Senior Research Officer

The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex wishes to appoint a Senior Research Officer (multi-omics) to provide research using Understanding Society. This is an exciting point in the Study’s history, as ESRC has funded biomarkers being collected on the study again (at wave 16) to create a longitudinal biosocial resource to add to the existing biomarkers, genetics, epigenetic and proteomic data already available .

Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) is a major household panel survey funded by the Economic and Social Research Council with co-funding from some government departments. The main study began in 2009 and incorporated its predecessor the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) and together, at wave 1, they included approximately 40,000 households. In waves 2 and 3, clinical data were collected from a large subset of participants. These data include blood samples from which a number of analytes were measured, including proteomics data, and DNA extracted for genome and epigenome-wide scans. At wave 16, which goes into the field in 2024, we will repeat this data collection and additionally include the collection of microbiome samples. All Understanding Society data is made available to the research community, and a key part of this role will be to support users wanting to use these data through the development of resources and training.

Duties of the Role

The post holder will work with the Understanding Society data and biomarker team in collaboration with interdepartmental (genomics and computational biology group) and external collaborators to create, manage and analyse both current and the resultant data.

In the role, you will contribute to a research and capacity-building programme focusing on the role of multi-omics and their contribution to understanding health and society.

A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found within the job pack.

Qualifications and Skills required

Applicants will hold a PhD in epidemiology, social science, statistical biology, genomics or a related informatics discipline (or be in final stages of completion) or possess equivalent professional experience or practice.

You must demonstrate experience in data analysis, statistical techniques, and proficiency in advanced survey and informatics related software packages, such as R, Python, PLINK, STATA, beyond a beginner level of data management and statistical analysis.

In addition, you should have excellent quantitative analysis skills and experience in using large-scale survey data.

This is a full-time post, however, we would also welcome applications for part-time working at a minimum of 0.6 FTE (21.6 hours per week). Please state clearly on your application form the contract type for which you are applying.

At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.

Please use the 'Apply' button to read further information about this role including the full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role. You will also find details of how to make your application here. Our website http://www.essex.ac.uk contains more information about the University of Essex. If you have a disability and would like information in a different format, please email [email protected] .