Vacancies

The MRC Biostatistics Unit

The MRC Biostatistics Unit was founded over 40 years ago. The mission of the unit is To contribute to biomedical science by maintaining an internationally leading centre for the development, application and dissemination of statistical methods. Thus the Unit aims to advance understanding of the cause, natural history and treatment of disease, and to evaluate public health strategies, through the development of statistical methods and their application to the design, analysis and interpretation of biomedical studies. The work of the Unit is divided into 12 scientific programmes.

The Unit is an internationally acclaimed research institution with a primary emphasis on methodological research across a wide range of topics in medical statistics. It is also one of the largest groupings of biostatisticians in Europe. Its focus on medical applications makes it distinct from the vast majority of general statistical departments in UK universities. The Unit's methodologies are cross-disciplinary, and other jurisdictions that impact on public health are not ignored. A careful balance is maintained between methodological development and application. Internationally, the Unit is one of only a few comparable centres for biostatistics research.

See also: www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk

The Medical Research Council

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is the UK's largest public organization dedicated to advancing knowledge in all areas of human health. It supports research across the entire spectrum of medical sciences, in universities and hospitals, in its own units and institutes in the UK, and in units in Africa. Although government-funded, the MRC is independent in its choice of which research to support. However, it works closely with the Health Departments, the other UK research councils, industry and other stakeholders to identify and respond to the UK's health needs. The MRC supports and advances medical research in three main ways: by providing research grants and career awards to scientists in UK universities and hospitals, by funding research centres in partnership with universities, and through its own research facilities. The MRC Biostatistics Unit is one of 32 MRC units and institutes in the UK and one of seven in Cambridge.

See also: www.mrc.ac.uk

The Institute of Public Health

The MRC Biostatistics Unit is an integral part of the Institute of Public Health (IPH). The IPH is an Institute within the Faculty of Clinical Medicine of the University of Cambridge. The IPH is spread across three sites around Addenbrooke's Hospital: the main IPH building on the University Forvie Site, Strangeways Research Laboratory and the Institute of Metabolic Science. It houses several groups from its founders, the University of Cambridge, the MRC, the NHS and the charitable sector. The main groups are:

The University of Cambridge Department of Public Health and Primary Care
The Department is one of the UK's premier university departments of population sciences, awarded the highest possible 5* rating in the five-yearly national research assessment exercises, both in 1996 and in 2001. It combines excellence in research with delivery of highly-regarded educational and training programmes and important policy contributions to the NHS.
MRC Biostatistics Unit
MRC Epidemiology Unit
The Unit studies the genetic, developmental and environmental determinants of obesity, diabetes and related metabolic disorders and contributes to the scientific basis of prevention.
NHS Eastern Region Public Health Observatory
The Observatory is a regional health intelligence unit that improves access to and analysis of routine health data in order to prevent illness and promote health.
NHS Health Protection Agency
The unit carries out communicable disease surveillance, provides advice and support to professionals, promotes professional standards; training, teaching, continuing professional Development, audit and Research.
NHS Eastern Cancer Registry and Information Centre
The Centre collects data on the epidemiology, treatment and outcomes of all malignant disease in the population of the East of England and provides appropriate analysis and interpretation of these data to those who need it.
PHG Foundation
The Foundation is an international, independent charity that works with partners to achieve better health through the responsible and evidence-based application of biomedical science. It undertakes research, policy analysis, education and service development related to the application of developments in biomedical science, and provides leadership and expertise in public health genomics. The Foundation hosts the office of the UK HuGENet Coordinating Centre, part of the MRC Biostatistics Unit.

See also: www.iph.cam.ac.uk

Addenbrooke's Hospital

Addenbrooke's Hospital is the core facility of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and one of the largest and best known hospitals in the country. It is a 1,000 bed teaching hospital and one of the Government's new biomedical research centres with a world-class research reputation, whilst also providing acute and specialist services for the local and regional population.

Staff facilities and benefits that extend to members of the Unit include extensive transport links, a food concourse, child care facilities and the Frank Lee Leisure Centre, which includes a bar, swimming pool, gym, exercise classes and courts for tennis, squash and badminton.

See also: www.addenbrookes.org.uk

The University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a confederation of Colleges, Faculties and other institutions (including the MRC Biostatistics Unit). As one of the world's leading universities, Cambridge has a reputation that reflects the intellectual achievement of its students and the outstanding work of the academic community of the University and the Colleges. Over the last 800 years, its contribution to the world has ranged from the discovery of the mechanism of blood circulation to the structure of DNA, from the great philosophers of the early 15th Century, to the groundbreaking work of its many Nobel Prize winners.

The MRC Biostatistics Unit is formally affiliated to the University and contributes to its Research Assessment Exercise submissions. While Unit staff members are not employed by the University, several hold honorary positions, and PhD students are registered students of either the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (via the Statistical Laboratory) or, more rarely, of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care.

See also: www.cam.ac.uk

Cambridge

Cambridge is a city in East Anglia about 50 miles north of London. It lies on the River Cam and is surrounded by farmland, with fens to the north, and chalk hills to the south. The city has a population a little over 100,000 and attracts more than 3 million tourists each year.

The city is a very pleasant place to live and work, with excellent facilities. Its two universities, University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University, ensure a vibrant cultural scene. University venues and city venues such as the Arts Theatre, the Corn Exchange and the Junction offer an extensive array of popular, jazz, classical and world music, ballet, opera, musical theatre and drama. Shopping facilities are excellent, recently bolstered by the opening of the Grand Arcade shopping centre and new John Lewis department store in 2008. Opportunities abound to partake in sporting activities, from rowing to Taekwondo. Much of the population gets around by bicycle, and in summer both residents and visitors take to the river to punt through either the historical colleges or the beautiful local countryside.