Senior Scientist (Epidemiology)

The Acute Respiratory Infections team is located within UKHSAs TARZET division. The remit of the team includes providing specialist epidemiology and surveillance, coordinating the investigation of national outbreaks, advising government on the risks posed by various acute respiratory pathogens and responding to international health concerns.

The postholder will be a member of a team working on the surveillance, epidemiology and investigation of acute respiratory infections. Functions of the team include development of analysis and reporting functions for the mSCAPE programme to use metagenomic data for public health surveillance; development of new and reactive analysis methods for emerging pathogens and supporting the investigation and management of major national outbreaks, and collaborative working with epidemiology, modelling and academic partners. 

They will also work in an integrated way with other teams, such as the Genomics Public Health Analysis team (GPHA), in the TARZET division within the Emerging and Epidemic Infections Directorate.

• The post is within the metagenomics surveillance section of the Acute Respiratory Infections team. The primary function of this post is to coordinate and develop the collation and epidemiological analysis of acute respiratory infection surveillance datasets derived from metagenomic sequencing.
• The post holder will regularly conduct epidemiological analyses to monitor trends, geographic distribution and risk factors and supervise junior scientific staff to collate, manage and validate surveillance datasets. They will lead on and contribute to the delivery of surveillance and policy reports and to peer-reviewed publications.
• The post-holder will adopt a variety of public health and surveillance portfolios, develop and implement standardised data collection and analysis protocols, will identify data quality issues and will facilitate their resolution. They will ensure that data are collected and processed in accordance with relevant policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and will undertake regular assessments of data quality and completeness.

Surveillance

• Develop, manage and maintain the mSCAPE pathogen surveillance databases.
• Manage existing national surveillance systems and co-ordinate the development of new metagenomic surveillance systems for acute respiratory and to supervise and advise junior scientific and administrative staff in the maintenance and development of integrated or enhanced surveillance datasets.
• Conduct complex statistical analyses of metagenomic and other pathogen data, as required, drawn from a variety of surveillance sources.
• Advise scientific and administrative staff conducting routine analyses of surveillance datasets for standardised outputs and ad hoc enquiries.
• Supervise junior scientific colleagues and the administrative team in the production of surveillance reports and publications.
• Help coordinate the activities of scientists in partner institutes involved in collaborative surveillance programmes.
• Provide technical advice and assistance to public health practitioners on the design, maintenance, analysis and interpretation of surveillance databases.
• Develop methodologies to ensure emerging threats are recognized in a timely manner by the analysis and interpretation of often complex data from a variety of sources to understand the public health significance of the potential risk.

Outbreak Investigation

Manage the technical and analytical aspects of outbreak investigations, under the supervision of the epidemiology lead, by:

• Liaising with relevant specialists to collect epidemiological data
• Coordinating and advising incident teams
• Overseeing data entry and ensuring quality control of databases
• Collating and interpreting genome-derived epidemiological and microbiological data drawn from a variety of sources
• Providing statistical and phylogenetic analyses for government agencies, health protection units and environmental health departments
• Writing briefing notes and situation reports
• Presenting epidemiological data to Incident Management Teams
• Contributing to the production of outbreak reports and subsequent publications

Research

• Contribute to the development of research proposals
• Coordinate the collection and collation of data from collaborators based in specialist laboratories and other institutions throughout the UK.
• Conduct statistical analyses of epidemiological and microbiological data for grant funded research projects and UKHSA programmes.
• Provide complex statistical analyses of metagenomics surveillance/research datasets to academic units and other agencies involved in collaborative epidemiological, microbiological and veterinary research studies under the guidance of the project leader.
• Contribute to the process of writing scientific papers for publication in peer reviewed journals and project reports to funding bodies.

Publications and presentations

• Write or contribute to the drafting of scientific papers for publication in peer reviewed journals and detailed reports for UKHSA or Government departments.
• Supervise scientific and administrative staff in the production of departmental web outputs
• Present epidemiological findings at national and international meetings and conferences.

Teaching and Training

• Develop and present lectures and teaching materials on the epidemiology and surveillance of acute respiratory infections for UKHSA, university postgraduate and professional development training programmes.
• Contribute to the training for new members of staff on the epidemiology and surveillance of acute respiratory infections.
• Line management of junior scientific staff.

This list is not exhaustive

Essential Criteria

• Degree in a life science, data science, or related discipline, with postgraduate study or experience in public health, genomic epidemiology, microbial genomics, or a related field.
• Experience interpreting, analysing, and evaluating genomic and epidemiological data using tools such as R or Python.
• Ability to analyse, synthesise, and interpret complex information from multiple and sometimes conflicting sources to support decision-making.
• Strong scientific writing skills, including preparation of scientific publications, technical reports, and project documentation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas and methods clearly to a range of audiences.
• Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively, managing multiple priorities, solving practical problems, and delivering work to agreed deadlines.
• Demonstrated sound judgement, including the ability to make informed decisions from incomplete information, alongside a commitment to equality, inclusion, and positive working relationships.

Desirable Criteria

• Statistical analysis of large and complex epidemiological datasets.
• Experience of managing technical aspects of outbreak investigation.
• Knowledge of Next Generation Sequencing technologies and associated bioinformatics analytical approaches.
• Knowledge of metagenomics.
• Having a thorough understanding of recent advances in the epidemiology and microbiology of respiratory infections and presenting scientific papers at national and international conferences.
• Experience of creating and giving presentations to a varied group of internal and external stakeholders and an ability to liaise with a range of health professionals and scientific specialists.