Research Associate/Data Analyst (Fixed Term) - Autism Research Centre

Vacancy Reference Number

RN30275

Closing Date

23 Mar 2022

Salary

£33,309-£40,927

Address

University of Cambridge

Duration

12 months

We are looking to appoint a data analyst for one year to work on datasets held at the Autism Research Centre (ARC). The ARC is a lively, friendly and diverse set of scientists in the University of Cambridge who conduct both basic and applied research to understand the causes of and interventions for autism. See www.autismresearchcentre.com

We have various datasets, some in the Cambridge University Autism Research Database (CARD) as raw data, some partly analysed, and some derived from other sources. CARD contains 10,000 autistic people and 20,000 parents of autistic children, so is one of the largest research databases for autism internationally. CARD has collected multiple types of data: psychological, cognitive, questionnaire, epidemiological, policy related, medical, hormonal, genetic, neuroimaging, etc.

The appointee will be responsible for statistical analysis, writing up and publishing datasets which will accelerate understanding about autism and lead to improvements in the health and well-being of autistic people and their families. The role will include writing up research for scientific publications, and interacting with the lead investigator and wider project teams. This is an opportunity for a postdoc to have co-authorship on publications based on existing data, where papers could be completed within a short timeframe. The appointee will benefit from all the other steps in research (design, ethical approval, recruitment and data collection) already being complete.

This role would suit someone who is skilled at data analysis, writing up to achieve rapid publication opportunities, who enjoys learning about new data and being part of existing and well-established research teams. Publishing these data will support our group in leveraging external grant funding from research funders, with the possibility of extending this role. This role is funded by the new charity, the Autism Centre of Excellence (ACE) in Cambridge.

The appointee will work with the Principal Investigator (PI) Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, and co-PI Dr Carrie Allison, and other members of the ARC. Ability to interact and communicate effectively with researchers in different teams is essential. The appointee must have a PhD in cognitive neuroscience or a related discipline (biology, epidemiology, social science, psychiatry, etc.), and have previous experience of leading on analysis plans within a research role, ideally working with large datasets.

Suitable candidates must be skilled in using statistical packages such as R or SPSS, and experience of Python, machine learning, and other approaches that can be applied to a variety of datasets will be an advantage. Suitable candidates must have proven written communication skills (a first authored published paper) and be able to interpret data to distil and summarise key findings for both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Informal enquiries may be directed to Dr Carrie Allison, cla29@cam.ac.uk