Research Assistant / Research Fellow in COVID-19 Epidemiology

About us

The mission of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health is to improve the health and well-being of children, and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement. The UCL GOS ICH, together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, forms the largest concentration of children’s health research outside North America. GOS ICH’s activities include active engagement with children and families, to ensure that our work is relevant and appropriate to their needs. GOS ICH generates the funding for our research by setting out our proposals in high quality applications to public, charitable and industrial funding bodies and disseminates the results of our research by publication in the medical and scientific literature, to clinicians, policy makers and the wider public. The Institute offers world-class education and training across a wide range of teaching and life learning programmes which address the needs of students and professional groups who are interested in and undertaking work relevant to child health.

About the role

The posts offer an excellent career development opportunity for those with an MSc in a quantitative subject (such as epidemiology, statistics, demography) to develop skills in setting up and analysing national cohort studies of mothers and babies to address vaccination and other public health policy. Similarly, post-doctoral researchers trained in statistical analysis and epidemiological methods will have the opportunity to develop specialist skills in analysing administrative data sets, such as Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). The post-holder will work on the Work Package 3 of the ‘SARS-coV2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts’ (VERDI) project, funded by Horizon Europe, which aims to examine the impact of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VoCs) on pregnant women and children. The post-holder will carry out statistical analyses of linked, administrative health data cohorts of pregnant women and children from England, developed via linkage between vital statistics, Hospital Episode Statistics, and COVID-19 public health surveillance and vaccination data. There will also be opportunities to use administrative data from primary care and schools in England. The objectives for the England-based analyses are to: 1) understand the potential differential effects of VoC on severity of COVID-19 disease compared to other variants in pregnant women and children 2) estimate transmission characteristics of VoC in households and schools; 3) assess whether VoC are associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy, birth or neonatal outcomes, and 4) generate real world evidence to deliver recommendations for vaccine and treatment strategies for children and for pregnant women. Training will be available and there will be opportunity for the post holder to develop his/her own interests within the scope of the project. For those with an MSc, there may be the possibility to register for a part-time PhD. The salary offered in this post is either at grade 6B or grade 7 depending on qualifications and experience. Grade 6B salary = £35,702 - £37,548 per annum, grade 7 salary = £39,508 - £47,355 per annum. This project is funded until end of October 2025 in the first instance.

About you

The successful candidate will need an MSc (PhD for grade 7) in epidemiology, statistics, demography or other relevant quantitative science or equivalent level of attainment. They will also need experience of analysis of longitudinal data sets using standard software packages (eg Stata or R) and possess knowledge of research methods in epidemiology and statistics. Also essential is experience of writing papers for peer-reviewed journals (for grade 7) and literature searching and review.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan On-Site nursery On-site gym Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service Discounted medical insurance

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/