Research Fellow

Location: White City Campus (Hybrid)

About the role:

The NIHR-funded Biomedical Research Centre at Imperial College London has commissioned the School of Public Health to evaluate possible policy options for the management of obesity in the UK.

Obesity is a significant and growing public health issue in the UK. As of recent estimates, around 26% of adults in England are classified as obese, with a further 38% overweight. Among children, nearly 10% of four- to five-year-olds and over 20% of 10- to 11-year-olds are obese, highlighting the scale of the problem across age groups. If current trends continue, projections suggest that by 2040, 7 in 10 adults in the UK could be living with excess weight, with obesity alone affecting over 35% of the population.

To manage this challenge, policy options must evolve. Expanding access to GLP-1 receptor agonists—such as semaglutide—could provide an effective pharmacological tool, especially for those unable to lose weight through lifestyle changes alone. Other strategies could include weight management services including bariatric surgery. A multi-faceted approach will be crucial to curbing the obesity epidemic and protecting public health resources.

Epidemiological and healthcare system simulation modelling will be useful for evaluating these options. To that end, this team will develop a novel analytical simulation framework and use it to address these pressing questions, in close collaboration with clinicians, epidemiologists, NHS managers and policy makers.

What you would be doing:

You will be responsible for the background research necessary to construct a model that represents the onset and progression of obesity and the onset, progression and consequences of the key conditions that are related to it, as well as the defined set of policy options to be evaluated. You will also be responsible for implementing the model as a computer simulation and analysing it within a health-economics framework using standard computational techniques. You will also be responsible for writing up the findings and presenting these in scientific, medical and lay formats.

You will be a part of a large group of epidemiologists and healthcare system specialists that use computational modelling to investigate a wide range of questions in the UK and overseas.

What we are looking for:

• PhD in one of the following areas: Mathematical Modelling, Statistics, Infectious Disease Epidemiology or related subject or a similar quantitative discipline.
• Programming skills in Python; or experience in at least one of the following: C, C++, Java, R, Matlab, and willingness to learn Python.
• Experience in working with epidemiological or healthcare (or similar) data, including data cleaning, validation, summary description, and appropriate analysis using standard techniques (e.g. general linear modelling, imputation, estimation, etc.)
• Experience with reviewing, analysing and synthesising scientific papers and reports.

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 and progression.
• Sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 39 days off a year and generous pension schemes).

Further Information

This role is for a full-time and fixed-term contract until 31 May 2027.

If you require any further details about the role, please contact:

Professor Timothy Hallett at timothy.hallett@imperial.ac.uk and/or

Dr Shevanthi Nayagam at s.nayagam01@imperial.ac.uk.

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