Research Assistant/ Associate

Salary:

Research Assistant: £32,296 to £33,882 per annum

Research Associate: £34,866 to £36,924 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 05 January 2025

The Role

Your role will focus on characterising the complex, dynamic inter-relationships between immune mediated inflammatory disorders (IMIDs, including for example psoriasis), the systemic drugs used for treatment and clinical outcomes using innovative artificial intelligence (AI) methodology.  IMIDs are typically long-term conditions, that are often associated with a range of multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) and require long-term drug treatment.  IMIDs and their associated MLTCspose major challenges to health systems internationally. Increased understanding about how individuals affected by IMIDs develop multiple conditions over time and how this process is influenced by specific drugs and polypharmacy will be used to inform health care pathways and patient safety.  You will be responsible for making multiple patient datasets, primarily Electronic Health Records (EHRs), research-ready so they can be leveraged using AI methods to help address key clinical research questions.  You will work closely with Prof Nick Reynolds and Prof Michael Barnes who co-lead a related multidisciplinary NIHR AIM AI-MULTIPLY project (http://ai-multiply.co.uk/), clinicians including Dr Philip Hampton, consultant dermatologist and their research teams.  

You will join a vibrant interdisciplinary team of researchers within the Newcastle NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC), based in our School of Pharmacy.  This post is an appointment to the ‘Artificial intelligence and data science in MLTCs’ theme. Research within this theme will focus on: applying innovative explainable AI-methodology and insights to identify risk and improve safety for patients with MLTCs (including IMIDs). For this project there will be a particular focus on understanding the complex interaction between IMIDs, subsequent development of MLTCs and polypharmacy.  Using novel data science approaches, a key aim will be to assess and optimise the monitoring of therapies used for IMIDs in the clinical setting to improve patient safety.  

This post is full time, fixed term for a period of 3 years.  

For informal enquiries contact: Prof Nick Reynolds (nick.reynolds@ncl.ac.uk), Dr Philip Hampton (philip.hampton@nhs.net) or Prof Mike Barnes (m.r.barnes@qmul.ac.uk) 

For informal enquiries about the Newcastle PSRC contact: Professor Andy Husband PSRC Director on andy.husband@newcastle.ac.uk

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/ 

Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

For more information about the School of Pharmacy, please visit: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/pharmacy/.

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles.  These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

Key Accountabilities

• Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, you will contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of their studies, thus providing substantial 'added value' 
• Develop and carry out the specified project using appropriate techniques as outlined in the personal requirements 
• Determine appropriate methodologies for research, with advice and support where required
• Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
• Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
• Contribute to the writing up of research for publication and dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
• Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
• May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants 
• Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute
• May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
• Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment
• To ensure compliance with secure handling of data
• Assess, develop and deploy semi-automated pipelines for the necessary QC and pre-processing of EHR and other relevant types of data, using Machine Learning (ML) and AI methods where possible
• Suggest and help implement appropriate explainable ML/AI methods that apply to the data given the clinical research questions and contribute to the development of AI-based tools to assist clinicians in assessing risk
• Suggest and help implement novel, explainable and innovative interventions to prioritise high-risk patients and optimise clinical care pathway development. 
• Curate the datasets, including metadata management, to the extent required to satisfy the FAIR principles whereby datasets should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable
• Undertake extensive reading and literature review in appropriate fields with particular reference to analysis of EHR datasets and their data requirements
• Experience and/or understanding of public/patient involvement/engagement (PPIE) in research
• Contribute to PPIE for research undertaken in this Artificial intelligence and data science in MLTCs Theme
• Work in collaboration with and support an integrated approach to and engagement with the Public and Patient involvement leads

The Person 

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
• Advanced skills directly related to the research projects 
• High level of analytical and problem-solving capability 
• Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others 
• Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment 
• Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications 
• Specific experience with data engineering, data quality assessment and improvement methods, and with their implementation using either python or R
• Familiarity with Machine Learning methods for data analysis
• Familiarity with fundamental AI concepts
• Knowledge of statistical analysis methods
• Experience with UNIX/Linux operating systems
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills and experience

Desirable

• Experience with HPC-style computing

Attributes and Behaviours

• Ability to work unsupervised and on own initiative
• Flexibility and ability to multitask
• Consistent and appropriate approach to staff and situations
• Use of feedback for process improvement and staff development
• Team player, self-starter and able to manage complex workload
• Ability to respond enthusiastically and positively to students

Qualifications

• A PhD in relevant area (required for appointment at Associate level)
• Honours degree in relevant subject (for appointment at Assistant level)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 27809