Trainee Medical Statistician - Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit - 105335 - Grade 6

Position Details

Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, School of Health Sciences, College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £32,546 to £35,116 with potential progression once in post to £39,355

Grade: 6

Full Time (Part Time applications considered)

Fixed Term contract up to June 2027

Closing date: 28th April 2025

Are you considering a career at the University of Birmingham? Our Recruitment Team is hosting one-to-one conversations to help you understand the application process, provide updates on existing applications, and answer general questions about working at the University.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Background

We are looking to appoint a Trainee Medical Statistician to join the Statistics Team at the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU). This post would suit someone either currently undertaking or a recent graduate from a post-graduate degree course in Statistics.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a leading national clinical trials unit, providing methodological and statistical support to clinical studies which will impact on the future clinical management of patients. The post-holder will have the opportunity to work on the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded ROSSINI-Platform trial, the largest ever UK surgical trial aimed at reducing post-surgery infections, under the guidance of methodologists at both BCTU and University College London.

BCTU is a UKCRC clinical trials unit. Established in 1997, BCTU has evolved into one of the largest and most effective clinical trial units in the UK specialising in the design, conduct and analysis of definitive clinical trials and test evaluation studies, as well as methodological research, under the directorship of Professor Katie Morris. BCTU’s aim is to help stimulate, develop, conduct, support, analyse and report high quality clinical research to generate more reliable evidence on causes and best treatment of a wide range of diseases.

Role Summary

The post holder will assist in providing statistical advice and support in the design, conduct and analysis of clinical studies and allied research within the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU).

This is a training post, so the individual suitable for this post would be someone either currently undertaking or a recent graduate from a post-graduate degree course in statistics.

Scope of the Role

The post holder will assist in providing statistical advice and support to BCTU's clinical trial research programme that addresses a wide and interesting range of medical problems of practical relevance to patients, carers and health care providers. The post holder will work alongside a number of statisticians supporting studies within BCTU, under the direction of a senior statistician. The Unit is currently running studies in coloproctology, neurosciences, obstetrics and gynaecology, primary care, renal disease, surgery, burns, trauma and critical care.

Main Duties

• Contribute to the statistical design of clinical trials, under the direction of a senior member of the Statistics Team.
• Assist senior members of the Statistics Team with the writing of study protocols and the development of data collection forms.
• Assist senior members of the Statistics Team in the development and testing of data management systems.
• Contribute to the writing of statistical analysis plans under the direction of a senior member of the Statistics Team.
• Undertake statistical analysis to assist Trial Managers in the running of studies, and carry out data checking routines to report on the data quality of ongoing studies.
• Undertake appropriate statistical analysis of study data and provide results to include in reports for Data Monitoring and Steering Committees and for inclusion in presentations and publications, under the direction of a senior member of the Statistics Team.
• Contribute to the Unit’s support and advice service, under the direction of a senior member of the Statistics Team.
• Assist senior members of the Statistics Team with teaching and research training activities.
• Contribute to statistical methodological research relevant to the studies being undertaken within BCTU.
• 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, Human Tissue Act), the Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care, Caldicott principles, 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.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD (or near to completion) in Statistics.
• Students currently studying for an MSc or PhD in Statistics who are due to complete these degrees in the next 6 months are also eligible to apply.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Knowledge of medical statistics and clinical trials.
• Knowledge of statistical techniques e.g. linear, logistic and Cox regression, analysis of variance, repeated measures, survival analysis.
• Knowledge of statistical analysis packages, preferably Stata and/or SAS.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Personal qualities

• Ability to work well as part of a team.
• Good inter-personal communication skills.
• Meticulous attention to detail and high levels of accuracy.
• Aptitude for analysis which is real life and problem driven.
• Interest in the application of statistical techniques for medical problems.
• Willingness to learn new techniques.
• Ability to impart statistical concepts to non-statisticians.

Dimensions

This training post provides an excellent opportunity for someone either currently undertaking or a recent graduate from a post-graduate degree course in statistics to gain the necessary experience to develop into a medical statistician within a leading academic trials unit. The post holder will work alongside senior members of the Statistics team supporting studies within BCTU, and would receive sufficient mentoring and training such that they could work more independently with less supervision after at least 2 years into the appointment.

Statisticians play a central role in the Unit, actively liaising with clinical investigators, contributing to the design and conduct of clinical trials, being responsible for interim and final analysis of clinical trial data and having a key role in the presentation and publication of results. As academic members of the University, statisticians contribute to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Statisticians are encouraged to take an interest in the medical areas, and understand the clinical issues and problems relating to the disease areas in which they work. This enables them to contribute to disease-specific research at a national and international level.

Planning and Organising

A flexible attitude and an ability to organise work to meet deadlines, while handling more than one task at a time is needed.

Internal and External relationships

As part of the Statistics team, the post holder will work with Senior Statisticians in the team advising clinical investigators and other researchers on the feasibility, design and analysis of proposed and current studies, and sit on project management groups.

Further particulars can be found here

Informal enquiries to Lee Middleton, email: l.j.middleton@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

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. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.