Research Fellow in Modelling Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

We are seeking a statistical modeller with an interest in climate-sensitive infectious diseases to work on a project to develop a global dengue forecast by integrating surveillance and climate data. Working with PhD student and principal investigator Oliver Brady you will help build and launch the Global Dengue Observatory, a web-based system that uses up-to-date dengue case data and climate information to issue regional outbreak forecasts that governments can use to prevent outbreaks.

The post holder will be responsible for developing, fitting and evaluating a series of models that: i) account for gaps in real-time surveillance datasets (e.g. reporting delay models), ii) process dengue-relevant climate and environmental datasources and iii) forecast dengue risk by leveraging the delayed effects of climate on virus transmission risk. They will also be responsible for developing a web-based platform to host the Observatory and issue regular automated summary outbreak reports for public audiences and detailed reports for ministries of health. Longer-term this post will involve developing relationships with ministries of health to evaluate the usefulness and impact of these forecasts.

The post holder would join the Dengue Mapping and Modelling Group (DMMG) - a medium sized (6-9 people) collaborative and friendly group with a range of technical and applied expertise. Beyond this research group, the post holder will also have opportunities to collaborate with researchers across LSHTM departments, faculties and centres.

The post-holder will have a postgraduate degree, ideally a doctoral degree, in a relevant topic alongside experience developing, fitting and evaluating predictive time series models. Experience working with population-level infectious disease surveillance data and an understanding of its limitations and how some of these can be overcome using models is essential. Further particulars are included in the job description.

The post is full-time 35 hours per week, 1.0FTE and fixed-term until 30 November 2025. The post is funded by the AXA research foundation and is available from 6 November 2023.

The salary will be on the Academic Pathway salary scale Grade 6 in the range £43,947-£49,908 per annum (inclusive of London Weighting). The post will be subject to the LSHTM terms and conditions of service. Annual leave entitlement is 30 working days per year, pro rata for part-time staff. In addition to this there are discretionary “Wellbeing Days”. Membership of the Pension Scheme is available. The post is based in London.

Applications should be made on-line via our jobs website. Online applications will be accepted by the automated system until 10pm of the closing date. Any queries regarding the application process may be addressed to jobs@lshtm.ac.uk.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is committed to being an equal opportunities employer. We believe that when people feel respected and included, they can be more creative, successful, and happier at work. While we have more work to do, we are committed to building an inclusive workplace, a community that everyone feels a part of, which is safe, respectful, supportive and enables all to reach their full potential.

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