Download IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Chief

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title:
Chief Technologist, BDAU (SM266-13)
Department:
Surgery and Cancer
Division:
Surgery
Job Family / Level:
Professional Services, Level 4
Salary Range:
£42,670 to £51,590 per annum
Responsible to:
Policy Fellow - Ryan Callahan
Big Data and Analytical Unit., Centre for Health Policy
Senior Policy Fellow – Will Warburton
Centre for Health Policy
Key working relationships:
Academia
NRLS Programme
Imperial Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality
Imperial Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery
Sowerby Foundation Forum
External collaborators nationally and internationally
Research team / PhDs
NHS
NHS Commissioning Board Authority
NRLS Operational team – within ICHT
Clinical Governance/Safety and Quality Managers
NHS Organisations – acute & community sector
Contract:
Full time for a fixed term of 12 months in the first instance
Location:
St Mary’s Campus, Paddington
Job Context
Recently established, the “Big Data and Analytics Unit” (BDAU) assembles a crossdisciplinary team drawing from the disciplines of Epidemiology, Informatics, Statistics,
Computer Science, Engineering, and Health Economics to collaborate on Big Data
topics. The BDAU is a constituent of the Imperial College Institute for Global Health
Innovation and it will support the functions of the Institute of Global Health Innovation
and its respective grant programs.
One of the main responsibilities of the Unit will be to investigate the current NHS
incident reporting system; the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). The
NRLS is a voluntary system for reporting patient safety incidents and is the largest of its
kind, internationally. It was originally developed by the NHS National Patient Safety
Agency and currently hosted at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. One of the
objectives of the BDAU is to better understand and specify the role of the incident
reporting within the broader patient safety landscape and also to improve the
processes, incentives and shared learning around incident reporting and the NRLS.
Ultimately, the research will aspire to help build a greater focus on patient safety.
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The second major responsibility of the Unit is to support the Sowerby Foundation
Forum. Imperial College London has partnered with the Peter Sowerby Foundation to
review the integration of Primary and Secondary care data within the NHS. The BDAU
will carry out research to improve the links between GP and hospital data and to use
the information to demonstrate how treatment and care can be improved.
The BDAU is not bound to NHS datasets and is designed to engage in a wide range of
health care data analysis. It will employ a diverse set of techniques in concert to
maximize the insight from various health care datasets, nationally and internationally
with the end objective of improving patient care and shaping health care policy.
The Role
The Chief Technologist will work in close collaboration with the Policy Fellow to create a
stable and sustainable analytical service that will support research and development
activities across the aforementioned working relationships. The Policy Fellow, in
consultation with the Chief Technologist, will elect to engage in research and
development activities that leverage the expertise of the BDAU and manage its output
and performance on those activities.
The Chief Technologist will be responsible to the Policy Fellow for enhancing and
directing the technical expertise of the team to deliver the following core capabilities of
the unit:
1. Population-level healthcare data analysis: Support research on clinical and
administrative datasets, especially those linking primary and secondary care
2. Patient safety data analysis: Support research on patient safety and incident
reporting datasets nationally and internationally
3. Algorithmic methodologies: Use new and existing algorithms in medical data
extraction to improve the usability and quality of population level and patient safety
data
4. Evaluation and comparison: Use analytical techniques to gauge the performance
of existing health care actors and compare them with peers
5. Sustainable collaboration: Develop the resources and capabilities of the Big Data
team to anticipate future needs and position the group as a valuable asset to the
department
6. Academic publication: Maintain sound methods to conduct high quality research
and publish in high impact journals and conferences.
The Chief Technologist of the BDAU will also be required to support and supervise
Post-doctoral researchers and PhD students on the NRLS and Sowerby Research
Programmes (as outlined above).
In addition, the Chief Technologist will support other activities throughout the
Department (notably the Hamlyn Centre) which make use of advanced computer
science techniques.
Operational Duties:
The applicant will be responsible for contributing to a wide range of BDAU’s operations,
including:

Quantitative data analyses, including statistical studies, machine learning, data
mining, text mining and natural language processing.

Qualitative and quantitative research on best reporting practices and on
optimising the impact of reporting.
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
Gathering and review of information on data sources used within the healthcare
industry and use of clinical and administrative databases.

Support for research work carried out in partnership between the Imperial
College team and outside research organisations.
In addition, the post holder will contribute to research and developing activities in the
Hamlyn Centre, including:

Advising on Signal Processing techniques such as image or neuroimaging
analysis on robotic surgery experiments.

Advising on Cognitive Signal Processing for predicting human behaviour in
robotic surgery.
Managerial Duties:

In collaboration with the Policy Fellow with accountability for the BDAU, to fulfil
the required aims and objectives including:
o
Strategic planning for consolidating and expanding the unit’s
capabilities.
o
Recruiting additional staff to support the BDAU’s work.
o
Expand the group to collaborate with other nationally and/or
internationally well-known groups involved in Health Care and/or
Robotic Surgery research.
o
Undertake recruitment, teaching, and supervision of PhD students as
required.
o
Actively collaborate with colleagues in related research areas within
the Department of Surgery and Cancer and the Centre for Patient
Safety.
Research Duties:

Contribute to existing programmes of research, such as the Sowerby Forum and
the NRLS Research Programme.

Use initiative in developing ideas that will eventually lead to enhanced research
studies, research proposals and further funding bids.

Produce high-impact peer reviewed publications and conference submissions.

Attend and present work at international conferences.

Write research proposals and grants.

Provide expertise and guidance to group members and other staff within the
Department of Surgery and Cancer and Centre for Patient Safety.

Develop contacts and research collaborations within Imperial College and the
wider NHS and academic community.

Contribute to the development of techniques, models and methods that fulfil the
requirements of the project objectives.

Promote the reputation of the research Group, the Department and the College.
Other:

Observe and comply with all College policies and regulations, including the key
policies and procedures on Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest, Data Protection,
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Equal Opportunities, Financial Regulations, Health and Safety, Imperial
Expectations (for new leaders, managers and supervisors), Information
Technology, Private Engagements and Register of Interests, and Smoking

Undertake specific safety responsibilities relevant to individual roles, as set out
on the College Website Health and Safety Structure and Responsibilities page
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/safety/policies/organisationandarrangements).
Job descriptions cannot be exhaustive and the post holder may be required to
undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key
responsibilities.
Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity and of eliminating
discrimination. All employees are expected to adhere to the principles set out in
its Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy, Promoting Race Equality Policy
and Disability Policy and all other relevant guidance/practice frameworks.
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PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications
Essential
 Post graduate degree or equivalent in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence,
Electrical and Electronics Engineering or related field.
Desirable
 PhD Degree or equivalent.
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
 Substantial work experience, preferably in industry and managerial level.
 Experience in Health Care Data Analysis.
 Experience in managing comprehensive and large scale projects.
 Expertise in dealing with commercial projects.
 Experience in organising and initiating seminars, conferences and workshops.
 Experience in Signal Processing.
 Experience in artificial intelligence particularly machine learning techniques,
research methodologies and experimental design.
 Experience in applying reasoning methods in artificial Intelligence to real-world
problem solving.
 Advanced knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
 Experience in manipulating and analysing large and complex datasets.
 Peer reviewed publications with high number of citations.
Desirable
 Experience in teaching and supervision of PhD students.
Skills and Abilities
Essential
 Ability to write large software programs, especially in Java, C/C++ and Matlab.
 Ability to work with logic programming languages such as Prolog, Progol, Otter and
Mace.
 Ability to work and/or understand various AI machine learning tools such as Weka.
 Ability to carry out research in the following or related areas of Artificial Intelligence
and Signal Processing: Natural Language Processing and Data Mining, Machine
Learning, Cognitive Signal Processing, Image Processing.
 High level of analytical capability.
 High level of practical capability, including engineering and system integration skills.
 Excellent verbal communication skills, in particular the ability to work productively
with researchers, clinicians and managers at different levels of seniority in different
disciplines.
 Excellent written communication skills and the ability to write technical reports and
academic papers clearly and succinctly for publication.
 Demonstrable personal organisation and time management skills.
 Ability to work under time pressure across multiple projects.
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

Ability to work independently and use initiative.
Ability to harmonise the team as a constituent of a bigger multi-disciplinary team.
Personal Attributes
Essential
 Willingness to work under time/production pressure.
 Flexible attitude towards work.
 Discipline and regard for confidentiality and security at all times.
 Willingness to undertake any necessary training for the role.
 Willingness to travel both within the United Kingdom and abroad to expand the
research collaborations, conduct research and/or attend conferences.
Imperial Expectations
These are the 7 principles that Imperial leaders, managers and supervisors are
expected to follow:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Champion a positive approach to change and opportunity
Communicate regularly and effectively within, and across, teams
Consider the thoughts and expectations of others
Deliver positive outcomes
Encourage inclusive participation and eliminate discrimination
Support and develop staff to optimise talent
Work in a planned and managed way
APPLICATION GUIDANCE
Please read the person specification carefully and describe, as part of your application,
how much you feel you meet each of the criteria.
Thank you for your interest in this post. We look forward to receiving your application.
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