Research Associate in Biostatistics for Environmental Health

Location: St Marys Campus

Job Summary 

The advertised post as research associate in environmental statistics is an exciting opportunity for a researcher with a strong statistical background to join a multi-disciplinary team of biostatisticians, epidemiologists and exposure scientists, to contribute to the development and application of statistical methods for spatial and temporal structured data in the context of air pollution and health evaluation.

This post holder will work on two MRC funded projects: “A statistical framework for the apportionment of particulate contaminants and their health effect determination”, and “Public Health Impacts of UK's Clean Air Zones”.

They will develop mixture models, other machine learning techniques to cluster particulate matter components into their sources and then link these sources to health outcomes. They will also apply spatio-temporal models to evaluate the impact of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on air pollution levels and different health outcomes in London. The research team includes statisticians, epidemiologists and exposure scientists from the MRC Centre for Environment and Health (https://environment-health.ac.uk/). 

Duties and responsibilities 

• Develop mixture models in a Bayesian framework that fit dependent data in time or space.
• Extend the source apportionment model to evaluate the link between sources and health outcomes and predict the health risks under different scenarios of changes in the air contaminants.
• Apply the developed framework to (i) apportion time-series of PM_2.5 chemical components from Greater London and to evaluate their acute effects on respiratory hospital admissions in children (0-14).
• Develop spatial hierarchical models for the evaluation of the (ULEZ) in London, in terms of changes in air pollution and in hospital admissions for a range of health conditions.
• To submit abstracts and present findings at national and international meetings
• To take a leading role in writing of scientific papers and to publish in high quality journals
• To work cooperatively as part of multidisciplinary teams
• To contribute to the teaching (Undergraduate and/or Postgraduate) delivered by the department of 5-15 hours per year, usually in the form of assisting/leading tutorial or practical sessions to small groups of students or to participants of short courses. 

Essential requirements 

• A thorough working knowledge of modern applied statistical techniques, including Bayesian hierarchical modelling and Bayesian nonparametric models.
• Highly proficient in R, preferably having used Rstan or R-nimble packages.
• Demonstrable experience of analysing epidemiological/biomedical data for research purposes.
• A good understanding of environmental epidemiological concepts and techniques that apply to a wide range of study designs
• Record of publications in peer-reviewed journals 

Further Information

The post is offered on full time, fixed term basis until 31 December 2025 and you will be based at St Mary’s Campus 

For informal enquiries please contact Prof Marta Blangiardo: m.blangiardo@imperial.ac.uk.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £40,694 - £43,888 per annum. 

Hybrid working may be considered for this role. Staff working in roles that are suitable for hybrid working will normally be expected to work 60% of their time onsite. The opportunity for hybrid working will be discussed at interview. 

More information is available on the following web page: Work Location Framework | Administration and support services | Imperial College London

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