Principal Scientist

Blood Safety, Hepatitis, STI & HIV Division

The Blood Safety, Hepatitis, STI and HIV (BSHSH) Division is the national centre for surveillance of hepatitis, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in England. It is based in Colindale, north London. The Division consists of around 100 permanent and project-funded medical, scientific, technical and administrative staff including epidemiologists, public health specialists, microbiologists, virologists, data managers, statisticians and IT specialists. The Division is also closely involved with the work of the NIHR-funded Health Protection Research Units, which are collaborative ventures involving UKHSA and academia.

We are looking for a Principle Scientist to join the Blood Safety, Hepatitis, STI and HIV (BSHSH) Division to work as part of the third NIHR funded Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU). The postholder will be part of a dynamic team at UKHSA and in partnership with the University College London and will work towards key deliverables focusing on prevention and control, diagnoses and treatment and the delivery of sustainable and equitable services for STIs and BBVs.

Please note that this is a part time vacancy.

This role will provide critical scientific and data-management advice to individual system managers to ensure the highest standards in STI, HIV and blood borne virus (BBV) surveillance and related research.

The postholder will:

• Work closely with other principal scientists working in the department and will provide scientific leadership for the surveillance and evaluation of specific control activities on STIs and BBVs
• With support from consultant leads the postholder will be expected to identify and develop the means to answer key questions in the evaluation of public health programmes and to provide clear evidence-based advice
• Be expected to lead major epidemiological research programmes and to collaborate with external stakeholders to seek research funding where necessary
• Have a sound understanding of STI, HIV and BBV epidemiology and should have expertise in the principles of managing large and complex surveillance systems and scientific programmes
• Be expected to work with a high degree of autonomy and professional accountability and maintain an up to date, highly specialised knowledge of STIs, HIV and BBVs and NHS information standards
• Work closely with a broad range of senior health professionals especially clinicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, virologists and IT specialists. The role involves national and international travel to scientific and health policy meetings and conferences to present on STIs, HIV and BBVs and their control, representing the UKHSA

Responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Lead and manage the design, development, introduction, audit and continuous improvement of STI and BBV outcomes using surveillance systems as required.
• Interpret complex statistical and epidemiological analyses of data on STIs and BBVs drawn from a variety of surveillance sources. Providing expert technical advice and assistance to public health and clinical practitioners on the design, maintenance, analysis and interpretation of these databases.
• 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, particularly in relation to reducing inequalities in outcomes.
• Provide specialist advice on the epidemiological aspects of the prevention and control of STIs and BBVs by contributing to the development of guidance, designing data collection systems, interpreting epidemiological data, conducting statistical analyses, and scientific publications.
• Design research questions and oversee the analyses of research datasets for the production of project reports, papers for peer reviewed journals and conference presentations.
• Initiate collaborative projects within UKHSA and external collaborators to address public health research questions. This may also include taking a lead on research proposals for externally funded projects and provision of expert advice to academic units and other agencies involved in collaborative epidemiological and microbiological studies.
• Work alongside other members of the BSHSH Division on business planning, strategy development, project prioritisation, and budget oversight for Section-led grants.
• Contribute to staff recruitment, quality assurance, Standard Operating Procedures, and governance compliance, while supporting system improvements through business cases and supplier management. Staff management responsibilities will be defined in agreement with the line manager.
• To plan and oversee the development of BSHSH epidemiological and applied outputs including outward facing publications including annual reports, web pages, writing of scientific papers for publication in peer reviewed journals and to manage junior scientific and administrative colleagues in the development of manuscripts.
• To represent the Division on expert committees, national and local incident control teams, national/international meetings and conferences.
• To develop public health capacity by contributing to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level and by supervising those training and working in public health and epidemiology.
• To contribute to the training for new members and existing members of staff on the epidemiology and surveillance of communicable disease, and provide training and resources to external stakeholders
• To participate in wider scientific activities to maintain professional standards including peer review of manuscripts.

Essential Criteria : 

Candidates will be expected to demonstrate the following essential criteria:

Qualifications

• First degree in a science subject
• Higher degree in Epidemiology, Public Health or an allied subject, or equivalent
• PhD or equivalent research experience

Knowledge / Experience

• Substantial postgraduate experience
• Knowledge and work experience of communicable disease epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and/or public health
• Broad understanding of and experience of health care systems, public health and the communicable disease function in the UK
• Creating, validating and managing large databases and datasets
• Advanced statistical analysis of large and complex datasets, including knowledge and experience with STATA and/or R
• Writing research protocols, grant applications and scientific reports
• Preparing and reviewing standard operating procedures, and project plans
• Presenting scientific papers at national and international meetings and conferences and proven peer review publication record

Skills and Abilities 

• Able to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and motivate and encourage team members
• Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues including problem solving, working to tight and often changing timescales.
• Liaise with a wide range of external collaborators including health service and academic professionals
• Communicate ideas and methods clearly and succinctly
• Maintain required levels of confidentiality

Desirable role criteria: 

• Experience of working within the NHS or other health-related sectors
• Managing and leading scientific and technical staff including working under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Liaise with a wide range of external collaborators including health service and academic professionals
• Maintain required levels of confidentiality

Alongside your salary of £58,589, UK Health Security Agency contributes £16,973 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%