Summary
This is a full-time post dedicated to advanced surgical research practice. The post holder will provide methodological and statistical advice, analysis, and reports in support of a range of clinical studies. This will also include supporting new funding applications in related areas to increase the impact of each grant. The post is line managed by Professor Aneel Bhangu and a Grade 7 Statistician, in collaboration with Senior Statisticians from across the campus.
Main Duties
1. Provide expert methodological and statistical advice on the design of clinical trials and observational studies and develop studies in collaboration with Clinical Investigators.
2. Collaborate with Clinical Investigators in the submission of grant applications.
3. Collaborate with Clinical Investigators and Trial Managers in writing study protocols and developing data collection forms.
4. Collaborate with Programmers and Trial Managers in the development of data management systems.
5. Determine appropriate statistical analysis of study data and write statistical analysis plans.
6. Supervise the statistical input and analysis to assist Trial Managers in the running of studies, and the monitoring of data quality of on-going studies.
7. Provide statistical support to other research staff, including data analysts and research fellows.
8. Take overall responsibility for the analysis of study data, preparing and presenting reports for Data Monitoring and Steering Committees, and contribute to presentations and publications of study results.
9. Take overall responsibility for the statistical contributions to publications of research being undertaken, taking the lead when appropriate.
10. Support the delivery of clinical research in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP), the Declaration of Helsinki, applicable legislation (including, but not limited to, the Medicines for Human Use Clinical Trials Regulations, Data Protection Act 1998, Human Tissue Act), the Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care, Caldicott principals, and applicable NHS Trust and University policies and procedures, (including, but not limited to the University’s Data Protection Policy, Information Security Policy and Code of Practice for Research) in order to protect the research subject and the quality of each study.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
11. Significant experience of working as an applied medical statistician or epidemiologist, with experience of applying statistical techniques for medical problems.
12. Significant experience in medical statistics, clinical trials and observational studies, specifically in the design and writing of study protocols and the analysis, reporting and publication of results.
13. Experience of applying statistical techniques. linear, logistic and Cox regression, analysis of variance, repeated measures, survival analysis.
14. Experience in statistical programming, in R and STATA.
15. Experience of computer-based database management and data extraction/reporting techniques (preferably Access/SQL).
16. Experience of writing grant applications.
17. Experience in writing reports and papers for publication.
18. Ability to work within a Clinical Trial Units SOPs.
Qualifications:
19. MSc or PhD (or near to completion) in Statistics or Epidemiology, or a relevant higher degree.
Personal qualities:
20. Ability to work well both on own initiative and as part of a team.
21. Willing to receive feedback.
22. Strong inter-personal, communication skills, including experience in communicating statistical concepts to non-statisticians through both written and verbal methods.
23. Meticulous attention to detail and high levels of accuracy.
24. Strong planning and organisational skills.
25. Interest in the application of statistical techniques for medical problems.
26. Ability to impart statistical concepts to non-statisticians.
27. A flexible attitude and an ability to organise work to meet deadlines while handling more than one task at a time is needed.
Planning and Organising
Communication is key and tight timelines are common. The post-holder is expected to be contactable and flexible. The post-holder must be based in the UK, and will be required to attend the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus for in-person working for at least 3 days a week.
Internal and External relationships
As part of the Statistics team, the post holder will provide expert statistical advice to clinical investigators and other researchers on the feasibility, design and analysis of proposed and current studies. The post holder will represent the Unit externally by sitting on project management groups and steering committees of individual projects.