Research Fellow in Computational Modelling for Dementia Research

About us

UCL’s Department of Computer Science (CS) is a top-ranked Computer Science Department in the UK. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) evaluation, UCL Computer Science was ranked second in the UK for research power and first in England.

The UCL Hawkes Institute (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/hawkes-institute/) combines methodological researchers from the Departments of CS and Medical Physics & Bioengineering with biomedical and clinical groups in the Faculty of Biomedicine. Hawkes (formerly Centre for Medical Image Computing – CMIC) was established in 2005 to bring together technical researchers on all aspects on imaging science and promote translation to application in the clinic and clinical research. Hawkes works closely with the UCL Dementia Research Centre (DRC: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/drc/).

About the role

The role will contribute to on-going research at the UCL Hawkes Institute to develop advances in computational modelling of neurodegenerative disease, machine learning, and big-data analysis to shed new light on the biological mechanisms that drive diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia: when and where it starts; how it spreads over the brain (“propagates”); how it varies among diseases, subtypes, and individuals; how risk factors influence mechanisms.

The role holder will work within a common Bayesian inference framework enabling quantification of the evidence for and against emerging hypothetical biological proesses in various neurodegenerative conditions leading to fundamental new understanding of disease biology. This post will focus on disease progression modelling, exploiting advances in deep feature learning and uncertainty quantification to support the Bayesian framework, as well as implementation of computational models of neurodegeneration. The role holder will be responsible for setting up and conducting experiments, collecting and analysing data, and documenting results in collaboration with the Principal Investigator.

Additional responsibilities include project planning, presenting research findings, representing the project at academic events, contributing to publications, and preparing progress reports for funding bodies.

This appointment is subject to UCL Terms and Conditions of Service for Research and Professional Services Staff. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/conditions-service-research-teaching-and-professional-services-staff for more information.

About you

The successful candidate will hold (or be in the final stages of completing) a PhD in a relvant field and must have a working knowledge of Linux or Unix-based systems IT proficiency at advanced user level and a track record in theory, development and application of machine learning with relevance to disease progression modeling.

You will have a strong track record of research publications commensurate with time as a researcher and good inter-personal skills with an ability to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting.

What we offer

The role is offerd for one year in the first instance. Appointment at Grade 7, salary £45,103 - £52,586, is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Grade 6B (salary £39,148 - £41,833 per annum) with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD Thesis.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

UCL Computer Science is proud to be the first computer science department in the UK to hold an Athena SWAN Gold award, in recognition of our long-term commitment and 'beacon' status in advancing gender equality.

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