Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation (DTE), as a Healthcare Scientist Specialist in Diagnostic Evaluation, in a highly rewarding role delivering real impact to patient health.
The HRC DTE, one of fourteen NIHR HRCs, is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is delivered as a partnership between NuTH and Newcastle University. Our remit is to be a catalyst for the development of evidence on in-vitro diagnostic devices, with a focus on performing cutting edge research and methodologies to produce the evidence required for adoption and implementation of novel devices into the UK NHS.
We'd like to hear from motivated and enthusiastic researchers who have the relevant experience and skills to be involved in delivering this exciting research.
- Interview Date Wednesday 08 October 2025
- 37 Hours 30 Minutes/Week
- You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.
NO AGENCIES PLEASE
Main duties of the job
You will work within the HRC DTE skilled multidisciplinary team, alongside clinicians, test developers and other collaborators, to support the development of medical devices, diagnostics, and digital technologies. You will lead on HRC projects conducting evaluations of diagnostic tests which are robustly underpinned by stakeholder engagement.
The post provides an exciting opportunity to lead on projects that employ innovative approaches to develop and evaluate new clinical tests and medical devices to address a wide variety of challenging clinical needs.
The successful candidate will have experience in study design and quantitative analytic methods relevant to evaluating clinical tests and medical devices. You will have experience in building a team for a research project, planning, obtaining funding for and conducting research in the scientific evaluation of medical tests or devices.
Applications from candidates with firsthand experience of working for, or in collaboration with, the UK NHS are strongly encouraged. We will consider applicants employed by Newcastle University who are interested in a secondment to this post.
About us
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:
o Freeman Hospital
o Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
o Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
o Newcastle Dental Hospital
o Newcastle Fertility Centre
o Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
o Northern Genetics Service
o Cramlington Manor Walks
These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.
We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.
Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under 'Documents to download' or 'Supporting documents'.
For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Job description
Job responsibilities
Working within a skilled multidisciplinary team, alongside test developers and other collaborators, you will take the lead on HRC research projects, evaluating clinical tests or medical devices, contributing to project design and delivery. You will develop evaluation methods, contribute to methods development, and respond to challenges around evaluation and test implementation.
You will have a PhD or Masters in a quantitative discipline (such as statistics or biomedical statistics) or in a relevant health science discipline plus advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in biomedical statistics or health economics. Including post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical test or medical devices. You will have significant methodological experience and hands-on experience of managing, designing and delivering research projects. As well as experience in leading small groups and providing leadership in larger research teams.
- Working under the guidance of the HRC DTE Director and Co-Director, and with external expert advisors, lead in developing study methods and protocols for evaluating close to market clinical tests and medical devices.
- Work within multi-disciplinary teams and lead on patient engagement, study design, funding application, data management, data analysis, reporting, and dissemination aspects of projects evaluating clinical tests and medical devices.
- Participate in the planning of HRC DTE staff capacity.
- Lead on the continuous development, implementation, and improvement of quality assurance processes for data management and analysis.
- Initiate, undertake, and disseminate research into the development of methodologies for more efficient evaluation of clinical tests and medical devices.
- Represent the NIHR HRC DTE at a regional and national level where required.
- Contribute to the continual improvement of project management and HRC DTE administrative processes, for example by anticipating and pro-actively managing problems.
- Supervise undergraduate research projects and support or co-supervise postgraduate research students and research associates/assistants.
- To contribute leadership within the HRC DTE team on professional development activities within the HRC DTE (e.g. internal teaching, seminars, journal clubs, peer review of documents and scripts).
- Develop curricula, courses and training material, and coordinate and deliver the training in quantitative and qualitative methods used in evaluating clinical tests and medical devices.
- Liaise and work with other staff in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute and other institutions and faculties across the University, NuTH, and NIHR.
- Develop excellent working relationships with stakeholders, for example, within other University institutes, the Trust, the NICE external assessment centre and the local Health Innovation North-East North-Cumbria (HI-NENC), North East Innovation Laboratory, Diagnostics North East, the diagnostics and medical devices industry, clinicians and academic researchers, NIHR-funded research infrastructures, and (last but not least) public and patient involvement and engagement groups.
- To lead, develop training material, and deliver specialist training sessions to researchers / research-related staff on evaluation methods such as workflow analysis, care pathway mapping, biomedical statistics, and health economics.
- To contribute to the development of evaluation research methods (e.g. early economic modelling), evaluation challenges (e.g. when the reference standard is imperfect), and test implementation (e.g. clinical decision aids).
- To contribute leadership within the HRC DTE team on professional development activities within the HRC DTE (e.g. internal teaching, seminars, journal clubs).
Job description
Job responsibilities
Working within a skilled multidisciplinary team, alongside test developers and other collaborators, you will take the lead on HRC research projects, evaluating clinical tests or medical devices, contributing to project design and delivery. You will develop evaluation methods, contribute to methods development, and respond to challenges around evaluation and test implementation.
You will have a PhD or Masters in a quantitative discipline (such as statistics or biomedical statistics) or in a relevant health science discipline plus advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in biomedical statistics or health economics. Including post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical test or medical devices. You will have significant methodological experience and hands-on experience of managing, designing and delivering research projects. As well as experience in leading small groups and providing leadership in larger research teams.
- Working under the guidance of the HRC DTE Director and Co-Director, and with external expert advisors, lead in developing study methods and protocols for evaluating close to market clinical tests and medical devices.
- Work within multi-disciplinary teams and lead on patient engagement, study design, funding application, data management, data analysis, reporting, and dissemination aspects of projects evaluating clinical tests and medical devices.
- Participate in the planning of HRC DTE staff capacity.
- Lead on the continuous development, implementation, and improvement of quality assurance processes for data management and analysis.
- Initiate, undertake, and disseminate research into the development of methodologies for more efficient evaluation of clinical tests and medical devices.
- Represent the NIHR HRC DTE at a regional and national level where required.
- Contribute to the continual improvement of project management and HRC DTE administrative processes, for example by anticipating and pro-actively managing problems.
- Supervise undergraduate research projects and support or co-supervise postgraduate research students and research associates/assistants.
- To contribute leadership within the HRC DTE team on professional development activities within the HRC DTE (e.g. internal teaching, seminars, journal clubs, peer review of documents and scripts).
- Develop curricula, courses and training material, and coordinate and deliver the training in quantitative and qualitative methods used in evaluating clinical tests and medical devices.
- Liaise and work with other staff in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute and other institutions and faculties across the University, NuTH, and NIHR.
- Develop excellent working relationships with stakeholders, for example, within other University institutes, the Trust, the NICE external assessment centre and the local Health Innovation North-East North-Cumbria (HI-NENC), North East Innovation Laboratory, Diagnostics North East, the diagnostics and medical devices industry, clinicians and academic researchers, NIHR-funded research infrastructures, and (last but not least) public and patient involvement and engagement groups.
- To lead, develop training material, and deliver specialist training sessions to researchers / research-related staff on evaluation methods such as workflow analysis, care pathway mapping, biomedical statistics, and health economics.
- To contribute to the development of evaluation research methods (e.g. early economic modelling), evaluation challenges (e.g. when the reference standard is imperfect), and test implementation (e.g. clinical decision aids).
- To contribute leadership within the HRC DTE team on professional development activities within the HRC DTE (e.g. internal teaching, seminars, journal clubs).
Person Specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential
- A PhD or Masters in a quantitative discipline (such as statistics or biomedical statistics) or in a relevant health science discipline plus advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in biomedical statistics or health economics and further specialist training
- Post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
Desirable
- Professional registration such as Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society
- Registered Clinical Scientist or have equivalent healthcare professional registration
- Completed and currently valid NIHR Good Clinical Practice training
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Knowledge and experience of the regulatory requirements for research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
- Knowledge and experience in study design and quantitative analytic methods relevant to evaluating clinical tests and medical devices - e.g. diagnostic accuracy, decision analysis, and economic modelling
- Knowledge and experience in undertaking of the principles and processes of reproducible research
- Postgraduate experience in building the team for a research project, planning, obtaining funding for, and conducting research, and in analysing research data and reporting results. The experience must provide expertise transferable to the scientific evaluation of medical tests or devices
- In depth experience in healthcare research requiring quantitative analysis (e.g. statistics or health economics including frequentist and Bayesian methods for statistical learning; preference elicitation; decision modelling; evidence synthesis) and/or qualitative analysis (e.g. care pathway analysis, workflow analysis in pathology laboratories)
- Significant methodological experience and hands-on experience of designing and delivering research projects
- Experience in managing research projects
- Experience in successfully leading small groups and providing leadership in larger research teams
- Post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
- An awareness of a clinical/hospital environment
Desirable
- Experience in health economics
- Experience in other types of healthcare research, including clinical trials
- Experience in evidence synthesis (systematic reviews and meta-analysis)
- Experience in human factors/usability evaluation, care pathway analysis, workflow analysis in pathology service laboratories
- Experience in working in, or closely with, industry (MedTech, diagnostics, or pharma)
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including drafting funding applications and research proposals, writing reports and scientific papers, and presenting at scientific meetings
- Self-motivated, with the ability to work with minimal supervision, and to identify and address opportunities for improvement in their work and workplace
- Excellent time-management regarding work commitments
Desirable
- Excellent time-management regarding work commitments
- Ability to contribute to a team approach and proven experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
Person Specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential
- A PhD or Masters in a quantitative discipline (such as statistics or biomedical statistics) or in a relevant health science discipline plus advanced theoretical and practical knowledge in biomedical statistics or health economics and further specialist training
- Post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
Desirable
- Professional registration such as Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society
- Registered Clinical Scientist or have equivalent healthcare professional registration
- Completed and currently valid NIHR Good Clinical Practice training
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Knowledge and experience of the regulatory requirements for research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
- Knowledge and experience in study design and quantitative analytic methods relevant to evaluating clinical tests and medical devices - e.g. diagnostic accuracy, decision analysis, and economic modelling
- Knowledge and experience in undertaking of the principles and processes of reproducible research
- Postgraduate experience in building the team for a research project, planning, obtaining funding for, and conducting research, and in analysing research data and reporting results. The experience must provide expertise transferable to the scientific evaluation of medical tests or devices
- In depth experience in healthcare research requiring quantitative analysis (e.g. statistics or health economics including frequentist and Bayesian methods for statistical learning; preference elicitation; decision modelling; evidence synthesis) and/or qualitative analysis (e.g. care pathway analysis, workflow analysis in pathology laboratories)
- Significant methodological experience and hands-on experience of designing and delivering research projects
- Experience in managing research projects
- Experience in successfully leading small groups and providing leadership in larger research teams
- Post-doctoral or post-masters experience in research evaluating clinical tests or medical devices
- An awareness of a clinical/hospital environment
Desirable
- Experience in health economics
- Experience in other types of healthcare research, including clinical trials
- Experience in evidence synthesis (systematic reviews and meta-analysis)
- Experience in human factors/usability evaluation, care pathway analysis, workflow analysis in pathology service laboratories
- Experience in working in, or closely with, industry (MedTech, diagnostics, or pharma)
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including drafting funding applications and research proposals, writing reports and scientific papers, and presenting at scientific meetings
- Self-motivated, with the ability to work with minimal supervision, and to identify and address opportunities for improvement in their work and workplace
- Excellent time-management regarding work commitments
Desirable
- Excellent time-management regarding work commitments
- Ability to contribute to a team approach and proven experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
