Statistician specialising in Animal and Plant Health Applications

Exciting Opportunity: Statistician specialising in Animal and Plant Health Applications; BioSS (Permanent Position).

Are you keen to use your quantitative skills in tackling practical problems in animal and plant health? BioSS (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland) is looking for an innovative and motivated early-career statistician to join our growing and dynamic team. This is an outstanding opportunity to advance your career in a stimulating, supportive environment, developing a research profile in One Health while working to increase food security.

Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) seeks a quantitative scientist who wants to develop a personal research profile and to apply statistical methodologies to problems in the food and agricultural sciences. You’ll play a key role in developing and applying cutting-edge statistical approaches to address problems in animal and plant health. You will join the EPIC consortium (https://www.epicscotland.org/), which is the Centre of Expertise funded by the Scottish Government to advise on the control of animal disease outbreaks.  In EPIC and in other projects, you’ll collaborate closely with applied scientists from leading UK research institutions, and interact with other quantitative experts from within and beyond BioSS.

The post is an excellent long-term career opportunity for a suitably qualified statistician or quantitative scientist, offering a stimulating route to build your portfolio of statistical experience and expertise and develop skills in inter-disciplinary working in the important field of One Health.  You will have the chance to advance your career in a supportive environment at BioSS as we continue to grow as a centre of quantitative applied research and consultancy.  We want you to build a personal portfolio of research, and to develop professionally; we will support you in these objectives.  BioSS is eligible to apply for UKRI funding, and we will be keen for the successful applicant to contribute to proposals. This is a permanent post based at BioSS in Edinburgh, with flexibility to work from other BioSS locations in Dundee or Aberdeen, or remotely from home.

BioSS is formally part of The James Hutton Institute.

More information on the detail of the posts and the post holders can be found at https://www.bioss.ac.uk/vacancies

Potential applicants may contact Dr Giles Innocent (Giles.Innocent@bioss.ac.uk) to discuss this post.

How to Apply

Applications should be made using the recruitment pages operated by our parent organization, The James Hutton Institute.

To apply, please create an account and upload personal details along with

•            a CV, including as a minimum your education and employment history plus relevant scientific achievements.

•            a covering letter/statement detailing why you consider yourself suitable for this post.

Closing date

3 November 2024

Interview date

Early-mid November 2024

Other Notes

BioSS is a member of the SEFARI (Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes) collective (https://sefari.scot/); we have an international reputation for research, consultancy and training in statistics, mathematical modelling and bioinformatics.  BioSS offers a stimulating working environment, with over 50 staff and students at 4 locations across Scotland.

At BioSS, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking, diverse and supportive team of over 50 staff and students working across multiple statistics and modelling disciplines, collaborating on applications in plant & crop science, animal health & welfare, environmental science & ecology, and human health & nutrition. We value collaboration, innovation, and the continuous development of our team members. We’ve been awarded Investors in People Gold Status, and we’re committed to promoting diversity and inclusion.

We encourage applications from underrepresented groups in STEM, particularly women, BAME and LGBTQ+ candidates.

Main Purpose of Job

• Provision of statistical expertise to collaborative research projects in Animal Health and Plant Health.
• Quantitative inputs to the EPIC Centre of Expertise.
• Consultancy provision in the RESAS UNC Provision of Statistical and Biomathematical Services Function, the Forest Research Consultancy Framework, and the anticipated Scottish Power Renewables consultancy framework.
• Statistical support to BioSS tendering for Plant Health Centre opportunities.
• Development of a portfolio of personal research in applied statistics or at the interface between statistics, mathematical modelling and bioinformatics, motivated by quantitative problems encountered in collaborative projects.
• Generating additional income for BioSS by supporting applications for funding and contributing to the resulting projects.

Main Duties of Postholder

• Collaborate with scientists working in the EPIC Centre of Expertise.
• Work with BioSS Application leads to contribute quantitative expertise to collaborative projects including UNC Animal and Plant Health consultancy, the Forest Research consultancy framework, and other projects as they arise.
• Work in support of senior BioSS staff in tendering for funding from the Plant Health Centre of Expertise, and on delivering the project(s) if successful.
• Develop and implement an area of personal research relevant to Animal Health and/or Plant Health in one of BioSS’s three research themes.
• Represent BioSS externally at meetings with stakeholders from scientific and non-scientific backgrounds.
• Extend collaborative links with government agencies, NGOs, universities, research institutes and commercial organisations.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of BioSS training courses for scientists.
• Support more senior staff in seeking and winning external funding for research and consultancy projects, especially where these create new opportunities for collaboration with other organisations.

Person Specification

Education/Experience/Skills

Essential

• A PhD in statistics or another very closely related discipline, or an MSc with commensurate post-qualification development and work experience.
• Experience of development and use of modern statistical methods applied to real-world examples.  Examples of desirable areas of expertise are given below.
• Experience of collaborative working at the interface between statistics and biological sciences, evidenced by scientific journal and conference papers, preferably in a methodological field relevant to animal and/or plant health.
• Evidence of ability to initiate, manage and maintain scientific collaborations, and an ability to work independently.
• Enthusiasm for development and application of quantitative methods, and for collaborating with non-quantitative scientists working in other applied sciences.
• Strong general statistical skills, and an understanding of relevant topics including experimental design, repeated measures, mixed models, generalised linear models, multivariate analysis and computationally intensive methods.
• Excellent statistical programming ability in R or equivalent high-level statistical programming platform.
• Evidence of good written communication.
• Ability to give effective spoken presentations, to both quantitative and wider scientific audiences.

Desirable

• Different skills sets would fit the remit of the post, any of which would be desirable.  For example, experience in:
  • Spatial or spatio-temporal statistical modelling;
  • Multiple imputation and synthetic data generation;
  • Latent variable modelling.
• Experience of communicating with government and commercial clients.
• Experience of developing funding applications.

Benefits Offered

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - A confidential service available to support employees and their families with work or personal problems. Providing access to professional counsellors, psychologists, and work-life consultants available to help and support individuals in tackling all types of problems.

Annual Leave – Generous entitlement up to 40.5 days a year, with carry over possible and guaranteed time-off for Christmas.

Pension - Employer Contribution of 15% in a Personal Pension Plan and employee contribution flexibility.

Self-managed hours and Flexible Working – option to manage and spread your working time in line with organisational needs to create a healthy work life balance.

Additional Notes

Please note the minimum salary threshold for a Skilled Worker Visa is currently £38,700.00.  If the advertised salary for this posts falls below this threshold, we regret to advise that we may not be able to provide a Certificate of Sponsorship to a non-UK citizen for this role.  Applicants must therefore be able to demonstrate an alternative right to work basis.