Office of the Chief Executive
Public Health
Data Scientist, NIHR Bradford Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC)
SO2: £32,909 pa - £34,723 pa (Pro rata for Part Time Posts)
3 x 37 hours per week
Temporary contract for 4 years (duration of the programme’s external funding)
Based at Britannia House, Bradford City Centre, (1-2 days a week in office hybrid and remote working also possible)
Bradford Council Employees who wish to apply for this post will only be eligible if they are on Established or Fixed Term Contracts because the Council has to consider employment opportunities for its workforce.
We are seeking to appoint enthusiastic data scientists with a deep-rooted commitment to the power of research and data to drive policy changes that have the potential to have real impact on our citizen’s lives. Following a successful bid for funding from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Bradford has recently created a Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) with £4.7million of funding due over the next four years.
Across the Bradford district (and beyond), health inequalities are rife, with a ten-year life expectancy gap across the most and least deprived areas of the district. Better research and evidence will help us better address such inequalities. The HDRC will build research infrastructure that will transform understanding of our people, places, determinants, and approaches that have the greatest impact on health inequalities and make the most appropriate use of the resources available. It will allow Bradford Council to choose, use, and generate research independently so it is an equal and effective partner in Bradford’s research environment. The HDRC data scientists will be pivotal to achieving these goals.
The HDRC will bring together expertise from partners across Bradford Council, the NHS, Universities of Bradford, Leeds and York, and beyond to investigate the causes and consequences of health inequality. The findings will shape local, regional and national policies and decisions. HDRC data scientists will collaborate with a vibrant data science community to deliver high quality applied research and implementation into local authority practice.
Underpinning the work will be the world-renowned research centres, the Bradford Institute for Health Research and Leeds Institute of Data Analytics and research programmes, such as the Born in Bradford cohort study. These provide the foundation for developing a whole council and system approach to using research to drive policy. This work will build on and amplify existing programmes including City of Research and Connected Bradford. The HDRC data scientists will be able to use and develop their data and research skills, knowledge and expertise with leading research centres and programmes across our academic partners.
The core competencies for this role are as follows:
· Provide data science skills (SQL, R, Python or similar), knowledge and expertise in the HDRC
· Establish links with project partners (internal and external) and work to provide data-led solutions to Bradford’s challenges
· Collaborate with other departments, partners and stakeholders to develop a broad understanding of locally available datasets
· Represent the HDRC at relevant meetings and contribute to presentations, policy documents and other outputs
· Support the development of skills and knowledge in advanced analytics, data analysis and visualisation within the Local Authority
· Work with leading researchers, public health consultants and internal and external data partners to deliver the aims of the HDRC
· Plan and deliver research activity in collaboration with project investigators and other members of the HDRC team
· Contribute to the overall research of the HDRC by producing measurable outputs, such as peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations
This is an outstanding opportunity to use your data scientist expertise to bring to life NIHR’s multimillion-pound investment in Bradford Council, boosting its capacity and capability to conduct high-quality data science.
For further information regarding this post, please contact Rob Shore at rob.shore@bradford.gov.uk
An enhanced disclosure check with the Disclosure and Barring Service will be undertaken for this post.
As this post is suitable for a secondment, interested applicants need to have secured the secondment agreement with their manager prior to the application (for Council employees only).
There will be an Informal Webinar info session about HDRC and the posts on the 14th November 2023 between 5.30pm - 6.15pm or 16th November 2023 between 12.00pm – 12.45pm. If you are interested in attending, please email HDRC@bradford.gov.uk and we will send you the link.
Closing Date: 22nd November 2023
Shortlisting to take place week commencing 27th November 2023
Interviews planned to be held week commencing 11th December 2023
Please find the Job Profile attached: Data Scientist Job Profile.docx
The Code of Practice on the English language requirement for public sector workers, Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 requires that Councils ensure that all candidates applying for customer facing posts must be assessed in order to establish their fluency in English.
The criteria under special knowledge and experience on the job profile which is shown in this advert outlines what level of fluency you will be expected to demonstrate. Therefore, it is essential that you provide examples in your application.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of what we do as a Council and the people we support. We have a number of self-directed Staff Networks (Disability, LGBTQ+, Race Equality, Women’s Voice, Working Carers and Young Persons) which assist in providing a voice and support mechanism to colleagues.
The RESPECT Allyship Programme is also available to all staff, which offers opportunity to learn more about the diverse communities & groups, and provides additional benefits and resources to its members. This is part of the RESPECT Campaign, which is the Council’s Internal Equalities Vision for staff and its ambition to build an truly inclusive workforce, where everyone can be their true selves at work.