We are seeking a highly motivated researcher with experience in the development of mathematical models of infectious disease transmission and a strong interest in working across disciplines and in partnership with affected communities to develop these models.

Mathematical modelling of infectious diseases is used extensively to guide decisions about health policy, intervention prioritisation and resource allocation. During epidemic emergencies, including COVID-19, modelling has been used to support high-impact decision-making at speed, with the intended and unintended consequences of these decisions felt unequally across society.

Co-production is an approach in which researchers, practitioners and the public work together, sharing power and responsibility as equal partners in research. Co-producing models with key stakeholders (especially patients and the public) would help to ensure that their priorities inform the modelling, that models reflect well socio-biological processes underlying transmission patterns, that language is not harmful, and that findings are interpreted appropriately and generate impact for the communities most affected.

The successful candidate will join COMMET (CO-producing Mathematical Models of Epidemics Together, funded by UKRI), bringing transmission modelling expertise to a new interdisciplinary project aiming to develop methods, guidance and tools to integrate public voices into epidemic modelling. We will work via case study projects to develop modelling co-production approaches, initially via exploring mpox in the UK, which has primarily affected gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men since 2022 and about which key questions concerning future patterns and response needs persist. We will reach out to our project partners at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the JUNIPER Partnership of UK infectious disease modellers to explore application of methods across different populations and infections.

The role will be supervised by Dr Liz Fearon at UCL (infectious disease epidemiology), with input also from Professor Thomas House (mathematical epidemiology) and close work across the interdisciplinary team from social sciences (Dr Shema Tariq and Dr Emily Nicholls), Human Computer Interaction (Prof Caroline Jay), computational linguistics (Dr Beth Malory) and co-production experts (Co-production Collective: Niccola Hutchinson-Pascal and Sarah Barnes) alongside community members and groups.

Main purpose of the job:
In this post you will bring expertise in infectious disease modelling to work with other disciplines and people of lived experience to co-produce transmission models of mpox and other infections in the UK, exploring research questions generated in partnership between researchers, affected community members and other stakeholders. You will reflect on the approaches, methods and tools that you and the project develop to support this process and work with the team to disseminate learnings about both the research questions you address and the co-production process and tools to support it.

This post involves the application and interrogation of key mathematical epidemiology skills: transmission model development and implementation, application to jointly defined research questions, model calibration and analysis and could involve working with different types of model (e.g. compartmental or network/individual-based). Key aspects include: working in collaboration with a diverse team; iterative testing and development of tools to support the co-production process, and regular reflection and assessment.

Please get in touch with questions to Dr Liz Fearon: e.fearon [AT] ucl.ac.uk

Job Description:
Research Assistant / Research Fellow in Infectious Disease Modelling
Grade: UCL Grade 6B/7*
Part-time: 0.8 FTE (i.e. 29.2 hours per week)
Duration: This role is available from January 2025 for 24 months in the first instance.
Location: Institute for Global health, Mortimer Market Centre, London, WC1E 6JB with opportunities for hybrid working in line with UCL Policy and project requirements.

• Where applicants have not been awarded a PhD (or have equivalent experience) appointment will be made at Research Assistant UCL Grade 6B. Where applicants are PhD candidates, appointment will be made at Research Assistant UCL Grade 6B and payment at UCL Grade 7 salary will be backdated to the date of submission
  of the PhD thesis (including corrections). Where candidates have obtained a PhD, they will be appointed at Grade 7.