The Clinical Epidemiology Unit at the Institute for Epidemiology and Social Medicine of the University of Münster offers a position, initially limited to 3 years starting as soon as possible:

PhD student (focus: infectious disease epidemiology/mathematical modelling of infectious diseases)

The Clinical Epidemiology Unit uses and develops modern statistical and mathematical methods for the analysis of primary and secondary data. A particular focus of the Unit is the application of dynamic mathematical modelling approaches to simulate the spread of infectious agents in human populations. The Unit is involved in various SARS-CoV-2 projects, and is looking for a PhD student for a SARS-CoV-2 related project, which will be based on the current third-party funded projects “EpiAdaptDiag: Adaptive (seamless) designs for real-time evaluation of diagnostic tests and their usefulness for the parameterisation of dynamic infection spread models in epidemic and pandemic settings” and “COVIMOD: social contact patterns in Germany during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic”.

The position
• involves the statistical analysis of data of the above mentioned studies
• involves the design of new and the extension of already existing mathematical models for modelling the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 (depending on the background of the applicant)
• will add key evidence to a crucial and up-to-date research topic
• includes the collaboration with external scientists as well as public health authorities
• will lead high-quality peer-reviewed manuscripts in international journals

What we expect:
• Masters degree in (preferably) Epidemiology, or Biostatistics, Mathematics, Physics or a related discipline
• Experience in infectious disease epidemiology (preferably also in mathematical modelling of infectious diseases)
• Good programming skills in relevant programming languages (e.g. R or Python)
• Knowledge of statistical and epidemiological methods
• An analytical and structured way of working, good team and communication skills, as well as a sense of responsibility and quality awareness
• Excellent English language skills. Excellent German language skills will be advantageous.

What we offer:
• Full dedication to the PhD project in a structured or unstructured PhD program
• Support for further personal training not directly related to the project (e.g. structured development of leadership competencies)
• An interesting and versatile workplace with challenging and exciting tasks and projects
• Training and work in a multidisciplinary and committed research team

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Prof. Dr. André Karch (akarch@uni-muenster.de).