Postdoctoral Research Assistant : Medical Data Science

The University of Oxford is a stimulating work environment, which enjoys an international reputation as a world-class centre of excellence. Our research plays a key role in tackling many global challenges, from reducing our carbon emissions to developing vaccines during a pandemic.

The Department of Psychiatry is based on the Warneford Hospital site in Oxford – a friendly, welcoming place of work with an international reputation for excellence. The Department has a substantial research programme, with major funding from Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and provides highly rated medical training in psychiatry.  The Head of Department is Professor Belinda Lennox.

We are looking to appoint a postdoctoral researcher in medical data science to work on a research programme seeking to better predict and treat episodes of severe mental illness, using a novel data science approach based on measurements of symptom instability.

What We Offer

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days annual leave
• A comprehensive range of childcare services
• Family leave schemes
• Cycle loan scheme
• Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans
• Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs

This role also offers the opportunity for hybrid working (up to 1 day/week).

About the Role

The post is funded to 30 April 2030 and is based in the Department of Psychiatry at the Warneford Hospital.  

You will be given access to several large datasets spanning 5-35 million patients with mental illness to lead and contribute to a range of projects including the development of novel prediction tools, the investigation of determinants of symptom instability, and the use of advanced causal inference techniques to create data-driven personalised treatment approaches.

You will develop data science approaches to leverage measurements of symptom instability from a  variety of sources. You will contribute to project development and future grant application, as well as acting as a mentor for junior colleagues. 

You will collaborate closely with academic and industry partners, gaining valuable exposure to translational research – the role offers significant opportunities for growth and development as an academic.

About You

You will have or be close to the completion of a PhD in a relevant subject (including, but not limited to, data science, statistics, computer science, engineering, mathematics, etc) together with relevant experience. You have strong programming skills (R and/or Python or similar) and the ability to write code in such a way that the data analysis can be streamlined and work efficiently with real world data.  A proven track record of publications and delivering projects where data science was a key component would be desirable as would previous experience of working with electronic health records data

Diversity

Committed to equality and valuing diversity

Our active Psychiatry People and Culture teams and initiatives work to make the Department of Psychiatry as supportive, welcoming and inclusive as possible.

Application Process

You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application. see the University pages on the application process at https://www.jobs.ox.ac.uk/application-process .

The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday 3 March 2025

Interviews will take place on 14 March  and will be online

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