Research Associate in Autism and Health x 2 (Fixed Term)

Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Douglas House, Cambridge

Full Time, Fixed Term to 14th January 2027

We seek to appoint two highly motivated postdoctoral researchers to join a multi-disciplinary research team who study the healthcare profiles of autistic people. The appointees will work with large scale population data from healthcare registers such as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), and equivalent registers in other countries.

Each researcher will focus on the links between autism and physical health outcomes, focusing particularly on conditions that significantly impact on quality and length of life. The focus will be on identifying risk and protective factors in specific subgroups of autistic people, as well as factors that could improve the health of autistic people. The researchers may also conduct research on the health outcomes of parents and siblings of autistic people.

The appointees will have a unique opportunity to develop skills in data analysis, epidemiology and health research using large-scale population data. In addition, they will have the opportunity to present their research in international conferences and use their findings to inform policy change to improve the health and wellbeing of autistic people.

The post holders will be working closely with a team of researchers led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Dr Carrie Allison at the Autism Research Centre in the University of Cambridge.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct epidemiological association studies using a variety of methodologies (e.g., logistic regression, Cox regression), predictors and outcomes.
• Collaborate with other researchers in the design, analysis and preparation of the findings for publication
• Write scientific papers for peer-reviewed journals
• Present findings at national and international conferences
• Contribute to the wider research programme and departmental activities

Essential Requirements:

• Research or professional experience with health statistics/epidemiology
• PhD in a relevant area
• Competence in standard medical statistics (descriptive and inferential statistics)
• Experience with the statistical analysis of large datasets
• Good understanding of the principles of health epidemiology
• Familiarity with statistical software packages such as STATA, R or Python
• Scientific publications

Desirable:

• Good understanding of the relevant health conditions and of their common clinical trajectories for detection, diagnosis and treatment.
• Competence in advanced analytic techniques including standard machine learning and/or causal inference machine learning, Bayesian statistics or natural language processing (NLP)

For further information, please contact Dr Alex Tsompanidis (at768@cam.ac.uk).

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button above. 

Please ensure that you upload a covering letter and a 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 closing date for applications is: 9th March 2025

The interview date for the role is: To be confirmed

Please quote reference RN45150 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

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

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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