Research Fellow

About us

Biosciences is one of the world’s foremost centres for research and teaching in the biological sciences and one of the largest Divisions within UCL, undertaking a significant amount of research and teaching. The Division has a diverse portfolio addressing all areas of biology from protein interactions to cell function, organism development, genetics, population studies and the environment. Computational modelling approaches are frequently used alongside experimental research programmes and much of our research crosses traditional boundaries, including the relationship of biodiversity to the health of the planet. Activity is underpinned by high calibre science technology platforms and state of the art equipment. Educational activity includes a range of undergraduate programmes, an expanding number of Masters Programmes and a substantial number of postgraduate research students.

We undertake research on a wide range of issues relating to human evolution, with a fo cus on model-based statistical inference from genetic (including ancient DNA), environmental and archaeological data to better understand our demographic, biological and cultural evolution.

About the role

This position is funded by a recent EU Synergy grant awarded to UCL, Gothenburg and Copenhagen Universities. The person appointed will be a member of an international team developing interdisciplinary approaches to achieve the project’s aims.

The position is available for 36 months, starting on 1st May 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Interview Date(s) are scheduled for Jan / Feb 2024.

Research Fellows - 'Appointment at Grade 7 (£ 42,099 -£ 45,521 per annum inclusive of London Allowance) is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Grade 6B with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD Thesis.'

A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page.

About you

To be an active member of the research project ‘COREX: From correlations to explanations: towards a new European prehistory’. In particular, the successful candidate will focus on Work Package 3 (Exploratory analyses and discriminative models), and Work Package 4 (Generative models and explanations). Work Package 3 will take advantage of the ‘Big Interdisciplinary Archaeological Database’ (BIAD) – created as part of Work Package 1 – to explore patterns of co-variation in archaeological, environmental and genetic data using a range of statistical methods. Work Package 4 will take a ‘bottom up’ approach through agent-based and related modelling approaches to better understand how large-scale processes such as mass migration emerge from small-scale / more local processes and interactions, and the extent to which we would expect patterns of genetic and cultural variation to be linked in space and through time. We will consider ca ndidates with a PhD or similar in archaeology, geography or a biological science, and relevant experience in computational modelling, model-based statistical inference and the use of relational databases, or candidates with a PhD or similar in computational science or mathematics, and an interest in archaeology.

We will consider candidates with a PhD or similar in archaeology, geography or a biological science, and relevant experience in computational modelling, model-based statistical inference and the use of relational databases, or candidates with a PhD or similar in computational science or mathematics, and an interest in archaeology.

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