The post:

Pneumoccocus is the most common cause of bloodstream infections, pneumonia, middle ear infections and meningitis in children. We would like to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join our interdisciplinary team and work on an exciting project within the Transmission Of Pneumococcus (TOP) study. TOP is a large multi-centre study collecting key data on social contact patterns, rates and density of bacterial carriage and Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) status. The aim is to elucidate the nature of transmission and its relationship with carriage density, vaccination status and social contacts. The study will assess the potential for influenza vaccine programmes to impact rates of carriage of pneumococcus and other bacterial infections in the general population.

The post is co-funded by industry and charity and is available now for a duration of 18 months. You will analyse longitudinal social contact patterns of participants, perform statistical analyses of study data and develop mathematical models to determine the relationship between pneumococcus carriage density and transmission, informed by study data. Work on the project will involve liaising with key stakeholders, dissemination, producing the final report for project partners and writing and contributing to papers for peer review publication, as well as presenting key results to policy decision makers.

About you:

You will be able to develop research objectives, projects and proposals; identify sources of research funding and contribute to the process of securing funds and make presentations at conferences and other events.

•   You should possess a PhD or equivalent qualification/experience in infectious disease modelling, complex networks, and/or statistics and a keen interest in interdisciplinary science and vaccine-preventable diseases.
  

•   You will be a nationally recognised authority in one of these subject areas and possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to develop research programmes and methodologies.
  

•   You will also be able to work collaboratively, supervise the work of others and act as team leader as required.
  

•   Experience of developing code is essential, and experience in R and/or C++ is highly desirable.
  

You will gain strong interdisciplinary experience in contact patterns, mathematical modelling and microbiology, as well as freedom to pursue own directions and ideas. The post is funded for 18 months with the possibility of extension, dependent on further funding.

What we can offer you:

You will join the EPSRC Centre for Predictive Modelling in Healthcare, a GBP 2M award which brings together outstanding scientists from our Systems Biomedicine, Dynamics Systems and Statistical Sciences research groups. The Centre focusses on the development of predictive mathematical models, leading to new technologies supporting clinical decision making for a range of chronic health conditions including cardiac arrhythmias, dementia, diabetes and epilepsy. Housed within the brand new GBP 52.5M Living Systems Institute (LSI), a cross-disciplinary research community with a vision to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of disease, you will work alongside over 200 researchers from mathematics, computer science, physics, biosciences, biomedicine and clinical sciences.

For further information about the position, you are encouraged to contact Dr. Leon Danon (l.danon@exeter.ac.uk ) (01392) 723559.

The University of Exeter is an equal opportunity employer. We are officially recognised as a Disability Confident employer and an Athena Swan accredited institution. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented in the workforce.