Position Details
Department of Applied Health Sciences, 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 £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606
Grade: 8
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to June 2028
Closing date: 4th November 2025
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 be able 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.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham
Background
The post holder will play a key role in the development and evaluation of research into surgical practice as part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Group on Environmentally Sustainable Hospitals led by the University of Birmingham.
The aims of this programme are to:
- Deliver a major randomised trial on sustainable surgical practices.
- Deliver a pilot randomised trial to reduce complications in hospitals, which are a major source of carbon.
- Develop several data studies to close knowledge gaps.
- Engage in policy change to leverage research into practice change.
- Complete carbon, clinical, and cost models on research themes.
Role Summary
This is a full‑time post dedicated to advanced surgical research practice. The post holder will provide methodological and statistical advice in support of a range of clinical studies. In keeping with the ethos and aims of the funded Group, this will also include supporting new funding applications in related areas to increase the impact of each grant. The post, in line managed by Professor Aneel Bhangu in collaboration with Senior Statisticians from Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, is expected to act independently.
Main Duties
- Provide expert methodological and statistical advice on the design of clinical trials and observational studies and develop studies in collaboration with Clinical Investigators.
- Collaborate with Clinical Investigators in the submission of grant applications.
- Collaborate with Clinical Investigators and Trial Managers in writing study protocols and developing data collection forms.
- Collaborate with Programmers and Trial Managers in the development of data management systems.
- Determine appropriate statistical analysis of study data and write statistical analysis plans.
- Supervise the statistical input and analysis to assist Trial Managers in the running of studies, and the monitoring of data quality of on‑going studies.
- Provide statistical support to other research staff, including data analysts and research fellows.
- Take overall responsibility for the analysis of study data, preparing and presenting reports for Data Monitoring and Steering Committees, and contribute to presentations and publications of study results.
- Take overall responsibility for the statistical contributions to publications of research being undertaken, taking the lead when appropriate.
- Present study results and methodological research at internal and external seminars and national and international conferences.
- The post will also involve contributing to support within Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit for ad hoc roles (e.g. double checking), after consultation with the Supervisors.
- 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 1998, 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.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Significant experience of working as an applied medical statistician or epidemiologist, with experience of applying statistical techniques for medical problems.
- Significant experience in medical statistics, clinical trials and observational studies, specifically in the design and writing of study protocols and the analysis, reporting and publication of results.
- Experience of applying statistical techniques e.g. linear, logistic and Cox regression, analysis of variance, repeated measures, survival analysis.
- Experience in statistical programming, in R and STATA.
- Experience of computer‑based database management and data extraction/reporting techniques (preferably Access/SQL).
- Experience of writing grant applications.
- Experience in writing reports and papers for publication.
Qualifications
- MSc or PhD in Statistics or Epidemiology, or a relevant higher degree.
Personal qualities
- Ability to work well both on own initiative and as part of a team.
- Strong inter‑personal, communication skills, including experience in communicating statistical concepts to non‑statisticians.
- Meticulous attention to detail and high levels of accuracy.
- Strong planning and organisational skills.
- 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.
- A flexible attitude and an ability to organise work to meet deadlines while handling more than one task at a time is needed.
Planning and Organising
Communication is key and tight timelines are common. The post-holder is expected to be contactable and flexible. The post-holder must be based in the UK, and will be required to attend the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus for in‑person working for at least 3 days a week.
Internal and External relationships
As part of the Statistics team, the post holder will provide expert statistical advice to clinical investigators and other researchers on the feasibility, design and analysis of proposed and current studies. The post holder will represent the Unit externally by sitting on project management groups and steering committees of individual projects.
Informal enquiries to Lucy Caton, email:
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.
