There are two 3-year posts available (flexible start date) to join a team doing research on mathematical models to inform decision making during infectious disease outbreaks. The posts will be based in London at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The post-holders will be supervised by Dr Sebastian Funk and will join a highly successful and supportive group at the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling (CMMID).

The posts will be part of a new Wellcome Trust funded project aiming to improve the use of real-time modelling for meaningful decision support in infectious disease outbreaks. The main task of the post-holders will be to develop methods for model-based forecasting that can be readily deployed in an outbreak situation and updated when new data become available.

The post-holders will be using data sets from recent infectious disease outbreaks (of cholera, Ebola, measles and other diseases) to test a range of approaches for their ability to generate useful predictions, with a view to applying them in real time to outbreaks that may occur during the duration of the post. This will involve systematically assessing of the predictive ability of forecasts, testing how much the inclusion of individual, spatial, behavioural or genetic data can lead to improvements, and using efficient (e.g., GPU) computation to integrate these different data streams. It will further involve closely collaborating with partners responsible for public health decision making and the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team and interacting with a range of academic collaborators including the new Charité Global Health in Berlin. The group will be working at the interface between advanced statistical methodology for forecasts and applied infectious diseases modelling. There will be considerable scope for developing and using of state-of-the-art methodology and computation, as well as for conducting research with a direct impact on improving public health.

The successful applicant will have a PhD in a quantitative discipline such as mathematics, physics, statistics, bioinformatics or computational biology, or similar research experience. Candidates should have proficient knowledge of a programming language for mathematical or statistical modelling, such as R, Python, Julia or C/C++, and be committed to open research and software development. Experience in outbreak analysis or model-based forecasting would be an advantage. Further particulars are included in the attached job description.

The post is full-time, available immediately and funded for 3 years in the first instance. The appointment will be made on the School’s Research Fellow salary scale Grade 6, in the range £39,304 - £44,634 per annum (inclusive). The post will be subject to the LSHTM terms and conditions of service. Annual leave entitlement is 30 working days per years, pro rata for part time staff. In addition to this there are discretionary “Director’s Day”. Membership of the USS Pension Scheme is available.

Applications should be made on-line via our website jobs.lshtm.ac.uk. The reference for this post is EPH-IDE-2018-49. Online applications will be accepted by the automated system until 10pm of the closing date. Applications should include the names and email contacts of 2 referees who can be contacted immediately if shortlisted. Any queries regarding the application process may be addressed to jobs@lshtm.ac.uk.

Further details about the job can be found here: https://jobs.lshtm.ac.uk/Upload/vacancies/files/611/rf_job_description_wellcome_project_v2.pdf
For any other questions about the job, please feel encouraged to get in touch by email.