysis of large scale complex epidemiological data.


• Good track record of publications in the peer-reviewed literature.


• Experience of preparing large datasets for analysis (running database queries, checking and cleaning data, etc.).


• A solid understanding of epidemiological concepts and techniques that apply to a wide range of study designs.


• Knowledge of research methods and statistical procedures.


• High level analytical capability.


• Fluent use of MS Office and at least one of the major statistical software packages (R or Stata).


• Background in data science programming (R, Julia or Python) and Fluent use of one of the major data science notebooks environments (Jupyter notebook or Colab).


• Ability to work with others across disciplinary boundaries.

This position is a full-time fixed-term contract for two years in the first instance. You will be based at the White City Campus (hybrid).

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £40,694 - £43,888 per annum.

You will report to Professor David Sharp, Centre Director of UK DRI Care Research & Technology in the Department of Brain Sciences and Ioanna Tzoulaki, Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology in the School of Public Health.

For informal enquiries about the post please contact Prof David Sharp ([email protected] ) or Prof Ioanna Tzoulaki ([email protected] ).

For enquiries regarding the recruitment process please contact Dr Lina Aimola [email protected] .