Professor/Reader in Applied Statistics (Ref: S0611)



Applications are invited for the position of Professor/Reader in Applied Statistics in the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Reading, UK. 



The School comprises three Sections: Biomolecular Sciences, Environmental Biology and Applied Statistics, each of which has a long-standing reputation. The Section of Applied Statistics includes as component parts the Statistical Services Centre and the Medical and Pharmaceutical Statistics Research Unit.  Candidates will have an international research reputation and will be expected to play a leading role in the development and application of statistical methods within the School of Biological Sciences and across the wider range of Life Sciences represented at the University. 





Further Information 
 

Informal enquiries should be directed to either Professor Dankmar Böhning (Professor of Applied Statistics) tel. (0118) 378 6211, email [log in to unmask], or Professor Nick Battey (Head of School) tel. (0118) 378 6441, email [log in to unmask]

 

Applications 
 

Application forms should be returned to the Personnel Office, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, RG6 6AH, no later than the closing date of Friday 28 April 2006. 







The University of Reading 

 

The University of Reading is located on a spacious and attractive landscaped campus on the edge of the town.  Reading lies in the heart of the Thames Valley, which is both a focus of high technology industry and adjacent to the Chilterns area of outstanding natural beauty.  It has excellent transport links with London which is only 40 miles away, and with both Heathrow and Gatwick airports.  The University has over 13,000 students, of whom about a third are postgraduates.  Its underlying aim is excellence in teaching, research and scholarship across a broad range of disciplines.  

 

The University of Reading is organised into four Faculties - Arts & Humanities, Economic & Social Sciences, Life Sciences and Science.  The School of Biological Sciences operates within the Faculty of Life Sciences which currently contains four other Schools: Agriculture, Policy & Development, Food Biosciences, Psychology and the newly established School of Pharmacy.  

 

 

Applied Statistics at Reading
 

Applied Statistics has a long and distinguished history at the University of Reading, having originally been established as a Department in 1966.  The Section has about 20 full-time staff on academically related grades, supported by secretarial and computing staff.  It is housed in purpose-built accommodation in the Harry Pitt Building, opened in 1992 which contains three lecture rooms, two computing laboratories, tutorial rooms and a staff common room, in addition to offices for staff and postgraduate students. 

 

The Section of Applied Statistics provides undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of statistics across the campus, and incorporates the Statistical Services Centre and the Medical & Pharmaceutical Statistics (MPS) Research Unit.  It has an international reputation as a centre of excellence in Applied Statistics. As part of the  School of Biological Sciences, the Section strengthens the long-standing interests at Reading in developing and applying statistical methods to the life sciences, and enhances the distinctive image of the subject on this campus. More information about Applied Statistics can be found at http://www.rdg.ac.uk/statistics/ , and about Biological Sciences at http://www.biosci.rdg.ac.uk/. 

 

The Statistical Services Centre is a self-financing group formed in 1983 to provide training and consultancy services in Applied Statistics.  It has an international reputation and works for industry, government and funding agencies on projects in the UK and Europe, and also has a particular interest in projects in the developing world.

 

The MPS Research Unit is a self-financing group formed in 1994 to undertake research into statistical methods for clinical trials.  It also provides consultancy and training services to the pharmaceutical industry, and is maintained by funding from a range of multinational pharmaceutical companies.

 

The Section of Applied Statistics offers three year undergraduate degrees in Statistics and in Business Statistics and a four year sandwich degree in Applied Statistics, in which students spend the third year on industrial placement.  A joint degree in Mathematics and Statistics is also available.  The School is justly proud of its MSc degree in Biometry, which has been training statisticians for research, industry and public service since 1966.  The MSc attracts about twenty students each year as well as funding from research councils and industry.  A post-experience Diploma in Statistics is offered, which can be used as a preparation for the MSc programme.  A body of about fifteen full- and part-time PhD students forms an important part of the statistics research community.  The School has also started to recruit students to a new professional doctorate leading to the degree of DStat.  A statistical advisory service is provided for staff and students in other disciplines across the campus, and a variety of statistical courses are presented to other departments.

 

Research interests in the Section include methods for clinical trials, quantitative genetics and environmental science, survival analysis and exact testing methods as well as capture-recapture modelling in the life sciences.  It is anticipated that the research interests of the person appointed will complement those already represented.  There are also many opportunities for collaborative research in the areas of biodiversity, biomathematics, bioinformatics, systems biology and pharmacy.  The University has made significant investments in post genomics including the recent completion of the Biocentre, a multimillion pound research hub for post genomics research in mass spectrometry, proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics, and structural biology. The University is also investing more than 8 million pounds in a further interdisciplinary research hub closely linked to the BioCentre which combines in a refurbished 6 story building, the Advanced Computation and Emerging Technologies Centre (ACET), the Informatics Research Centre (IRC) and Bioinformatics and Systems Biology centres.  It is expected that staff in Applied Statistics will interact closely with colleagues in both research hubs.