Training Environment

Overview

The Fellow will have a sponsor from each relevant quantitative skills areas plus a sponsor from the biomedical area. The Host Leadership Team will ensure that sponsors are meeting the requirements for the scheme in terms of their research and supervisory experience. Fellows will be expected to immerse themselves in the relevant areas and departments for extended periods, for instance 3 months, in order to acquire and practice the skills they need in a supportive peer environment. Fellows will be offered the opportunity to undertake academic and industry placements at UK and international centres, with a clear set of objectives for the visit.

Fellows will have access to seminars, workshops and master classes organised by the: EPSRC Liverpool Centre for Mathematics in Healthcare, MRC CDSS, MRC HTMR, MRC Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Fellowships Scheme, MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing, EPSRC and ESRC CDT in Quantification and Management of Risk and Uncertainty in Complex Systems and Environments which includes a course at the Hartree Centre in Daresbury, and the ESRC Data Analytics and Society CDT.

Find out what we have to offer in the following areas:

Advanced Skills Training

The Fellow will benefit from advanced research skills training, which could include the following:

1. Statistics: The Department of Biostatistics runs advanced courses in statistical genetics and pharmacogenetics, joint modelling of longitudinal and survival data, multivariate data analysis and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis. Two courses on the Analysis of Genetic Association Studies (four day introduction, two day advanced workshop) provide statistical and computational training in the analysis of large-scale genome-wide association studies. The multivariate data analysis workshop has run under the auspices and accreditation of the Royal Statistical Society in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and has since been run independently by the UoL Multivariate Data Modelling Group. The one-day workshop on joint modelling has been accredited by the Royal Statistical Society and covers statistical methodology of joint longitudinal and survival outcome modelling and dynamic prediction, and provides hands-on software training. The IPD meta-analysis course, delivered at Cochrane Colloquia, introduces hierarchical modelling and methods for investigating modifiers of treatment effect. The Department of Geography and Planning runs a masters-level module in spatial analysis, covering mapping, multi-level models, kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation, geographically-weighted regression, spatial interaction models and spatial econometrics. FHEQ level 6/7 taught modules in statistical theory and generalised linear models are delivered by the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
2. Computer Science: The Department of Computer Science runs a number of FHEQ level 6/7 modules of relevance to interdisciplinary health research, including introducing students to the topic of Game Theory, with a follow on module on the topic of Computational Game Theory and Mechanism Design. Modules related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) that cover topics of relevance for health research include introductory modules on AI (COMP111), advanced AI (COMP219) and specialist topics related to AI such as Multi-Agent Systems (COMP310) and Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (COMP304).
3. Applied Mathematics: The Department of Mathematical Sciences offers a large range of FHEQ level 6/7 taught modules in areas including mathematical biology, continuum mechanics, numerical methods and stochastic analysis. Additional graduate-level courses are available through the MAGIC (http://mathsmagic.ac.uk/courses.php) grid, where a range of taught modules are delivered via the access grid and assessed with take-home assignments.

Transferable Skills Training

Access to transferable skills training will be provided, for example through an MRes module covering the modern research landscape, and webinars available through the Marie Curie MIROR Innovative Training Network covering, for example, open science and research integrity. There is also University-wide training on how to develop as a Research Leader. Fellows will be encouraged to join one or more postdoctoral networks, which have been established across the University to support a variety of training and social activities. The networks are intended to promote interactions through social gatherings and networking sessions, to allow them to come together to voice their concerns and needs, and to improve career development.

Mentorship

Each Fellow will have access to the University Mentoring Scheme, which aims to provide a confidential space for the mentee to improve their confidence and self-awareness. Managed via an online ‘matching’ portal, mentees have a choice of mentors from across the institution.
We will also identify an appropriate senior academic to act as a mentor for career advice and guidance. Sponsors will use the Lenses on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework to provide guidance appropriate to career-stage.

To date, Liverpool has received £6.25m from the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF), a pot of money dedicated to enabling universities to enhance their institutional strategies for the biomedical sciences, through support of high-quality research, career development for academic staff, and public engagement. A specific outcome of the funding was the development of a Tenure-Track Fellowship (TTF) Scheme in 2011. Each TTF is a 5-year appointment with assessment for transfer to a permanent post in year 3, protection of research time by limitation of teaching and administration until year 5, research support costs, and dedicated mentoring. Since 2011, the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (FHLS) has appointed 53 people onto the TTF Scheme: 26 have been confirmed in appointment and are developing careers at UoL; 20 individuals will come up for confirmation in 2018, and we are confident that the vast majority of these individuals will be able to meet the confirmation criteria; the remaining 7 individuals have chosen to develop their career via other routes. All Fellows appointed through the new MRC SDF Scheme would be interviewed for a TTF.

Advanced Research Computing Facilities

UoL’s facilities consist of a high-performance computer cluster with 2000 freely accessible compute cores and a Condor pool with approximately 1400 cores that exploits idle time on Teaching Centre computers to support analytical workflows. The cluster includes a large server with 2 TB of memory. All of the cluster’s servers are connected via a high performance interconnect and have shared access to approximately 200TB of storage. A new cluster, operational before the end of 2017, will double current compute capacity with a further doubling scheduled for the end of 2018. Advanced Research Computing staff from the Computer Services Department provide user support, including offering training to users to avoid performance penalties due to coding issues. The University also has a strategic partnership with the STFC-funded Hartree Centre at Daresbury, enabling staff to access state-of-the-art computing facilities and computer science expertise.

Public Engagement

A Public Engagement (PE) Officer post was established in FHLS in 2015. In partnership with World Museum, a flagship PE project ‘Meet the Scientists’ was launched. This has given over 350 staff and students the opportunity to build their PE skills through developing and delivering innovative hands-on activities, successfully engaging over 12,000 members of the public with cutting-edge research. Fellows can and will be encouraged to apply for small grants to develop and run their own PE activities. 2017 has seen the University engage with the national ‘Pint of Science’ initiative for the first time, with 50 scientists taking part in events across the city.

Industry Engagement

Fellows will be encouraged to attend sessions on working with industry, entrepreneurship, IP and commercialisation. We will host a joint annual meeting with industry where Fellows will present their current research. UoL is located within the Knowledge Quarter, where £1billion of investment is creating one of the largest health campuses in Europe, providing opportunities for external collaboration. The investment includes: a Materials Innovation Factory, a partnership with Unilever to drive the discovery of novel materials, including applications in nanomedicine, drug delivery and ’omics biotechnology; the new Royal Liverpool Hospital, a Global Digital Exemplar (GDE); Sensor City, a technical innovation centre fostering the development and evaluation of cutting edge sensor technologies for use in a wide range of sectors including health.

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