Early Career Researcher – Department of Inflammation and Ageing – 105548 – Grade 7

Position Details

Department of Inflammation and Ageing, School of Infection, Inflammation and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Fixed salary of £41,313.00 additional allowances may be applicable depending on circumstances

Grade: 7 (Spot)

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 36 months

Closing date: 23rd April 2025

Background
We are seeking an applicant for a fully-funded HORIZON-MSCA-2023-DN PhD studentship in the Department of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, in the group of Dr Joao Pedro de Magalhaes to support a research project aiming to develop machine learning methods for drug repurposing in ageing and frailty disease.   We aim to employ a machine learning approach to predict, among existing drugs, which ones have the greatest probability of being suitable for retarding human ageing and preventing age-related diseases and frailty. The project will open up new directions of research, and potentially accelerate the development of medicines for ageing diseases and open opportunities for future translational research. As part of the UNION doctoral network, we are expecting the technician to register for a PhD position in the de Magalhaes lab at UoB starting in September 2025.

You will be a member of the UNION Doctoral Network. The principal objective of network is to provide world-class doctoral training to a new generation of early-career researchers, and it is responsible for the training of 17 PhD students. As part of this network, you will have the opportunity to visit partner labs within the network for longer collaborative visits as well as substantial training opportunities within academia and industry. As such, international travel and networking will be integral parts of your training during your PhD. UNION aims to greatly improve the understanding of ageing and frailty, a huge burden on health and care costs worldwide, tackling a major health priority. We envision that the link between cutting-edge science and clinical practice will generate guidelines and policies, which in turn will benefit public health policy and will promote societal sustainability globally. UNION is built on the premise that ageing and age-related dysfunction are complex, dynamic and multifactorial in nature, yet can be tackled. The disentanglement and the modulation of the elements of this complexity are required to reduce frailty and thereby extend healthy life expectancy.

This position is led by de Magalhaes at the University of Birmingham (UK).  The goal of our lab is to develop innovative research on the biology and genetics of ageing, in particular using genome-wide approaches. In the long term, we would like our work to contribute to the development of interventions that preserve health by manipulating the basic process of ageing. The Department of Inflammation and Ageing aims to understand how inflammatory processes drive biological ageing and translate this into interventions to prevent age-related disease and frailty by bringing together researchers specialising in immunesenescence, muscular health, epigenetics, microbiome and Computational Biology. The University of Birmingham is one of the leading research-based universities in the United Kingdom. Birmingham is 68th in the 2024 QS World University Rankings for Life Sciences and Medicine, and joint 11th with a research power ranking of 6th in the recent University research ranking of the UK (Medicine, REF-2021).

Role Summary

• Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids 
• Operate within area of specialism
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results 
• Contribute to generating funding 
• Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar
• Work within the UNION research grant and project.
• Operate within the research area of machine learning to develop methods for drug repurposing in ageing and frailty disease.
• Secondments at partner institutions. 
• Contribute to the dissemination of the results

Main Duties

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods 
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Interact with other members of the UNION consortium and fulfil the responsibilities associated with the studentship, such as attending consortium meetings, training activities and international secondments to partner organisations.
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, and research interviews 
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters 
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research 
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Carry out administrative tasks related directly to the delivery of the research
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Contribute towards achieving the sustainability goals of the research group. 

Person Specification

• First degree in area of specialism and normally, a higher degree relevant to research area or equivalent qualifications
• First degree in an area of computer sciences or biology and a MSc degree or equivalent experience in a relevant genomics, bioinformatics or computer sciences field.
• Experience performing high-quality bioinformatics, genomics or computational biology analyses.
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively 
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Contribute to the planning and organising of the research programme and/or specific research project
• Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly
• A willingness to travel to other research organisations for the secondments is essential.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Further Particulars

The post is funded by UKRI/ERC Horizon-MSCA-2023-DN. 

The eligibility criteria are: 

• At the time of first recruitment by the host organisation, the candidate must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their host organisation for more than twelve months in the three years immediately before the reference date. 

• The candidate must not hold a PhD degree at the time of recruitment When applying, please supply a motivation letter, including a few sentences on a recent project you have worked on.

When applying, please supply a

• Covering letter, including a few sentences on a recent project you have worked on

• CV

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr de Magalhaes (j.p.magalhaes@bham.ac.uk).

Further particulars can be found 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.