Research Scientist

Staff - Non UnionJob CategoryM&P - AAPSJob ProfileAAPS Salaried - Research and Facilitation, Level AJob TitleResearch ScientistDepartmentStringhini Laboratory | School of Population and Public Health | Faculty of MedicineCompensation Range$5, $7,709.92 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End DateAugust 22, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

Sept 14, 2025

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Stringhini Lab is seeking a highly motivated and ambitious individual to work as a Research Scientist on various projects related to understanding the mechanisms explaining life course socioeconomic inequalities in health and ageing trajectories. The successful applicant will be responsible for contributing to a number of existing projects. These include epidemiological population cohort studies that focus on the biological embedding of early-life social experiences in relationship to development and health across the lifespan, life course socioeconomic factors and ageing trajectories, analysis of environmental factors in relation to socio-economic exposures, and multi-cohort comparisons. This work involves the acquisition of high-dimension datasets for analysis of phenotype and environmental exposures, as well as the handling of multi omics-data.

The ideal applicant will possess a curiosity and passion for science and deep understanding knowledge of epidemiological methods and statistical modelling. Accurate attention to detail is essential.

Organizational Status

This position reports to the lead Principal Investigator Dr. Silvia Stringhini (School of Population and Public Health and Edwin Leong Centre for Healthy Ageing). The position will support students and other staff members.

Housed within the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) is an innovative unit that encompasses many of the health-related groupings at UBC as a collaborative venture. The School is structured around four divisions: Occupational and Environmental Health; Health Services and Policy; Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health Practice; and Health in Populations.

Work Performed

• Conducts descriptive analysis of longitudinal cohort data, manages datasets, and ensures proper documentation and data security.
• Analyzes data of multiple large-scale longitudinal cohorts to estimate associations between socioeconomic conditions across the life course and disease/aging outcomes, as well as their underlying mechanisms.
• Works with the PI to develop and manage research projects including work plans, timelines, protocols, and budgets.
• Identifies timelines, milestones, and perform necessary literature searches, analysis, reporting and communication.
• Evaluates methods for handling and analyzing complex, interconnected epidemiological data.
• Summarizes project results and provides project updates during in person or online meetings with co-investigators and collaborators.
• Contributes to ongoing strategic planning for the lab's epidemiological analysis needs; collaborates with the principal investigator to identify funding opportunities and develops ideas into grant proposals.
• Writes/drafts sections of scientific manuscripts.
• Writes/drafts ethics applications for the various projects of the Lab.
• Identifies and supports resolution to problems, or barriers for successful research projects/change initiatives completion in collaboration with the PI.
• Maintains and develops up-to-date knowledge of current information technology techniques and tools, especially as they apply to epidemiological analysis.
• Is involved in the management of the projects as needed.
• Prepares data access requests and gathers external datasets.
• Other related duties as required.

​Consequence of Error/Judgement

The incumbent will make important decisions affecting the productivity of the lab. Poor judgment could result in loss of experimental data and delay in conducting research, which could impact collaborations, publications, and future funding. Studies may be jeopardized if not conducted according to ethical requirements as laid out by the University and by regulatory authorities. Study files must be kept secured to ensure that patient confidentiality is not compromised. An error within the realm of a research study may result in biased or incomplete data and skewed study results. Errors made and poor decisions may be damaging to the reputation of the Principal Investigator, the School, and the University and could lead to incorrect or inappropriate policy recommendations being made.

This position will be responsible for access, collection, use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RSBC 1996) and other UBC privacy and security policies. This position requires employees to work under strict confidentiality requirements; internal procedures and policies to protect personal information must be followed and adherence to these requirements will be regularly reviewed by the employer.

Supervision Received

General direction is provided by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Stringhini; however, the position requires a candidate capable of setting their own directions and priorities within a given framework and working within agreed-upon milestones and timelines.

Supervision Given
Supports research assistants, junior staff and students as required. Assists and provides guidelines to other research members as required.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of two years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own

Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant field (epidemiology, biostatistics, statistics, bioinformatics).
• Experience in laboratory research involving epidemiological data.
• Experience in writing and debugging executable R scripts.
• Extensive experience working with epidemiological data, preferably from population cohort studies.
• Knowledge of descriptive statistics, statistical inference and modeling, exceptional programming skills, with proficiency in one or more high-level programming languages (R preferred).
• Understanding of statistical modeling and tests.
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, and databases.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to develop and maintain cooperative and productive working relationships.
• Ability to interact with a diverse group of people in a calm, courteous, and effective manner.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and work effectively under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Excellent leadership skills with experience in leading small teams.
• Ability to stay current with developments and trends in the field of information technology.
• Must conduct all activities ethically and maintain the confidentiality of funding information and research data.

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