Do you like to analyse large datasets? Do you want to work with an enthusiastic group of world-leading researchers and epidemiologists on a new Arthritis UK Musculoskeletal Epidemiology Consortium to address critical gaps in existing knowledge? Do you want to work at an institution where flexible working and hybrid working is a possibility, with generous annual leave allowance? If so keep reading…
Why Join Us?
About the Arthritis UK Musculoskeletal Epidemiology Consortium
This is a new and exciting opportunity to join the Arthritis UK Musculoskeletal Epidemiology Consortium, a major UK-wide research initiative funded by Arthritis UK (formerly known as Versus Arthritis). The consortium brings together leading academic institutions—including Manchester, Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele, and Nottingham—to deliver impactful research aimed at improving lives and making journeys through musculoskeletal care safer.
Launched in July 2025, the consortium work spans five dynamic research themes, each using existing data to address critical gaps in musculoskeletal epidemiology. Each workstream is co-led by academic and patient partners and designed to address priority areas identified by people living with arthritis (PlwA). Together, they aim to generate evidence that improves care, reduces inequalities, and informs policy.
Workstream 1. Health Inequalities - Identifying and addressing disparities in access to musculoskeletal care and outcomes.
Workstream 2. Life Course / Children - Understanding early life factors and the onset of chronic MSK pain in children and adolescents.
Workstream 3. Menopause & MSK Health - Exploring the impact of menopause on MSK symptoms, especially in women with inflammatory arthritis.
Workstream 4. Dependence & Risk of Analgesia - Investigating the use, monitoring, and risks of analgesics in MSK conditions.
Workstream 5. Burden of Drug Monitoring - Evaluating the clinical and administrative burden of drug monitoring in MSK care.
As a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, you’ll be part of a collaborative, supportive, and forward-thinking team based at the University of Manchester. You’ll work alongside researchers, clinicians, patient partners, and knowledge mobilisation specialists to help shape the future of musculoskeletal research.
The research associate will be working in Workstream 5 to investigate ‘Safe, acceptable prescribing and monitoring of common immune drugs (e.g. methotrexate) in people living with arthritis’. Adult and juvenile onset rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and juvenile onset idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are chronic auto-immune diseases. Although disease management has improved in the last decade with more effective drugs and multidisciplinary care, there is still no cure for these diseases and many people with these conditions will have problems with daily activities and it will impact on their quality of life. When children and adults are diagnosed with JIA or RA, respectively, the most common treatment are so-called conventional Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (cDMARDs) such as methotrexate. As most drugs people will experience adverse events and regular blood tests are a requirement. The aims of this project is to understand the occurrence of adverse events in people with (i) JIA, and (ii) RA, and the impact of having adverse events on quality of life. These projects will build on previous studies conducted within the centre.
We are looking for an enthusiastic researcher with a PhD in epidemiology, data science, public health, statistics or equivalent. The successful candidate will be involved in investigating adverse events and the impact of having adverse events in adults and adolescents with rheumatic diseases such as inflammatory arthritis who receive common immune drugs (e.g. methotrexate). You will be performing quantitative research using data of large observational studies. You will have a good understanding of applying various statistical analysis (e.g. multivariate regression analysis, longitudinal analysis) and of real world data and in interrogating observational large datasets. It is desirable for the research associate to have an understanding of Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to analyse text data. For this project the research associate will be based at the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research (CfMR), Centre for Epidemiology, The University of Manchester, Manchester UK.
The post is for 2 years (1.0 FTE or two part-time posts equalling 1.0FTE). We have a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity for our staff and students, and are proud to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse community we serve. As a global institution, situated at the heart of a lively, culturally diverse city, we welcome applicants of all nationalities.
What you will get in return:
As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.
Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here
Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.
Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.
Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to People.Recruitment@manchester.ac.uk.
Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.
Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:
Name: Suzanne Verstappen
Email: suzanne.verstappen@manchester.ac.uk
General enquiries:
Email:recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk
Technical support:
https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home
This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.
Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria.
