UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). At UKHSA, our mission is to protect people’s health by preventing and responding to threats—whether that’s a new pandemic, everyday infections like influenza, or environmental dangers like radiation or extreme weather. We save lives, protect livelihoods, and work with partners across the NHS, care systems, and globally to keep communities safe.
We’re a hub of scientific and operational expertise, tackling health challenges at every level—local, national, and international.
The Chief Data Officer (CDO) group is the analytical powerhouse of UKHSA and plays a key role in making sure data is used safely, legally, and ethically. We support every step of the data journey—from collecting and managing information to analytics and delivering insights that drive real-world action. If you’re passionate about using data to make a difference and want to help solve big health challenges, there’s a place for you here in the CDO group.
Role Summary
Infections caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi cause substantial burden on hospitals, particularly over winter. Human behaviour, meteorological conditions and population immunity can change patterns of infection each winter, making planning challenging for hospital administrators.
The numbers of patients attending emergency department (ED) with acute respiratory infections (ARI), a form of syndromic surveillance, is a key metric monitored by UKHSA and of key interest to the NHS. UKHSA currently delivers disease specific forecasts of hospital admissions, delivered to hospitals each week. By understanding the ED ARI data better and developing models to forecast expected burden NHS colleagues will be able to prepare and respond over the winter period more effectively.
Outline of duties
You will be required to engage with teams across UKHSA, including the infectious disease modelling team, syndromic surveillance teams and responsible teams within the NHS.
During this placement we would expect you to:
- Work closely with data owners to understand the source, and how it can be used.
- Investigate past ED ARI data to understand patterns, biases and trends to ascertain how forecastable the data is.
- Explore a range of statistical modelling approaches to forecast ARI ED attendances, comparing their performance.
This project will provide experience working in a modelling and data science team in a public health context. The work will be focused on the use of data, analysis and statistics used in operational contexts.
Expected output/deliverables
- Create a report outlining the limitations and opportunities of the ED ARI data source for real-time modelling following a thorough investigation.
- Develop model options for forecasting ED ARI attendances into the future.
- Support the delivery and development of existing disease specific models.
- Work with subject matter experts across UKHSA and the NHS to align the forecasting problem to operational needs.
Skills and experience
Essential skills
- Data analysis
- R coding experience
- Statistics
- Communication skills
- Experience working together in a team.
Desirable
- Experience of working with health data.
- Statistical or mechanistic modelling experience.
- Bayesian statistics. Forecasting or time series analysis.
- Version control (such as Git).
The placement will be remote with the occasional office/event attendance, but this is at the successful candidate’s discretion. Any costs associated with travel or accommodation will be discussed with the successful candidate before the placement commences. Unfortunately, we cannot cover travel and subsistence costs, this will need to be covered by the student’s DTP funding bursary.
How to apply
Closing date for applications: Friday 31st July by 5pm
Application format: CV and 1000-word (max) cover letter to evidence how you fit the project requirements, skills and what you can bring to this role.
How to submit an application:
Send your CV and cover letter (max 1000 words) to Kat Paes, CDO Partnerships Manager, UKHSA, CDOPartnerships@ukhsa.gov.uk with the subject line “WRDTP – ARI forecasts project”. Please note this opportunity is being advertised at multiple universities.
Recruitment process
The Host Organisation is responsible for processing the applications received for this opportunity and applications will be processed as follows:
Applications will be sifted against the essential skills listed in the advert. Desirable criteria may be used in the event of many applications / large number of successful candidates. If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview and assessment.
Successful applicants will be invited for a virtual interview on MS Teams with the UKHSA Infectious Disease Modelling team and CDO Partnerships team. On the day of the interview, you will be sent a short technical assessment to complete ahead of the interview. During the interview we will assess you against a technical assessment and the skills mentioned in the essential criteria. The successful candidate will be informed 1-2 weeks after the interview, depending on how many interviews there are.
The successful candidate will then be asked to sign an agreement after security checks (United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant – GOV.UK) have been completed. Please allow 4-6 weeks for the whole onboarding process, at the higher end if you are an international PGR holding a student visa. Civil Service eligibility criteria will apply. How to Apply | Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk).
Contact details
Any queries about this opportunity should be addressed to the Host Organisation.
Kat Paes, CDO Partnerships Manager, UKHSACDOPartnerships@ukhsa.gov.uk or +44 20 7123 1675.