JOB: PDRA positions (5 posts) at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Lancaster, Oxford and [...]

The International Society for Bayesian Analysis; Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge, Lancaster, Bristol; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

The International Society for Bayesian Analysis seeks Postdoctoral Research Associates for a collaborative research initiative on Bayesian Data Science to address contemporary Health Science challenges. Candidates with a PhD in Statistics or related fields are invited to contribute to innovative methodologies applied in health research, actively engage in publications, and collaborate across esteemed UK universities, including Warwick.

Qualifications

• Experience in developing new statistical methodology.
• Ability to produce academic writing of the highest publishable quality.
• Active involvement in statistical research and presentation.

Responsibilities

• Undertake and support research to achieve university aims within the grant.
• Publish in leading statistical/application journals.
• Present research at workshops and conferences.

Skills

Bayesian statistics

computational statistics

statistical machine learning

statistical genetics

inference for epidemics

strong computational skills

Education

PhD in Statistics or a related discipline

Job description

JOB: PDRA positions (5 posts) at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Lancaster, Oxford and Warwick

Apr 6, 2018

Postdoctoral Research Positions (5 Posts)

New Approaches to Bayesian Data Science: Tackling Challenges from the Health Sciences

Research Associate, School of Mathematics, University of Bristol
Research Associate, MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge
Senior Research Associate, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Statistics, University of Oxford
Research Fellow, Department of Statistics, University of Warwick

We invite applications for Post-Doctoral Research Associates to join the New Approaches to Bayesian Data Science: Tackling Challenges from the Health Sciences programme. This is an exciting, cross-disciplinary research project that will develop new methods for Bayesian statistics that are fit-for-purpose to tackle contemporary Health Science challenges: such as real-time inference and prediction for large scale epidemics; or synthesizing information from distinct data sources for large scale studies such as the UK Biobank. Methodological challenges will be around making Bayesian methods scalable to big-data and robust to (unavoidable) model errors.

This £3M programme is funded by EPSRC, and brings together research groups from the Universities of Lancaster, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Warwick. We are seeking applications for five PDRA positions to build a team that will work on developing new Bayesian and Computational Statistical methods, motivated and applied to challenges from Health. Active collaboration across the partner institutions, and with other project partners, is expected. There is either a 4 or a 3 year position available at each of these five partner institutions.

You should have, or be close to completing, a PhD in Statistics or a related discipline. You will work directly with the investigators to undertake and support the research necessary to achieve your university’s aims within the grant. This will include, for example, publishing in leading statistical/application journals, presentation of research at workshops and conferences, developing code implementing new statistical methods, and active involvement in project meetings. You will be experienced in one or more of the following areas: Bayesian statistics, computational statistics, statistical machine learning, statistical genetics, inference for epidemics. You will have demonstrated the ability to develop new statistical methodology. We are particularly keen to encourage applicants with strong computational skills, and are looking to put together a team of researchers with skills that cover theoretical, methodological and applied statistics. A demonstrable ability to produce academic writing of the highest publishable quality is essential.

The application process is being administered by Lancaster University, apart from the vacancy at the University of Cambridge. Applicants must apply through Lancaster University’s website (https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=A2232) for the Lancaster, Oxford, Bristol and Warwick posts. Please ensure you state clearly which position or positions you wish to be considered for when applying.

For applications to the MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge vacancy please go to http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/16971/ and click on the ‘Apply’ button. This will route you to the University’s Web Recruitment System, where you will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.

Candidates who are considering making an application are strongly encouraged to contact Professor Paul Fearnhead ([e-mail]), Sylvia Richardson ([e-mail]), Christophe Andrieu ([e-mail]) , Chris Holmes ([e-mail]) or Gareth Roberts ([e-mail]) to discuss the programme in greater detail.

We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.