UK Health Security Agency
Epidemiological Analyst
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Colindale, London (Scientific Campus)
Job Summary
The main responsibilities of the postholder will be to develop and maintain enhanced surveillance systems for vaccine preventable diseases, working closely with a wide variety of professionals from both within and out of UKHSA to ensure high quality data. They will understand vaccines, how they work and their utility in the national immunisation programme. They will be proficient at using different database platforms and tools (R, MS Access and SQL) and experienced in using statistical packages for performing epidemiological analyses and writing scientific papers for publication. They will produce regular and ad hoc outputs from these systems for inclusion in routine national and international reports, information requests and peer review articles. They will be comfortable presenting research work at local and national meetings and conferences. They will also manage the disease-specific web pages on the UKHSA website, ensuring that the old content is reviewed and updated in a timely manner. They will be responsible for supporting other departmental staff in website maintenance, developing infectious disease surveillance databases, database querying and report running.
Working for your organisation
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers
Job Description
The postholder will:
- Maintain and develop surveillance systems and databases with relevant scientific, clinical, laboratory and Health Protection colleagues.
- Create queries and validation checks to remove duplicates and improve data quality and completeness.
- Liaise with stakeholders, clinicians, laboratories and HPTs regarding surveillance data, cases and outbreaks.
- Maintain UKHSA website pages and dashboards, ensuring content is validated and meets relevant guidelines.
- Run database queries and prepare annual surveillance reports.
- Support ad hoc queries, Parliamentary Questions and other information requests.
- Help prepare annual datasets for international organisations, including WHO and ECDC.
- Maintain disease-specific Reference Manager databases with scientific and medical staff.
- Contribute to scientific papers and reports for the Department of Health and JCVI as required.
- Present surveillance data and findings at internal and national meetings and conferences.
- Support databases and websites for other infectious disease surveillance projects.
- Undertake other duties as required by the line manager or Head of Department.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Maintain continuous professional development in line with relevant professional, statutory and service requirements.
- Agree performance, training and development needs with your line manager through appraisal and development planning. Attend relevant training, share data science practices and promote best practice.
- Complete all required mandatory training, including fire safety and information governance.
KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
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Develop effective relationships and communicate regularly with clinical and non-clinical stakeholders within and outside UKHSA, including:
Internal
- Vaccine coverage, safety and effectiveness teams
- Immunisation Division
- Reference Laboratories and Data and Information Systems
- ICT and Digital
- Public Health Data Science
- Local and Regional Services and Health Protection Teams
External
- NHS laboratories
- NHS Digital, NHS England, NHS Improvement, DHSC and NIMS
- Child Health Records, Screening and Immunisation teams, PHEC staff, Directors of Public Health and immunisation leads
- Other UK Public Health Agencies
This list is not exhaustive.
Main Duties
- Develop and utilise information and data systems related to the projects to underpin public health action across the department and surveillance systems
- Have responsibility for the development and productivity of the data system(s) related to the projects
- Undertake specialist and complex analyses of quantitative and/or qualitative datasets
- Analyse and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and research evidence from a range of sources to inform decision making
- Receive, interpret, provide and advise on complex epidemiological and statistical information about the health of populations to the NHS, Department of Health and others
Specialist Advice and Evaluation
- Communicate effectively and diplomatically research and other specialist information with colleagues from own or other disciplines and present findings at local, national and international meetings and conferences
- Write and/or contribute to national and local policy setting reports, as well as peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, on the health of the population
Research and Development
- Undertake literature reviews, perform statistical analysis, evaluative research surveys, audits and other research as required
Teaching and Training
- Assist in teaching and training courses run at Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Colindale and outside, by producing presentation materials
Please note this list is not exhaustive.
Person specification
Essential Role Criteria
- Educated to degree level (or equivalent level of qualification) in a relevant science subject e.g., Biomedical sciences, mathematics, epidemiology or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area
- Post-graduate (MSc) degree in Epidemiology, completed or near completion
- Experience of scientific research, particularly in public health or epidemiology
- Data management, analysis and reporting of epidemiological data using R, SQL and Microsoft Access
- Able to work as a team member
- Able to work independently and to deadlines
- Able to liaise with a wide range of external collaborators including health service and academic professionals
Desirable role criteria
- Experience working within health protection
Alongside your salary of £37,749, UK Health Security Agency contributes £10,935 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- 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%
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection process details
This vacancy will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your qualifications, knowledge and experience and / or skills and abilities outlined in the essential criteria.
Stage 1: Application & Sift
Competency Based
Required
You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 7 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:
- Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
- 750 word supporting statement.
Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 750 words. Please do not exceed 750 words.
This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.
You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your CV – please note you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible). Please do not email us your CV.
Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:
- Meets all essential criteria
- Meets some essential criteria
- Meets no essential criteria
We will take pile ‘Meets all essential criteria’ will proceed to shortlisting. Feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will conduct an initial sift, on the lead criteria of:
- Post-graduate (MSc) degree in Epidemiology
- Experience of scientific research, particularly in public health or epidemiology
- Data management, analysis and reporting of epidemiological data using R, SQL and Microsoft Access
Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications/large amount of successful candidates.
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.
Feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Stage 2: Interview
Competency Based
You will be invited to a single face to face interview at our site in Colindale. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview.
Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview.
There will be a one-hour technical assessment prior to the interview (on the same day) and the first part of the interview will be based off of the assessment followed by more generic questions, leaving time for you at the end to ask us questions. The assessment will be a short coding assessment in R. A dataset will be provided for analysis, and candidates will be asked to demonstrate their ability to write clear, structured code to explore the data. The exercise is designed to assess epidemiological thinking and coding approach, rather than arriving at the “correct” answers. We are primarily interested in how candidates structure their analysis, interpret data, and communicate their reasoning through code.
Interview dates to be confirmed.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Additional Information
Location
This role is being offered as office based at our Scientific Campus in Colindale. Based at our
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