Research Fellow - College of Medicine and Health - 102920 - Grade 7

Position Details

College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract for 6 months

Closing date: 6th October 2024

Please note: We are advertising both Research Associate (102919) and Research Fellow (102920) however, there is only 1 post available.

Background

This 6 month post provides a unique opportunity to deliver research in the area of health economics to quantify the primary health care resource use and costs associated with musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents.

The overall project aim is to determine the longer-term outcomes of child/adolescent musculoskeletal pain in primary care by describing overall prognosis, identifying prognostic factors, and estimating health service costs of children/adolescents presenting with new musculoskeletal pain. The project uses data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) dataset, a national UK electronic health record database of anonymised routinely recorded, longitudinal, primary care information. The health economics component will use the dataset to calculate average resource use, apply unit costs and calculate average healthcare costs and the overall NHS cost burden.

Role Summary

This 6 month role (100% FTE) will be responsible for assisting the lead health economist with designing, analysing and disseminating the health economics component of the CAM-PAIN project. The post-holder will be responsible for:

• Undertaking a detailed analysis of the records of children/adolescents with musculoskeletal pain from the CPRD dataset, including estimating health care resource use, sourcing and applying unit costs and calculating average costs and overall NHS burden.
• Conducting multivariable regression analysis using generalised linear modelling to explore covariates associated with higher costs.
• Contributing to dissemination of the CAM-PAIN project including writing papers, documents, reports and others, and working directly with the CAM-PAIN team in Keele.

Main Duties

• Become familiar with using the CPRD database.
• Analyse and interpret research data as directed.
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters.
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding.
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods.
• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required.
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding.
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline.
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines.
• Undertake management/administration arising from research.
• Contribute to Unit/Institute research-related activities and research-related administration.
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader.

Person Specification

• A Masters degree in Health Economics or related subject and a higher degree relevant to the research area or equivalent professional success and achievement.
• Evidence of a high level of quantitative skills for health economic analysis.
• Very good writing skills.
• Good knowledge of health economics and research methods and techniques to work within the specified project.
• Practical experience of statistical analysis of data including regression analysis.
• Experience of dealing with a large and complex dataset.
• Familiarity with STATA.
• Ability to work to fixed deadlines.
• Ability to work as a member of a team.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly.
• Very good communication skills and confidence to deal with a variety of senior researchers and external project partners at project meetings and dissemination events.
• Fluency in health economics methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones.
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively.
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes.
• Contribute to the planning and organising of the specified research projects and the future research programme.

Further particulars can be found here.

Informal enquiries to Sue Jowett, email: s.jowett@bham.ac.uk.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.