Division of Population Health and Genomics
Full-time Permanent
Academic
Grade 9 Senior Lecturer/ Grade 10 Professorial
For Informal Enquires contact:
Professor Lesley Colvin, Head of Division, Division of Population Health and Genomics, School of Medicine
l.a.colvin@dundee.ac.uk
Professor Emily Jefferson, Director of the Health Informatics Centre (HIC), Division of Population Health and Genomics, School of Medicine
Further Particulars
Job Title and Reporting
Job Title: Professor/Senior Lecturer of Health Data Science
Grade: 9/10
Reporting Line Manager: Professor Lesley Colvin
Duration of employment: Permanent
Role Purpose
The School of Medicine is internationally recognised for its research in Health Informatics. We are seeking to appoint an experienced and established academic researcher to a new post focused on health data science. Data science and Health Informatics are identified priorities for the School of Medicine, NHS Tayside, Scottish & UK Governments. This post will consolidate and develop our international excellence in health informatics/health data science research and achieve impact through research which makes a difference to patient’s lives.
You will be part of the Health Informatics Centre (HIC - https://www.dundee.ac.uk/hic/). HIC is both academic research group and service provider to researchers, clinicians, industry, and the NHS (supporting c.700 projects c. last 5 years). Established in 2004, HIC employs ~60 experts in software development, data management, data governance, cyber security, high performance infrastructures, high performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The environment is vibrant, fun, collaborative and fast paced.
HIC’s work, involving collaboration at regional, national and international level, is founded on over 20 years of successful partnership between the University of Dundee and NHS Tayside. HIC’s national and international role is increasingly around utilising its expertise in innovative software, data and infrastructure to support large scale, secure research on health data whilst protecting patient confidentially. The exciting research environment includes projects such as
HIC is a HDR Alliance (https://ukhealthdata.org/) member, and hosts ~200 different databases and electronic health records (EHR) from over 1 million people (longitudinal records over >30 years). HIC has also developed many international disease registries, supports recruitment to clinical trials and has automated the process of collecting a range of data types such as questionnaires, mobile phones, web and apps data.
This role is an ideal opportunity for the candidate to develop and expand their own area of research whilst leveraging the infrastructures, data and expertise available within HIC.
You will be based in the School of Medicine, Population Health and Genomics Division which includes researchers from many clinical and academic disciplines working in the fields of epidemiology, pharmaco-epidemiology, infectious diseases, primary care, alcohol misuse, chronic pain, and applied health services research. There are many opportunities for collaboration within Population Health and Genomics, and we expect you develop interdisciplinary collaborations with cognate researchers across the medical school and the university, including the Division of Neurosciences (in relation to laboratory-based pain research and neuro-imaging), the Division of Cancer Research (in relation to cancer-related pain), the Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine (in relation to opportunities presented by research interests in genetics and other relevant conditions, particularly diabetes), and the Tayside Medical Science Centre (TASC, in relation to clinical trials). There are many other opportunities for collaboration across the translational spectrum particularly with the School of Life Sciences and Department of Computing. There are existing collaborations with these groups which we expect you to strengthen.
All academic staff are expected to teach; your contribution would depend on your research portfolio and other university commitments. You may contribute to undergraduate and taught postgraduate teaching as appropriate to your expertise, to relevant modules on the Masters in Data Science for Precision Medicine, Masters in Public Health programme, and/or to the MB ChB programme.
You will be expected to be an expert in health data science ideally with significant expertise in the use of linked routinely collected health care data. You will have significant expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and ideally classical statistics/epidemiology. Expertise in imaging data/computer vision and genetic data would also be advantageous, as would research and knowledge in cyber security and privacy preserving methodologies.
Location
The post holder will be based at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee.
The University of Dundee
The University's core purpose is to transform lives, locally and globally through the creation, sharing and application of knowledge. The University of Dundee aims to become Scotland's leading University in all it chooses to do and be recognised internationally for the quality of our graduates and the impact of our research. These research and teaching strengths have led to the University being named as Scottish University of the Year in both 2016 and 2017 in The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide, and named the 16th best university in the world under 50 years old (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 150 under 50 2016). The University also received a Gold award-the highest possible rating- in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The University of Dundee is structured as nine academic schools and emphasises work that takes place across school and subject boundaries, bringing different expertise and viewpoints to approach issues in new, challenging, and productive ways through adopting the 'One Dundee' approach.
The City of Dundee, the City of Discovery, is a modern and vibrant city set in a stunning location at the mouth of the River Tay on the east coast of Scotland with a population of approx. 748,ooo. The city benefits from a central geographic location, with 90% of Scotland within 90 minutes' drive. Dundee is a main station on the UK east coastline, has excellent motorway network access and a regional airport with direct flights from London. Dundee and the wider Tayside area, provides an unrivalled quality of life: htt p://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/WorkingWithUs/LivinginTayside /index.htm. There are a wide variety of properties available, many below the national average house price. It is a thriving regional economic and commercial centre drawing commuters from a catchment population of 640,000 within a 60-minute drive. Dundee has over 4000 life scientists working in the area from more than 52 countries and is Scotland's student city with more young people in full-time education per head of population than any other city. Dundee has two universities - University of Dundee and University of Abertay Dundee, a major further education college and a teacher training college. The growth in the number of successful local companies involved in technology owes much to the strong links fostered between academia and industry. Dundee is also undergoing a major cultural transformation with a £7billion transformation of Dundee City Waterfront, which encompasses 240 hectares of development land stretching 8km alongside the River Tay, and is a strategic, focused and forward looking 30- year project (2001-2031) that is propelling the city to international acclaim. The new V&A Museum (the first outside London) opened on Dundee's waterfront in September 2018. The "thriving, creative" city of Dundee was rated one of the best places in Europe to visit by Lonely Planet (2018). Dundee, the Lonely Planet said, has often been overlooked by visitors to Scotland, deserves its place in the top ten because of its head-turning transformation and "nationally important museums and attractions".
Key Performance Indicators
You will participate in the University Objective Setting and Review appraisal process to plan and agree your work each year and review your progress in achieving previously agreed goals. Key performance indicators are:
Key aspects of this role:
The grading of the role will depend on level of experience.
Summary – Person Specification
Essential | Desirable | |
Qualifications & Education | A PhD or equivalent higher degree in a relevant research discipline | |
Skills & Experience | A strong track record of publishing high-quality original research outputs in the highest ranked journals in the field Demonstrable experience of leading a research team A proven ability to obtain significant grant funding as principal investigator to sustain a research programme Proven ability to productively collaborate with researchers, clinicians, managers and policy makers from any or all relevant disciplines A track record of productive collaboration with researchers from a range of disciplines Evidence of successful postgraduate supervision Experience and skills in teaching Leading expertise in AI and Machine Learning Expertise in working with health data, ideally routinely collected data Expertise working with Big Data Skills in developing a research strategy Excellent verbal and written communication skills Strategic planning skills | Experience of leading large multidisciplinary collaborations REF submissible already Demonstrable excellence in leadership at national/international level (Co-)supervision of 5 or more PhDs/MDs Experience and leadership in a range of disciplines Experience of working in more senior management roles Significant expertise in imaging data including radiology images. Significant expertise working with genetic data. Significant expertise in cyber security and privacy preserving techniques. An understanding of the required governance and ethics of working with health and patient data. Expertise in software development and HPC Expertise in Trusted Research Environments Expertise in classical statistics/epidemiology Knowledge and understanding of the national and international funding landscape |
Personal Qualities | Positive, enthusiastic problem solver Self-motivated and self-directed Ability to plan and manage workload in order to meet deadlines Ability to respond flexibly to new developments and opportunities Highly effective team player Highly effective communicator Highly effective collaborator | Existing relevant high-level collaborations with clinicians, researchers, managers and/or policy makers Existing international collaborations |
The ability to be both aspirational and down-to earth, to blend ground-breaking intellectual achievement with practical applications, has given the...
Visit the employer page