Research Fellow

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974. Grade: 7

Contract Type: Fixed Term contract up to July 2025, with further extension likely

This is an exciting opportunity for a full time post-doctoral Research fellow, to join Professor Sudha Sundar’s team in conducting studies to develop and validating diagnostic tests to diagnose ovarian cancer early. The post Is funded by the NHS cancer programme through the SONATA study NCT06129968 and by Cancer Research UK and hosted in the College of Medicine and Health. The position will be extendable up to 44 months from a programme grant awarded from CRUK

The postholder will take a lead role in a newly funded programme grant for early detection of ovarian cancer called the ROCkeTS GEN Val study. The purpose of this post is to conduct a prospective multicentre study to validate circulating tumour DNA as a novel method for earlier detection of ovarian cancer. This is a follow-on study from a previous study ROCkeTS -GEN investigating ctDNA in ovarian cancer. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/find-a-clinical-trial/a-study-looking-at-current-tests-for-ovarian-cancer-to-help-improve-diagnosis-rockets

Several high impact papers are expected from the current body of work. Collaborations with internationally leading academics across the UK and worldwide are ongoing. This post will suit a candidate keen on pursuing a career in early cancer detection and will provide excellent opportunities for career development.  

Main Duties:

• Conduct prospective, multicentre diagnostic test accuracy study
• Design Case report forms
• Apply for ethics permissions and necessary HRA, NHS permissions
• Coordinate sample transfer from sites to labs
• Conduct complex dataset linkage linking routinely collected data to trial data.
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc. Will be expected to submit publications to refereed journals and to attract external research funding. 
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline

Skills and Knowledge:

• First degree in area of specialism and normally, a PhD (or near to completion) in biological sciences
• The post holder will be proficient in conducting clinical studies, ideally translational research.
• Experience in conducting diagnostic test accuracy studies and/or complex dataset linkage and/or statistical analysis and/or translational research is desirable.
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly

Informal enquiries to Professor Sudha Sundar s.s.sundar@bham.ac.uk 

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the ‘Apply’ button above.

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working

Advert information