Research Assistant (Epidemiological Data)

Location/Campus: White City Campus - Hybrid

Contract Type: Full time - Fixed term

About the role

This post is funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) as part of the evaluation team of the Geshiyaro project, which aims to break the transmission of soil transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomiasis (SCH) in Southern Ethiopia. The Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the impact of water, sanitation & hygiene (WaSH) in conjunction with mass drug administration (MDA), implemented by World Vision Ethiopia and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), respectively. The project is now coming to its final two years and has accumulated close to 1 million people data records on infection and treatment. The project is entitled Geshiyaro.

The overall aim of the project is to develop a scalable and cost-effective model of interventions for the interruption of transmission of STH and SCH leading to the cessation of MDA for disease control in Ethiopia. The primary outcome is to reach a 2% or less prevalence of STH (by species) and SCH in individual communities, as diagnosed by qPCR, 24 months after stopping MDA after five rounds of biannual treatment.

What you would be doing

The post holder will be responsible for management (jointly with the Ethiopian Colleagues at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute) and the analysis of the large database to document the main findings of the transmission interruption study. The data are recorded in the field using hand-held devices and the resulting databased is Cloud based using the Survey CTO software package. The research team at Imperial programme in R, Python and C++ The data manager & epidemiologist will be responsible for data analysis and interpretation in collaboration with epidemiologists at Imperial (a team of four research staff plus the Principal Investigator, Sir Roy Anderson) and in Ethiopia at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI).

It is hoped that the person to be appointed will be keen to visit the project site in Ethiopia for short periods and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute in Addis Ababa. The majority of the post holders time will be spent at the White City Campus of Imperial College London in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (DIDE) and the associated MRC Centre.

What we are looking for

Candidates must have an interest in infectious disease epidemiology and a strong background in one or more of the following areas: Epidemiology, Statistics, Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, Computer Science, Population Biology, Molecular Microbiology, Bioinformatics or Population Genetics.

Research experience in statistical analysis, computer programming, mathematical modelling, or GIS would be an advantage.

Applicants should be able to work independently, but as part of an interdisciplinary research team.

Good communication skills are also essential.

What we can offer you

• The opportunity to continue your career at a world-leading institution and be part of our mission to continue science for humanity.
• Grow your career: Gain access to Imperial’s sector-leading dedicated career support for researchers as well as opportunities for promotion & progression
• Sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 39 days off a year and generous pension schemes).

Further information

For additional information, please contact:

Professor Sir Roy Anderson FRS, Imperial College London, White City Campus (roy.anderson@imperial.ac.uk).

Applications should include a CV, an outline of research interests, and the names of three academic referees.

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