Research Fellow
Overview
The Department of Infection Biology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is looking for a Research Fellow to work with Professor Kat Holt. LSHTM is one of the world's leading public health universities, with a mission to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide.
The Research Fellow will develop standardised protocols and reporting templates for sequence-based detection of pathogens in the hospital environment. The work starts with a review of current protocols and practices, followed by consultations and workshops with experts and potential users to reach consensus protocols suitable for low-resource settings. The appointee will also lead on a standardised metadata template for reporting results, in partnership with the Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology. The post is a one-year appointment supported by a Gates Foundation grant.
Requirements
The successful candidate will have a degree in microbiology or a related discipline, and experience applying sequencing-based methods to detect bacterial pathogens in the hospital environment, from sampling through sequencing to bioinformatics analysis. This includes developing and optimising laboratory protocols for metagenomics, including different sampling and target enrichment approaches, shown through published articles or protocols. Experience with bioinformatics analysis of metagenomics data is needed, and ideally with curating, validating and submitting such data to public repositories. The postholder will communicate in speech and writing with many kinds of experts and stakeholders, including clinical microbiology and infection prevention teams. Experience investigating hospital outbreaks and working with low-resource hospitals in Africa or Asia is ideal.
What you get
The full-time post is fixed term until 31 December 2027 and available from January 2027. It is based at LSHTM in London. Pay is on Grade 6, £45,728 to £51,872 per annum pro rata, including London Weighting. Annual leave is 30 working days a year, with additional discretionary Wellbeing Days, and pension scheme membership is available.
How to apply
Applications are made online, quoting reference ITD-DIB-2026-12, and are accepted until 10pm on the closing date. The supporting statement is essential and must address each selection criterion with one or more paragraphs, as a reference to the CV is not accepted.
Key dates
The closing date is 25 October 2026.