Research Assistant / Research Associate - Information Specialist

Company description:

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Job description:

The Role

Applications are invited for an enthusiastic and highly motivated Information Specialist (Research Assistant/Research Associate) to work in the Evidence Synthesis Group (ESG). This is a proactive research group who take a pivotal role in delivering the NIHR Innovation Observatory. The post holder will join a team of Information Specialists leading and contributing to a range of research projects.

This role sits within a team of Information Specialists embedded with the Evidence Synthesis Group (ESG), with an academic home in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. The Information Team are very proactive, leading the Information Retrieval Research Programme at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Innovation Observatory, and delivering the information retrieval elements of work for a number of other NIHR infrastructures hosted by our Institute, such as the Policy Research Units for Older People & Health and for Behavioural Science, and the Applied Research Collaboration NENC. The team also contributes to health technology assessment for NICE by contributing to rapid evaluation and critical appraisal of the evidence for the Technology Appraisal Review (TAR) and External Assessment Group (EAG) processes, which support decisions about adopting medical technologies and devices in the NHS.

The wider ESG comprises a multidisciplinary group of researchers in information science, evidence synthesis, data science and health economics, with strong skills and experience in delivering a range of evidence synthesis projects using diverse and innovative methodologies. The group has a large portfolio of research projects and a number of PhD students. The Group is core to the delivery of the NIHR Innovation Observatory, which is the UK national horizon scanning facility and the home of health innovation futures scanning. It brings together, in one centre, data scientists, information specialists, evidence synthesis experts and software engineers to create a critical mass of expertise in observing and reporting on health innovation in the UK and beyond utilising next generational digital analytics.

The IO Information Programme supports the following: information gathering to support evidence synthesis projects; development of internal data repositories and digital tools, including ontologies, indexing of data, search functionality and design; development of AI classifiers and machine learning methodologies in the information science space. There is an expectation that you will publish in these areas.

Candidates should tailor their application according to the level of post they are applying for; an MSc in a relevant field is essential at Assistant level, a PhD (or equivalent experience) is required for appointment at Associate level.

This post is available fixed term initially for 2 years, with a possibility for extension.

For informal enquiries contact fiona.beyer@ncl.ac.uk or fiona.beyer@io.nihr.ac.uk 

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