Hélène Ruffieux

Contact

Hélène Ruffieux – helene.ruffieux@mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk

Potential PhD Projects

I am keen to jointly develop a PhD project proposal in high-dimensional statistics, covering one or several of the following areas: sparse hierarchical regression, longitudinal modelling, latent factor modelling, graphical modelling to address current biomedical research needs. The defined project will consist in developing and tailoring statistical approaches for complex biological inference problems, involving genetic, cellular, molecular and/or clinical data.

The statistical methodology will be developed in the Bayesian setting. Special emphasis will be on proposing inference approaches that scale to large datasets (large number of variables, and possibly samples), while being accurate and robust – e.g., based on variational inference or hybrid deterministic-stochastic algorithms.

The candidate should have excellent skills in statistics; experience/knowledge in Bayesian hierarchical modelling and approximate inference is very welcome, but not a must. They should have good programming stills (e.g., in R, Julia, Python), as well as strong analytical skills, motivation, self-discipline, a creative approach to problem-solving and the proactiveness to complete a doctoral thesis.

The post offers opportunities to work alongside research scientists of diverse backgrounds (statisticians, computational biologists and clinicians) across the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and beyond. The project will be conducted following open and transparent research practices (open-access publications with accompanying code, open-source version-controlled software with dedicated tests, etc.). All this will be set up in a way to facilitate contributions from interdisciplinary groups of scientists. The overarching aim is to create opportunities for actionable clinical insights on the biological processes driving disease risk and progression.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. Informal enquiries very welcome.

How to apply

For details of the MRC BSU application process please see How to apply

To be considered for funding applications need to be submitted to the University of Cambridge application system by 23:59 (GMT) on January 5th 2023