PhD Position in Biostatistics at the University of Twente

The University of Twente is offering a Biostatistics PhD position in an inspiring and challenging multidisciplinary and international environment for four years.

This PhD research aims to develop spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal models that associate overburdened tropical diseases with environmental, socioeconomic, demographic and climatic exposures.

Summary

Project Description

Tropical diseases affect more than one billion people, costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. They remain a formidable challenge to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG-3) of ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. The current sobering trends of tropical diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, malaria, typhoid, and intestinal worms within the sub-Sahara Africa region are the realities of these challenges.

There is considerable optimism about control and reductions in morbidities if knowledge of the spatial dynamics and environmental determinants is well explored. Spatial statistics, when integrated with geo-information and epidemiologic studies, can lead to the understanding of the nature of spatial patterns, the temporal dynamics, and the predisposing factors that contribute to infection.

As inter­disciplinary research, it integrates public health and epidemiology with spatial statistics. The study will focus on using primary and secondary data from existing health management information systems within the Sub-Saharan Africa setting. The combined exposure effects of space, time, and space-time will lead to highly parameterized models.

The prospective PhD candidate should have the eagerness to explore the use of the Hierarchical Bayesian estimation method since it allows flexible modelling and inference and provides computational advantages via the implementation of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC, WinBUGS/JAGS, STAN) methods or Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA).

The study will collaborate with the Ghana Health Services (GHS) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)-Ghana.

Application Deadline

The applications are open now

Eligibility Criteria

• You have an MSc degree in public health, Biostatistics, Geomatics engineering or environmental engineering or data science.
• You have expertise in the acquisition and processing of geo-information & remote sensing data.
• You have good knowledge of spatial data analysis and excellent programming skills in R or python
• You have demonstrated scientific creativity that has preferably resulted in a scientific publication.
• You have excellent communication skills and good English language proficiency
• You have familiarity with the sub-Saharan Africa region and willing to spend about 6 months gathering data in this region.
• You have an affinity with a multi-cultural education environment, excellent work ethics, and commitment to the job

Our Offer

Salary and conditions will be following the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) for Dutch Universities:

• A starting salary of € 2,395.00 in the first year and a salary of € 3,061.00 in the fourth year gross per month;
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• A solid pension scheme;
• Minimum of 41 holiday days in case of full-time employment;
• Professional and personal development programs;
• Costs for moving to Enschede may be reimbursed.

Application Process

Additional information about this position can be obtained from Dr Frank Osei (email: f.b.osei@utwente.nl) and/or Prof. Dr Alfred Stein (email: a.stein@utwente.nl).

Please submit your application before April 15 2021 (choose “apply here” below). Your application should include:

• A cover letter (maximum two pages) including a professional statement with relevant past qualifications/experiences, motivations and future goals;
• A one-page outline on how to approach this research;
• A full Curriculum Vitae, including a list of all courses, attended and grades obtained;
• A short description (maximum 1 page A4) of your MSc research;
• A list of names including contact information of three referees

Apply Now