Research Assistant/Fellow

UCL AI Centre; London; Hybrid; GBP 43,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading research team at UCL's Respiratory Medicine Department as a research fellow, focusing on innovative data science projects aimed at improving diagnostics for respiratory diseases. Ideal for individuals with a passion for clinical data science, you will work on integrating multimodal data to develop personalized treatments and conduct impactful research.

Benefits

41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays, 6 closure days)

Cycle to work scheme

On-Site gym

Enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption pay

Employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Interest in respiratory and infectious diseases.
• Familiarity with scientific methods and statistical approaches.
• Motivated and committed to multi-disciplinary teamwork.

Responsibilities

• Provide data science support for diagnostic projects.
• Develop reproducible analytic code pipelines.
• Contribute to grant applications and manuscripts.

Skills

Data Science

Statistical Analysis

Critical Appraisal

Communication

Education

Masters level or PhD degree in a relevant subject

Job description

Ref Number B02-08819 Professional Expertise Research and Research Support Department School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02) Location London Working Pattern Full time Salary £43,374 £51,860 Contract Type Fixed-term Working Type Hybrid Available for Secondment No Closing Date 27-Jun-2025

About Us

Applications are invited for a research fellow to join the research group led by Dr Rishi Gupta within the Research Department of Respiratory Medicine (UCL Respiratory, Division of Medicine). The post is funded by the National Institute for Health Research UCL/UCLH Biomedical Research Centre and will contribute to a range of projects across the ‘Infection, Immunopathology and Immunotherapeutics’ theme. Diagnostic and prognostic research is central to the theme, with multiple objectives seeking to develop and validate novel biomarkers or multivariable models to predict disease, clinical outcomes and responses to therapeutic interventions. The post involves close collaborations with infection and fibrosis groups at UCL (led by Prof Mahdad Nourasdeghi and Prof Joanna Porter). UCL Respiratory is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for respiratory science that consist of ~13 groups and ~85 people working on diverse aspects of lung diseases. We are the 2nd ranked centre for respiratory science in Europe. Our research approaches cover the full range from basic science and computational biology through to clinical cohorts, interventional studies and large-scale data science projects. This provides an excellent research environment, with considerable support from a cadre of highly-skilled researchers working across a range of diseases and research approaches. We have an exemplary track record in successfully supporting independently minded and talented scientists to advance their careers through personal fellowships.

About The Role

The post-holder will provide data science support for diagnostic and prognostic analytic work, focusing on projects addressing: (1) acute infectious diseases presenting to UK hospital emergency departments; (2) improving stratification of preventive treatment for tuberculosis; (3) development, evaluation and implementation of a patient-focused decision aid to support patient choices for preventative therapy for tuberculosis; (4) patient stratification in interstitial lung disease. A common theme across these analyses will be the integration of multimodal data (e.g. clinical and molecular) to predict disease status and clinical outcomes, with the ultimate aim of enabling personalised treatment approaches. Data types may include clinical data, laboratory test results and whole blood RNA sequencing. The post-holder will be supported to develop their skills in data science, including biomarker evaluation and multivariable prediction model development and validation using state-of-the-art methods. They will be supported to contribute to the development of grant applications (particularly a PhD or post-doctoral Fellowship as appropriate), manuscripts and conference presentations. The post-holder will work with the supervisory team to develop reproducible analytic code pipelines. The post is for 18 months in the first instance. The role is advertised as full-time, but part-time hours will be considered. The role is advertised as post-doctoral but pre-doctoral applications will be also considered. Please note that pre-doctoral position will not be eligible for UCL visa sponsorship due to a minimum salary threshold.

About You

The position will suit a highly motivated pre- or post-doctoral data scientist interested in respiratory and infectious diseases. They will work at the interface of clinical and bioinformatic data science. Applicants should have (or about to be awarded) a Masters level or PhD degree in a relevant subject, with an enthusiasm for clinical data science. They should be familiar with scientific method, including the application of statistical approaches to data interpretation. They should be able to undertake rigorous critical appraisal of primary scientific data. Good oral and written communication skills are essential, and they must be able to show a commitment to effective multi-disciplinary teamwork. Informal enquiries to Dr Rishi Gupta ([e-mail]) are strongly encouraged.

What we offer

This is an exciting opportunity to join a multidisciplinary team working across the Division of Medicine. As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.
  
  

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we knowdiversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community torepresent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality ofopportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we allbelong. We therefore particularly encourageapplications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’sworkforce. These include people from Black, Asian andethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silveraward, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancinggender equality.

Available documents

Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.

• download: job_description BRC data_scientist.docx