Research Assistant / Research Associate (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for the position of Research Associate in Risk-Stratified Cancer Screening at the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, working closely with Professor Nora Pashayan.

The successful candidate will focus on developing ethnicity-specific risk thresholds that more accurately reflect the variations in breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer risk across diverse ethnic groups. This work aims to support more equitable risk stratification in cancer screening programmes.  Using simulations based on multistate modelling framework, the postholder will estimate the impact of applying ethnicity-dependent risk thresholds compared to a universal threshold on the outcomes of risk-stratified screening.  The role involves collaboration with researchers at the CCGE, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ).

This research is part of a Cancer Research UK International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection (ACED) funded project under the Inequalities theme.  ACED partners include the University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, UCL, DKFZ, OHSU, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Main duties and responsibilities of the job

• Access and analyse national cancer registration data, population statistics, and mortality data by ethnicity.
• Calculate ethnicity-specific absolute risk thresholds and estimate the proportion of individuals within different ethnic groups classified as high risk.
• Develop multistate survival models (MSM) to estimate transition parameters between cancer progression states across risk strata.
• Simulate screening outcomes ¿including  cancer incidence, interval cancer, cancer mortality and, overdiagnosis ¿ under both ethnicity-dependent and ethnicity-independent risk thresholds.
• Work collaboratively in multidisciplinary and international research teams.
• Communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, in both formal and informal situations.
• Present findings in academic conferences and policy stakeholder meetings.
• Plan, organise, and manage own workload to meet project deliverables and deadlines.
• Commit to ongoing personal and professional development.
• Contribute to education and training activities within DPHPC.
• Participate in CCGE and DPHPC activities, meetings, and seminars as appropriate. 

The funding for this post is available for one year from commencement in employment in the first instance.

*Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD (or equivalent experience), including those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD. Where a PhD has yet to be, awarded appointment will initially be made at research assistant and amended to research associate when PhD is awarded (PhD to be awarded within 6 months of start date).

Applicants must have (or be close to obtaining) a PhD.

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant (Grade 5, Point 38 £34,132) moving to Research Associate (Grade 7) upon confirmation of your PhD award.

Please ensure that you upload a covering letter and CV in the Upload section of the online application. The covering letter should outline how you match the criteria for the post and why you are applying for this role. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Please include details of your referees, including email address and phone number, one of which must be your most recent line manager.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

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