Job description

Job summary

An exciting new opportunity has arisen for a research associate or research fellow to join the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis to act as the liaison between Centre staff and the World Health Organization (WHO).  

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis is an international resource and centre of excellence for research and training in the epidemiological analysis and modelling of infectious diseases. The Centre works closely with national and international agencies to support policy planning and response operations against infectious disease threats. The Centre is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Modelling and staff of the Centre work closely with WHO across a wide range of disease areas.

The post-holder will be responsible for maintaining a close collaborative relationship with WHO colleagues and thereby support the Centre in delivering its mission of translating cutting-edge research on infectious disease dynamics into improvements in public health decision making. The post-holder will develop and lead collaborative research projects with a focus on supporting the Centre’s research theme in preparedness and response to emerging threats. The postholder will work with academic staff and research teams across the Centre, as well as interacting closely with the Director of the MRC Centre Translational Modelling Hub and the MRC Centre leadership team to ensure that the work meets WHO’s needs. 

Candidates should hold a PhD or equivalent in one of the following areas: infectious disease epidemiology, mathematical modelling, statistics or related subject or a similar quantitative discipline.

Duties and responsibilities

The post-holder will serve as the liaison between the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and the WHO to undertake, develop and/or manage research projects where the MRC Centre can support WHO programmatic activities. This may include coordinating expertise and providing technical assistance, particularly in response to an outbreak or urgent event. The post-holder will also support workshops and training activities, as well as take a lead in the planning of collaborative research activities.

Essential requirements

• A PhD in infectious disease epidemiology, mathematical modelling, statistics or related subject or a similar quantitative discipline


• Experience in communicating technical scientific results in written and verbal formats to policy makers.


• Knowledge of the statistical and mathematical modelling methods used to analyse and simulate infectious disease outbreaks and to inform control policy planning.


• Experience in leading and managing complex collaborations (for Research Fellow)


• Experience with reviewing, analysing and synthesising scientific papers and reports (for Research Fellow)


• Strong programming skills, ideally with experience in R and R packages


• Experience in using Github as a collaborative coding environment


• Highly developed interpersonal skills


• Ability to research new areas of public health or epidemiology, synthesise information and summarise it formally.


• The ability to work independently, including potentially spending extended periods in WHO offices.


• Project management skills: ability to effectively coordinate teams of researchers under a matrix management approach (Research Fellow)


• Ability to interact with policy makers and other academics, especially in other disciplines.


• Excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to deal with a wide range of people.


• Excellent written communication skills and the ability to write clearly and succinctly for publication.


• Ability to prioritise own work in response to deadlines.

Further information

The post is full time and fixed term to 13 June 2026. Part-time/flexible working will be considered.

Candidates who will be appointed as a Research Associate within the salary range £45,593- £53,630 per annum.

For any queries or informal enquiries about the post, please contact Professor Azra Ghani (a.ghani@imperial.ac.uk) and/or Dr Anne Cori (a.cori@imperial.ac.uk)

Further information is available in the job description.

The College is currently trialling a Work Location Framework until early 2023.  Hybrid working may be considered for this role and the role holder may be expected to work 60% or more of their time onsite, with 40% the minimum time spent onsite.  The opportunity for hybrid working will be discussed at interview.

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level.

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

Documents

• Job Description - Research Fellow.pdf