AQMeN - Applied Quantitative Methods Network

Postdoctoral Researcher in the field of Health and the Environment.

Based at the Institute of Geography and Lived Environment, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh you will join the Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health (CRESH) which is a virtual centre joining scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Our research is focused on exploring how physical and social environments can influence population health, for better and for worse.

You will contribute to two projects funded separately by the MRC Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy and the National Institute for Health Research. The first project will examine whether the density of tobacco and alcohol outlets around schools and homes affects smoking and drinking behaviours among 13 and 15 year olds in Scotland. The second is entitled 'Determining the Impact of Smoking Point of Sale Legislation Among Youth (DISPLAY) study'. This mixed-method longitudinal study seeks to evaluate the impact of the change in legislation relating to the sale of tobacco in Scotland that comes into effect in 2012.

The successful candidate will play a key role in the *Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health (CRESH)*. See: www.cresh.org.uk

CRESH is a highly active research collaboration and along with other team members you will have an important role in developing the research profile of the centre through the dissemination of research findings, outreach, web page development and other innovative approaches.

Closing date: 06-Feb-2012

Fixed Term: 12 months

Salary Scale: £29,972 - £35,788

For further details on the position:
http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/vacancies/index.cfm?fuseaction=vacancies.detail&vacancy_ref=3015243

For informal enquiries please contact:
Dr Niamh Shortt (Niamh.Shortt@ed.ac.uk)
Prof Jamie Pearce (jamie.pearce@ed.ac.uk)
Prof Richard Mitchell (Richard.Mitchell@glasgow.ac.uk)  

A vacancy has arisen for a Senior Statistician to join the Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQMeN) on a fixed term basis for a period of four months in the first instance, but potentially until end December 2012. 

The post will be based in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh, although the successful candidate will work with a multi-disciplinary team of academics from eight collaborating Universities.  The successful candidate will have strong quantitative research skills, expertise in complex data analysis, excellent leadership and management skills, the ability to clearly communicate the techniques involved in and the results of quantitative methods.  The role involves delivery of high quality quantitative training and knowledge exchange events and providing advice and guidance on statistical matters.  A core part of the role will also involve exploring avenues to ensure the longer term sustainability of the Network. 

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Wednesday 8th February and interviews will be held on the morning of Friday 17th February 2012.  The start date will be 1st March or as soon as possible thereafter.  Appointment will be made on a fixed term basis initially until end June 2012 on the UE08 scale (£37,012-£44,166).  It is, however, fully anticipated that the funding and therefore this appointment will be extended until 31st December 2012.  (Appointment on the UE07 scale would be considered if no suitable candidate could be appointed on the UE08 scale.)

To obtain the further particulars for the post, and to apply, go to http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/ and click on ‘vacancies’, then ‘New Vacancies’ or search for Vacancy Reference number 3015299.

The following new studies have been released:

SN 6864  ONS Opinions Survey, Tax Credits Module, July - October, 2009
SN 6931  Understanding Society: Wave 1, 2009-2010: Special Licence Access
SN 6923  English Housing Survey, 2008-2010: Secure Data Service Access

For the latest information on all ESDS International data portfolio updates, visit www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/dataupdate.asp

To order or to view further information on these data collections, or for access to the whole collection, please see the online catalogue web page: www.esds.ac.uk/Lucene/Search.aspx

Postdoctoral Research Officer 
Social Policy and Intervention, Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford 
Grade 7: Salary in the range £29,099 - £30,870 p.a. 

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher Officer to work as a member of a team investigating the role of education in social mobility in Britain using data from large-scale longitudinal social surveys.

For further information and to apply, go to www.recruit.ox.ac.uk

Vacancy: Research Fellow (Quantitative)
Full time, fixed term until March 2014
Salary: £34,745 to £44,016 pa

NCRM Hub at the University of Southampton is recruiting for a Research Fellow (Quantitative) role.

In this post you will support the programme of methodological research and training of NCRM and conduct a programme of methodological research alongside the Director and co-directors of the Hub. In conjunction with the Director, you will develop and take forward strategies for closer integration with ESRC's data resource investments, particularly the Understanding Society survey, the Birth Cohort studies, Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) and new UK Data Service (UKDS). A core part of this role will be the organisation of data analysis workshops, with contributions from a number of different individuals, which focus on the application of appropriate methods for these data sets.

You will have a PhD in a social science (or closely related) discipline, demonstrable knowledge of and interest in the development and use of quantitative methods in the social sciences and experience of report writing/literature reviews. Outstanding candidates with interests in any areas of quantitative methods are welcome but applicants with interests in the areas of survey methodology and statistical modelling are encouraged.

You will have an appreciation of some of the methodological challenges facing the social science community, particularly those relating to interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research. You will possess the ability to work independently in planning and conducting a programme of methodological research.

For further information and to apply, go to http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/news/show.php?article=5246

SIRE CONFERENCE PRESENTER GRANT - UPDATE for 2012

The SIRE Executive is pleased to announce its continued support for the SIRE Conference Presenter Grant.  This grant is intended to financially support academic economists who are based in Scotland and wish to present their paper at conferences in the UK and beyond.

Applicants should note that due to the success of this initiative in 2011, a cap has been introduced to generate maximum benefit from the scheme. The level of financial support offered is as follows:
For events outside Europe:£750
For events within Europe (but outside the UK):£500
For events within the UK:£350

ELIGIBILITY
The financial support is available to academics who have been accepted to present a paper at any of the following conferences:

*Econometric Society (European meeting and World Congress)
*European Economic Association (EEA)
*Annual meeting Royal Economic Society (RES)
*Annual conference American Economic Association (AEA)
*ASSA conference

Accepted papers at conferences that are not listed above may still be considered for funding, at the discretion of the SIRE Programme Directors and based on evaluation by the SIRE Executive.

SIRE will make two levels of financial support available, with the criteria as follows:

1. For PhD students and junior staff (Lecturer) eligible expenses include the registration fee, travel and/or accommodation costs, provided an original receipt(s) is submitted.

2. For senior staff (Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor) the contribution will cover the registration fee only.

3.Any shortfall of additional expenses is to be funded via an external grant or via the university economics department.

PROCEDURE
All applications must be made before attending the conference.

Applicants should send an e-mail to info@sire.ac.uk, with a copy of the conference acceptance (email or pdf). In addition, an estimate of expenses should be itemised as follows:

1.Conference registration fee (including any discount deadlines if applicable)

2.Travel expenses (flight or rail)

3.Accommodation expenses

Note that items 2 and 3 are applicable to PhD students and junior academics only

Following the e-mail application, a decision regarding the financial support will be made within 3 weeks.

Once a conference participation grant has been offered, the SIRE logo and acknowledgement of financial support are to be included in the presented paper and in any subsequent paper revisions.

Expenses are reimbursed after the conference, based on submitting all original receipts or alternatively through an itemised invoice by the presenter's university Finance Department.

It is worth noting that the presented paper may feed into the SIRE Discussion Paper series.

For further information please contact Gina Reddie, SIRE Administrator, gina.reddie@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 40 66

This announcement is also available from the SIRE website
http://www.sire.ac.uk/documents/SIRE_Travel_Grant_2012.pdf

FELLOWSHIP IN STATISTICS LEADING TO A PERMANENT LECTURESHIP.

The School of Mathematics at The University of Edinburgh is seeking outstanding candidates for a five year Chancellor’s Fellowship in Statistics, and its applications, leading to a permanent lectureship. We expect candidates to have an established record of first-class research
or to be able to demonstrate excellent research potential. Candidates must have a strong commitment to excellence in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

For further particulars of the post please see: http://www2.maths.ed.ac.uk/jobs/chancellors-fellowship

For general information in this post and information about applying please see:

http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/vacancies/index.cfm?fuseaction=vacancies.detail&vacancy_ref=3015150

Appointment will normally be made on the Lecturer scale (£36,862 - £44,016), dependent on experience, and in exceptional circumstances a more senior appointment may be made. Some positions are available with immediate effect and it is expected that successful applicants will be in post from August 2012.

Applications containing a detailed CV and a 1-page outline of a proposed research programme should be made online at www.jobs.ed.ac.uk. General advice may be obtained by emailing chancellorsfellows@ed.ac.uk and specific details may be obtained from the Head of School of Mathematics (hos@maths.ed.ac.uk)

The closing date for applications is 29th February 2012.  Early applications are particularly welcome.

 Informal enquiries can be addressed to Professor Colin Aitken, School of Mathematics, King’s Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ.
Tel:    0131 650 4877
E-mail:  c.g.g.aitken@ed.ac.uk

This statistical bulletin presents national level information on activity relating to community penalties in Scotland, almost all of which is derived from Local Authority Social Work management information systems. It provides information on various aspects of criminal justice social work such as Social Enquiry Reports ( SERs) and social work orders (made up of Community Service Orders ( CSOs), Probation Orders ( POs), Supervised Attendance Orders ( SAOs) and Drug Treatment & Testing Orders ( DTTOs)). There is also some information on Community Payback Orders, which replaced CSOs, POs and SAOs for offences committed on or after 1 February 2011.

Click here to read the report.

Society Now is ESRC's regular magazine, bringing the latest and most topical social science research to key opinion formers in business, government and the voluntary sector. It is published three times a year and highlights research currently being undertaken by the UK's leading social scientists.

View the magazine here.

Publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).

Click here to view.

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

FELLOWSHIP IN STATISTICS LEADING TO A PERMANENT LECTURESHIP

The School of Mathematics at The University of Edinburgh is seeking outstanding candidates for a five year Chancellor’s Fellowship in Statistics, and its applications, leading to a permanent lectureship. We expect candidates to have an established record of first-class research or to be able to demonstrate excellent research potential. Candidates must have a strong commitment to excellence in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

For further particulars of the post please see:

http://www2.maths.ed.ac.uk/jobs/chancellors-fellowship

For general information in this post and information about applying please see:

http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/vacancies/index.cfm?fuseaction=vacancies.detail&vacancy_ref=3015150

Appointment will normally be made on the Lecturer scale (£36,862 - £44,016), dependent on experience, and in exceptional circumstances a more senior appointment may be made. Some positions are available with immediate effect and it is expected that successful applicants will be in post from August 2012.

Applications containing a detailed CV and a 1-page outline of a proposed research programme should be made online at www.jobs.ed.ac.uk. General advice may be obtained by emailing chancellorsfellows@ed.ac.uk and specific details may be obtained from the Head of School of Mathematics (hos@maths.ed.ac.uk)

The closing date for applications is 29th February 2012.  Early applications are particularly welcome. 

Informal enquiries can be addressed to Professor Colin Aitken - 

Professor Colin Aitken,
Professor of Forensic Statistics,
School of Mathematics, King’s Buildings, University of Edinburgh,
Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ.

Tel:    0131 650 4877
E-mail:  c.g.g.aitken@ed.ac.uk

The latest edition of the ESDS Government Newsletter, Issue 18 - December 2011, is now available at www.esds.ac.uk/government/newsletter/

Articles include an update on the General Lifestyle Survey, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey new ID variables, MethodBox Q & A and a report on the Housing Conference.
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Call for papers - Opinions and Lifestyle Survey User Meeting

ESDS Government is organising an Opinions and Lifestyle Survey user meeting for Wednesday 21 March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society, London.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a new survey that will be created in 2012 as a result of merging the ONS Opinions survey with some of the previous General Lifestyle Survey questions. For more information on this please see the ONS website at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html

The User Meeting will provide users will valuable information from ONS on the content and methodology of the new survey. The meeting will also comprise a number of papers from users of the current ONS Opinions Survey and the General Lifestyle Survey. We, therefore, invite offers of presentations from researchers based on the analysis of either the ONS Opinions Survey or the General Lifestyle Survey.

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.uk as soon as possible but by 23 December at the latest.

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Call for papers - Living Costs and Food Survey user meeting

ESDS Government is organising it's first LCF user meeting for Tuesday 20 March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society, London. The programme will contain a mixture of papers from data producers and researchers. We invite offers of presentations based on analysis of the Living Costs and Food Survey and the former Expenditure and Food Survey. Presenters will have 20 minutes for their talk followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.uk as soon as possible but by 9 December at the latest.

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Updated guides

The following guides have been updated and are available from the resources web pages at www.esds.ac.uk/government/resources/

*         Social capital: introductory user guide

*         Guide to data sources for Northern Ireland

*         Guide to data sources for Scotland

*         Introduction to Complex Sample Design in UK Government Surveys

The NCRM have announced their latest call for Training Bursaries. 

Those interested in applying should go to www.ncrm.ac.uk/TandE/bursary/

University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences

Professor or Reader/Senior Statistician in Clinical trials and Biostatistics

Ref: M00317
Salary: £46,696 - £52,556

The Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow is seeking to appoint a Professor or Senior Statistician/ Reader in Clinical Trials and Biostatistics in the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics and the Glasgow Clinical Trials Unit to develop a strong programme of collaborative applied research and personal research in clinical trials and/or biostatistical methodology.  The post will be established in the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics which forms the study design, data centre and biostatistics arm of the Glasgow Clinical Trials Unit.

The Robertson Centre is recognised internationally due to its contributions to medical research through its work on major multi-centre clinical trials, epidemiological studies and other biomedical research projects.  The Centre has experience of collaboration in all areas of medicine and has excellent relations with medical and biological researchers in the pharmaceutical industry, the Health Service and other research organisations.
The successful applicant will be expected to collaborate with scientific and clinical research groups in Glasgow and elsewhere, to build a portfolio of research grants and/or contracts and to develop a leadership role in the Centre.

Applications are invited from candidates with an appropriate record of academic achievement.
Appointment at Professorial or Readership level will be considered for candidates with the appropriate levels of distinction in terms of research and with the potential for research leadership.

All candidates are required to indicate the post for which they are applying.

Apply online at www.glasgow.ac.uk/jobs

Closing date: 31 December 2011

Research Fellow 
Department Employment Research Institute 

Fixed -term for 2 years (linked to external funding - Working for Families)

This is an exciting opportunity to work on a variety of new and established projects at the
Employment Research Institute.  We are looking for a full time researcher with a strong
quantitative research background (PhD level) in a related discipline; e.g. economics, 
quantitative social policy, statistics, geography.  The main project will involve employment
and families and skills in the labour market.

The Institute's unifying theme is developing human potential.  
We undertake research on a wide range of employment issues, especially in the broad
areas:

* Employment, Labour Markets, Employability, social inclusion, skills, job creation and
economic development and training

You will have a background in one of the social sciences, excellent research skills,
including quantitative and/or qualitative analysis, will be a good communicator who
enjoys working as part of a team. 

Click here for more info.

Applications are invited from eligible candidates for the following PhD opportunity:

Project title: Modern methods for detecting examiner bias in naturalistic assessment data

Background:
This project aims to extend recent methodology involving hypothesis tests for detecting examiner bias to more naturalistic cases in which non-parametric assessment data cannot readily be Normalized and data may be categorical or sample sizes small. The successful candidate will have access to a rich and ongoing large database of examinee ratings for undergraduate medical students, commencing from 2001. This will facilitate the application of bootstrapping and Monte Carlo techniques to examine hypothesis test robustness and enhance the derivation of new approaches to obtaining associated confidence intervals. The research will apply specifically to cases where student scripts are double-marked, with one examiner having prior knowledge of student performance in a separate but related assessment. An emphasis will be placed on distinguishing between natural tendencies of individual students to perform well or poorly overall and consistency in perceived performance influenced by examiner bias. The research outcomes will therefore be of relevance across a wide range of disciplines where double marking is viewed as a reputable procedure for enhancing score reliability. Additionally, these outcomes will inform existing methodologies for detecting halo and horn effects within the more general literature on examiner bias. The final phase of the project will involve a more qualitative component requiring management of focus group sessions, with examiners as participants. The findings from this component will be used to explore the underlying sociocultural mechanisms which lead to halo and horn effects. This will in turn help to address the more philosophical issue of the extent to which such effects ought to be modelled as measurement error when estimating score reliability.
 
For  further details of the project click here.
 
If you wish to discuss this particular project in more detail, please contact  Margaret.MacDougall@ed.ac.uk in the first instance.
 
General instructions on applying are provided below:
 
Timetable
Application closing date - 9 January 2012
Selection interviews - w/c 23 January 2012
Start date - Sept/Oct 2012

Eligibility/Funding
There is 1 scholarship on offer which is Home Fee (UK/EU) tuition rates only. Benefits include an annual stipend of approx. £13,590 per academic year (the rate for 2012/13 has not yet been confirmed), payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU rate and payment of bench fees.

*Please note that applications from overseas students are welcome but individuals would be responsible for covering the remaining funds for the studentship themselves.*

All benefits are subject to satisfactory annual reviews of progress.

Qualifications
Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a good postgraduate degree (with an overall average of at least 60%), or equivalent qualification in a relevant subject. More specific qualifications are detailed in each project.

Application process:
When applying for PhD opportunities, please send or e-mail the following:

1. Covering letter explaining which project (s) you are applying for and why interested in the topic
2. Research proposal 
3. Curriculum Vitae 
4. Full academic transcripts (undergraduate and postgraduate; interim transcripts are acceptable if currently on programme) 
5. 2 Academic References  
6. Proof of Language Results, if applicable

All documentation should be sent to:
Maggie Luttrell
Postgraduate Administrator
Centre for Population Health Sciences
University of Edinburgh
Teviot Place
Edinburgh, EH8 9AG
United Kingdom

Or by email to: Maggie.Luttrell@ed.ac.uk

Closing date - 9 January 2012

Should you have any further questions regarding the application process, please email Maggie.Luttrell@ed.ac.uk

Interviews for short-listed candidates will be held in January 2012. Once chosen, the successful applicant will then complete the online application procedure for the University of Edinburgh.

The following new edition of Growig Up in Scotland has been released:
 
SN 5760 - Growing Up in Scotland: Sweeps 1 to 5, 2005-2010

Reason: For the ninth edition (November 2011), data and documentation from
Sweep 5, conducted in 2009-2010, were added to the study. Users should note
that Sweep 5 data were collected from the birth cohort only.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) are pleased to announce the Call for the 'Cohort Resources Facility Leadership Team'. Funding from the Government's Large Facilities Capital Fund (LFCF) creates an opportunity to maximise the value of the existing studies, through the development of a new resource to facilitate research across the cohort studies.

The Facility will provide a dedicated resource through the sharing of best practice and the development of new practices across cohorts which have been developed from both the social and biomedical sciences. The CRF will promote and showcase the UK's world leading portfolio of cohort studies, and will:

• Stimulate interdisciplinary research across existing major cohort studies
• Provide common resources for research purposes
• Assist with training and development in longitudinal research.

The successful applicant will establish and lead the Cohort Resources Facility for five years, from 1 July 2012 until 30 June 2017.

Further information

The University of Strathclyde currently have 2 job vacancies advertised within the School of Government and Public Policy:

Lecture in Public Policy
Professor in Quantitative and Political Behaviour

Full details at: http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofgovernmentandpublicpolicy/

The Centre for Multilevel Modelling has released a new module on their on-line training: Single-level and multilevel models for ordinal responses.

In Module 6 we saw how multiple regression models for continuous responses can be generalised to handle binary responses, and in Module 7 these models were further extended for the analysis of binary data with a two-level hierarchical structure. This module considers standard (single-level) and multilevel models for ordinal categorical response variables, where the numeric codes assigned to categories imply some ordering. We begin with a description of two approaches for the analysis of single-level ordinal data:

1. the cumulative logit model which is appropriate for variables such as Likert scale items, where respondents are asked to indicate their strength of agreement with a statement from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree', and educational tests where marks are available as grades rather than percentage scores; and
2. the continuation ratio model for ordinal responses that can be viewed as the result of a series of sequential decisions or actions (e.g. highest level of educational qualifications).

We then show how the cumulative logit model can be extended for the analysis of data with a two-level hierarchical structure. Further details:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/learning/course-topics.html#m09

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2010-11: Main Findings.

This publication presents information on the people of Scotland's perceptions and experience of crime and victimisation including crimes that are not reported to the police, on their attitudes to the police, the courts and prisons, and on their general impressions of how safe from crime and disorder Scottish society is.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey has been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and has been designated as a National Statistics product which means that it is compliant with the Code of Practice on Official Statistics, produced according to sound methods and managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

The SCJS is the data source for two National Indicators for Scotland's National Performance Framework - crime victimisation rate and public perception of general crime rate in local area.

The results published in the Main Findings report include headline estimates for most questions contained in the SCJS 2010-11.

Main Findings

On the 31st of October 2011, the United Nations predict the population of the world will reach 7 billion. To mark this, the ESRC Centre for Population Change (CPC), in conjunction with the University of Southampton and Aberdeen, is hosting an event as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences.

The event will bring together scholars, policy makers, teachers, sixth form students and members of the general public, to discuss what we know about the population of the world at 7 billion and the issues facing a growing, diverse and ageing population.

Further details

Life expectancy has increased by almost three years for men and two years for women over the past decade, according to a report published today by the Registrar General for Scotland.

Based on statistics covering 2008-2010, the report shows that life expectancy is now 75.8 years for men and 80.4 years for women in Scotland.

Registrar General for Scotland George MacKenzie said:

"This report shows that life expectancy continues to vary widely across Scotland.

"The highest life expectancy is in East Dunbartonshire Council area and lowest in Glasgow City Council area, for both for men and women. People living in rural areas, in general, live longer than those in towns.

"Men in the least deprived areas of Scotland may live 13.2 years longer than those in the most deprived areas while women in the least deprived areas can expect to live 8.9 years longer than those in the most deprived."

The key points in this report for 2008-2010 are:

At birth

• Life expectancy was 75.8 years for men and 80.4 years for women, although there were considerable variations in different areas of Scotland.
• Male and female life expectancy was highest in East Dunbartonshire Council area and lowest in Glasgow City Council area. Males in East Dunbartonshire can expect to live for 79.4 years, nearly eight years longer than in Glasgow City (71.6 years). Females in East Dunbartonshire can expect to live for 82.7 years, nearly five years longer than in Glasgow City (78.0 years).
• Life expectancy at birth was highest for males in accessible rural areas (78.3 years) where they can expect to live nearly four years longer than males in large urban areas, who have a life expectancy at birth of 74.5 years. Female life expectancy at birth was highest in remote rural areas (82.2 years), more than two years longer than in large urban areas where it was lowest (79.8 years).
• Life expectancy is higher where deprivation is lower. Males in the 10 per cent least deprived areas of Scotland can expect to live for 81.4 years, 13.2 years longer than males in the 10 per cent most deprived areas (68.2 years). Females in the 10 per cent least deprived areas can expect to live for 84.6 years, nearly nine years longer than those in 10 per cent most deprived areas (75.7 years).

Compared with the UK and Europe

• Scottish males and females have the lowest life expectancy at birth within the UK. Male life expectancy is 2.4 years lower than the UK average and female life expectancy is 1.9 years lower.
• In Scotland, males and females can expect to live shorter lives (by 2.7 years and 2.1 years respectively) than in England, where male and female life expectancy is the highest in the UK.
• Amongst European Union (EU) countries, male life expectancy was highest in Sweden (79.4 years), 3.6 years higher than in Scotland. Female life expectancy was highest in France (85.0 years), 4.6 years higher than in Scotland.

Changes over time

• Male and female life expectancy has continued to rise across Scotland, by nearly three years since the period 1998-2000 for males and by two years for females.
• The biggest improvements in male life expectancy were in Argyll and Bute Council area (3.9 years), Highland NHS Board area (3.7 years) and Mid Highland Community Partnership area (five years).
• The biggest improvements in female life expectancy were in City of Edinburgh Council area, increasing by 2.9 years, Lothian Health Board area, increasing by 2.6 years and Edinburgh Community Health Partnership area, increasing by 2.9 years.

At age 65

• Males in Scotland could expect to live for a further 16.8 years and females a further 19.3 years.
• East Dunbartonshire Council area had the highest male life expectancy at age 65 (18.9 years), 4.6 years higher than in Glasgow City, where it was lowest at 14.3 years. Female life expectancy at age 65 was also highest in East Dunbartonshire (21.1 years) and lowest in Glasgow City (17.8 years), a difference of 3.3 years.

View the report

Research Data MANTRA is a course designed for PhD students and others who are planning a research project using digital data.

This is a non-credit, free course which provides guidelines for good practice in research data management.  The course is particularly appropriate for postgraduate students and early career researchers who work with data and would like to learn more about managing their research data. The course content is mainly geared for three disciplines: geosciences, social and political sciences and clinical psychology, however, many of the issues covered apply equally to all research disciplines.

Further details and access the course

This 4 day workshop will take place at the University of Glasgow.

Details of the event available on the events page.

Today, Tuesday 27th September, the ESRC announced the call for the UK Data Service Census support service  to deliver data access and user support to Census data. The Service will deliver specialist user support and bespoke interface and analysis tools for, area, digital boundary, interaction and micro data from the 2011 Census and earlier UK Censuses of Population.

At present access to Census data is delivered through the ESRC 2001 Census Programme. The Programme provides academic access, expert user support and the representation of academic census user requirements to the census organisations through a network of data support units and a co-ordinator. The current phase of the Programme has seen the establishment of Research Support Units for each of the three regional Census Longitudinal Studies. Their introduction not only provided further opportunity to increase access and use of Census data, but the investment also forms part of our broader strategic  drive on data linkage.

We are now commissioning a new UK Data Service that will unify and extend the existing functionality offered by our data services, including functions currently provided by the 2001 Census Programme, and will provide simpler and seamless access to data resources in order to maximise their use and impact. The Census support service will be one of a series of value added services commissioned to focus on specialist user support, and bespoke interface and analysis tools for complex or very heavily used datasets. These services will also promote access to new forms of data to extend their research opportunities; and explore different ways of exploiting and handling various types of data. Whilst contracted separately, the Census support service will form part of the UK Data Service.

The Census support service call has a budget of £2 million. Proposals should be costed at 100 per cent full Economic Cost (fEC), and the ESRC will meet 80 per cent of the fEC (exceptions to this are detailed in the ESRC Research Funding Guide). Our contribution will not exceed £2 million.

Full proposals must be submitted to the ESRC via the Joint Electronic Submission System (Je-S) by 16.00 on 13 December 2011. If you are not currently Je-S registered and intend to apply, please ensure that you allow sufficient time for registration as no extensions to the deadline will be permitted. Hard-copy, faxed or e-mail applications will not be accepted.
Research Support Units for the England and Wales; Scotland; and Northern Ireland Census Longitudinal Studies and the UK Census Longitudinal Study Development Hub

We will shortly be announcing a call for Research Support Units for the England and Wales; Scotland; and Northern Ireland Census Longitudinal Studies.

Further information

ISD Scotland released a series of health statistics on 30th August 2011.

Click on the link below to access ISD Scotland’s website where details of each publication along with a link to the statistics are provided.
http://www.isdscotland.org

InFuse is a new interface to UK Census aggregate datasets making it easier to search data across datasets and interpret the data by providing metadata bundled withj the data downloads.

Further information:
http://infuse.mimas.ac.uk/index.html

The Centre for Multilevel Modelling have released MLwiN 2.24. It is now possible to read Stata 12 data sets from MLwiN. For further details of other new features and bug fixes go to:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/bugs/fixes.html

Upgrade to latest version:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/download/upgrades.html

About MLwiN:  http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/

ESRC-SG student internship scheme 2012
Internships with the Scottish Government in 2012 are offered in the following areas:

• Internship with the Strategic Research Team
• Internship with the Social Research and Analysis in Government Unit (two or three internships)
• Reporting findings from the 2010-11 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey’s self-completion drug use module
• Public attitudes to sentencing
• Analytical support for the Reassuring the Public Programme on the Justice System
• An analytical assessment of the Implications of the Hills Review of Fuel Poverty for Scotland
• An evidence review and economic assessment of the costs and benefits of different approaches to providing heat and power in housing
• Examining the housing challenges from a care in the home policy environment in 2012
• Housing research
• Parenting - The role of fathers
• Exploring Scottish data on the impact of multiple discrimination
• Exploring the impact of domestic abuse
• Social profiling of fisheries communities
• Scottish Health Survey secondary analysis
• Research and analysis in the area of health and community care services
• Support for the Climate Change Behaviours Research Programme
• Analysis of the Scottish Public Bodies Corporate Benchmarking Survey
• Stimulating innovation within Public Sector Procurement
• Consultancy and corporate priorities (up to four internships)
• Commonwealth Games Legacy (two internships)
• International engagement and international development (two or three internships)
• Concepts of national identity in contemporary Scotland
• Energy in Scotland Analysis and Interpretation
• Analytical Support for the Police Service (two internships)
• A pool of successful students who are open to consider internships in any area of the Scottish Government during 2012.

ESRC-funded PhD Students who will be in their second or third year of study between January and October 2012 are invited to apply for opportunities outlined below under the following categories:

1. Application for a specific project in a Directorate from the list of projects described.
2. Application for consideration for inclusion in a ‘pool’ of PhD students who are willing to consider Internships in any area of the Scottish Government, and on any projects, which may arise during 2012

Please see attached document for full details.

An explanation of what weights are and details on how to perform weighted analyses in MLwiN, along with the results of a simulation study that tested the performance of MLwiN's weighting facility. 

Further details:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/support/support-faqs/weights.html

Scotland's Chief Statistician has published Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2010-11. The publication presents statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the eight Scottish police forces in 2010-11.

The figures show that the total number of crimes recorded by the police decreased by 4 per cent between 2009-10 and 2010-11. In 2010-11, the Scottish police recorded 323,060 crimes.

The main findings are:

• The number of violent crimes (non-sexual crimes of violence) recorded by the police increased by 2 per cent between 2009-10 and 2010-11, to a total of 11,438.
• The number of sexual crimes (crimes of indecency) increased by 1 per cent, from 6,458 in 2009-10 to 6,509 in 2010-11.
• The number of crimes of dishonesty increased by 2 per cent to stand at 155,870 cases in 2010-11.
• Recorded cases of vandalism (including fire-raising and malicious mischief) decreased by 12 per cent to total 82,020 in 2010-11.
• Other recorded crimes (including drug offences, crimes against public justice and offensive weapons offences) decreased by 9 per cent to total 67,223 in 2010-11.
• The clear-up rate for all recorded crimes in 2010-11 was 49 per cent, which is the same as in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
• The clear-up rate in 2010-11 for non-sexual crimes of violence is higher than in 2009-10, increasing from 67 per cent to 72 per cent. The rate for crimes of dishonesty has decreased by 1 percentage point and the rates for fire-raising and vandalism and for miscellaneous offences have decreased by 1 percentage point each. The rates for crimes of indecency and the other crimes group remain unchanged from the previous year
• In 2010-11 the police recorded 530,436 offences, a decrease of 6 per cent from the number in 2009-10.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/09/06091156

Socio-Economic Statistician / Senior Socio-Economic Statistician

Starting Salary £26,610 - £29,566 / £33,780 - £37,534 -- plus contributory public sector pension

Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland (BioSS) has an international reputation for methodological development in statistics, mathematical modelling and bioinformatics.  BioSS offers a stimulating working environment, with over 30 staff at four different locations, working on applications in plant science, animal health and welfare, ecology & environmental science and nutrition & human health.

We seek a quantitative scientist with excellent technical and interpersonal skills to be based in BioSS’s Edinburgh office. The post-holder will act as a focal point for statistical inputs to socio-economic research. Activities will include: collaboration with and provision of advice to researchers at partner institutions; development of statistical methods applicable to aspects of animal disease surveillance; development of an area of personal research which addresses methodological issues arising in these collaborations. Much of this work will be undertaken as part of a Scottish Government initiative to reduce the impact of animal disease outbreaks, to be delivered by the continuation of a current collaboration between research institutes and universities on epidemiology, population health and disease control.

Applicants should have: 

* a strong statistical background; 
* enthusiasm for promoting the benefits of statistical thinking in a research environment; 
* experience of methodological development and collaboration with scientists substantiated by a record of scientific publications for appointment at the senior grade.

Further information on the above post, including how to apply, is available on the BioSS website at http://www.bioss.ac.uk/vacancies.html

Closing date - Friday 23rd September 2011, Interview date 4th October 2011.

Post Ref - BioSS/4/11. Potential applicants may contact Dr Iain McKendrick, (i.mckendrick@bioss.ac.uk), tel +44 (0) 131 650 4894), in confidence to discuss the post. 

The following new studies have been released:

SN 6845  Kids' Life and Times Survey, 2011
SN 6685  Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 2009-2010
SN 6855  Taking Part: the National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport, 2010-2011; Adult and Child Data
SN 6847  Millennium Cohort Study: Third Survey Teacher Survey and Foundation Stage Profile, 2006
SN 6848  Millennium Cohort Study: Fourth Survey Teacher Survey, 2008
SN 6854  ONS Opinions Survey, December 2008
SN 6829  ONS Opinions Survey, October 2009
SN 6828  ONS Opinions Survey, September 2009
SN 6825  ONS Opinions Survey, March 2009
SN 6826  ONS Opinions Survey, July 2009
SN 6827  ONS Opinions Survey, August 2009
SN 6812  Renaissance Hub Museum Exit Survey, 2008-2009
SN 6811  Renaissance Hub Museum Exit Survey, 2007-2008
SN 6813  Renaissance Hub Museum Exit Survey, 2009-2010

The following new editions have been released:

SN 6721  Annual Population Survey, 2004-2010: Secure Data Service Access
SN 6727  Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 1992-2010: Secure Data Service Access

For the latest information on all ESDS International data portfolio updates, visit http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/dataupdate.asp

To order or to view further information on these data collections, or for access to the whole collection, please see the online catalogue web page:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/search/searchStart.asp

The presentation slides from our recent showcasing UK administrative data conference are now available to download from the ADLS website. 

The conference was attended by over 130 people from a wide variety of backgrounds including government, academic, charity and private sectors.

The slides can be downloaded from here:

http://www.adls.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ADLS-conference-slides-portfolio.pdf

1. HMRC Datalab

The HMRC Datalab is a new Research Data Centre that allows access to anonymised HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) data for approved academic researchers in a secure environment that is consistent with HMRC data security policy.  The aim of the HMRC Datalab is to produce high quality academic research that will benefit both the department and the wider research community, helping HMRC to make the most of the data it collects.  Datasets currently held in the Datalab include Corporation Tax, VAT, Stamp Duty Land Tax and Trade Statistics.

2. Northern Ireland vital events data

The Department of Finance and Personnel collect a wide variety of demographic administrative data for Northern Ireland.  Two of their main administrative datasets are the Birth Registrations and Death Records.  The Birth Registrations data contains information on a person's date and place of birth, sex, parental names and occupation.  The Death Records contains information on the data and place of death, name, sex, age, occupation and cause of death.

For full information on these updates including how to apply to use the Datalab and how to access the Northern Ireland vital events data please visit www.adls.ac.uk.

We have some funding remaining for students of our MSc in Statistics programme at the University of St Andrews. As such, further applications are encouraged from EU/UK candidates with a good undergraduate degree in Statistics/Mathematics with a strong statistical component.

Applicants may qualify for a fees scholarship, with the possibility of a stipend for UK applicants.

The research interests of the Statistics Division can be found here:
http://creem2.st-andrews.ac.uk/ & http://www-maths.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/pg/statistics/index.shtml.

Applications can be made here: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/admissions/pg/apply/

Informal enquiries can be made to PGStats@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk

New from Stata Press!

Flexible Parametric Survival Analysis Using Stata: Beyond the Cox Model by Patrick Royston and Paul C. Lambert is now available from Stata Press.

The Stata technical group offers the following comments about the book:

Researchers wanting to fit regression models to survival data have long faced the difficult task of choosing between the Cox model and a parametric survival model such as Weibull. Cox models can be fit using Stata's *stcox* command, and parametric models are fit using *streg*, which offers five parametric forms in addition to Weibull. Although the Cox model makes minimal assumptions about the form of the baseline hazard function, prediction of hazards and other related functions for a given set of covariates is hindered by this lack of assumptions; the resulting estimated curves are not smooth and do not possess information about what occurs between the observed failure times. Parametric models offer nice, smooth predictions by assuming a functional form of the hazard, but often the assumed form is too structured for use with real data, especially if there exist significant changes in the shape of the hazard over time. This text is concerned with obtaining a compromise between Cox and parametric models that retains the desired features of both types of models. The book is aimed at researchers who are familiar with the basic concepts of survival analysis and with Stata's *stcox* and *streg* commands. As such, it is an excellent complement to /An Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata by Cleves et al. (2010).

This book is written for Stata 12 but is fully compatible with Stata 11. Much of the text is dedicated to estimation with Royston-Parmar models using the *stpm2* command, which is maintained by the authors and available from the Statistical Software Components (SSC) archive. Royston-Parmar models are highly flexible alternatives to the exponential, Weibull, loglogistic, and lognormal models (fit using *streg*) that allow extension from proportional hazards to proportional odds and to scaled probit models. Additional flexibility is obtained by the use of restricted cubic spline functions as alternatives to the linear functions of log time used in standard models. The authors demonstrate fitting these models and graphing predicted hazards, cumulative hazards, and survival functions with real data from breast cancer and prostate cancer studies. After some introductory material on the motivation behind flexible parametric models and on working with survival data in Stata, the authors proceed by demonstrating that Cox models may instead be expressed as Poisson models by splitting the time scale at the observed failures. The Poisson-model expression allows extension by changing how the time scale is split and by introducing restricted cubic splines and fractional polynomials. Royston-Parmar models are then introduced, followed by material on model building and diagnostics for these models. Considerable attention is then given to time-dependent effects, how these may be modeled, and how to interpret the graphs of the predicted functions the models produce. This material is followed by a chapter on relative survival models such as those used for population-based cancer studies. This chapter is very thorough, relates well to the previous material, and is an ideal introduction for those new to the concepts of relative survival and excess mortality. The final chapter is devoted to advanced topics such as determining the number needed to treat (NNT), handling multiple-event data, and analyzing competing risks.

Visit the Stata Press website to view the table of contents or to place an order.

BIS has announced a consultation on statistics that measure the progress of children from disadvantaged backgrounds to higher education. The consultation document is available on the BIS website here.

The consultation is aimed to help maximise the usefulness and accessibility of the Official Statistics published on widening participation, and closes on 1 August 2011. The "Full-time young participation by socio-economic class (FYPSEC)" statistic has been published annually in an Official Statistics release produced by the Higher Education Analysis division of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The consultation relates to changes to this publication.

Statistical Project - £10,000

A research assistant or advanced PhD student with highly developed quantitative skills is required together with a local supervisor, to undertake the construction of norms for a reading test. The work needs doing within the next 3 months. £10,000 is available for this work, divided between research assistant and supervisor as they agree. Two sets of data are available as csv files. These require a little cleaning and the computing of a few new variables. Standardised Scores, Percentile Ranks and Reading Ages are to be developed. A few minor analyses are also requested (variation by gender and region, split-half reliability). Test-retest reliability could be analysed if time permitted.

Please express your interest by July 16th, sending to Professor Keith Topping, University of Dundee, k.j.topping@dundee.ac.uk, indicating name and status of research assistant and supervisor and (briefly) relevant expertise. Expressions of interest will be reviewed on July 17th, when a full specification will be available.

The new CASS (Courses in Applied Social Surveys) short course programme for 2011/12 is now out and includes courses on:       

• Longitudinal Data Analysis
  Prof. Peter Smith, Dr. Ann Berrington and Dr. Marcel Vieira. 29 June - 1 July 2011. University of Southampton       
• Questionnaire Design
  Dr. Pamela Campanelli. 3 - 4 October 2011. Cardiff University
• Questionnaire Design
  Dr. Pamela Campanelli. 10 - 11 November 2011. Queens University Belfast        
• Survey Data Analysis I: Introducing Descriptive & Inferential Statistics
  Dr. Gabriele B. Durrant and Olga Maslovskaya. 23 - 25 November 2011        
• Structural Equation Modelling for Cross-Sectional Data
  Katy Sindall. University of Southampton. Autumn 2011 (TBC)       
• Applied Multilevel Modelling
  Dr Ian Brunton-Smith and Dr. Gabriele B. Durrant. 25 – 27 January 2012.
  University of Southampton       
• Survey Data Analysis II: Introduction to Linear Regression Modelling
  Dr Nikos Tzavidis and Dr Olga Maslovskaya. 29 February - 2 March 2012.
  University of Southampton       
• Handling Nonresponse in Sampling Surveys
  Prof. Jelke Bethlehem and Dr. Fannie Cobben. 5 - 6 March 2012.
  University of Southampton       
• Essentials of Survey Design and Implementation
  Dr. Pamela Campanelli. 18 - 20 April 2012. Medical Research Council, London 
• Structural Equation Modelling for Cross-Sectional and Panel Data
  Prof. Patrick Sturgis. 25 - 27 April 2012 (TBC).University of Southampton    
• Regression Methods
  Dr Denise Silva. 1 - 3 May 2012. University of Southampton       
• Longitudinal Data Analysis: Population Average and Random Effects Models
  Prof. Peter Smith, Dr. Ann Berrington and Dr. Marcel Vieira. 27 - 29 June 2012. University of Southampton        
• Analysis of Complex Sample Survey Data
  Dr. Brady T. West. 16 - 17 July 2012. University of Southampton       

CASS is a programme of short courses covering topics in survey design, data collection and data analysis methods. Courses are aimed at academic social scientists and applied researchers in government, market research and the independent and voluntary sectors. Teaching is interactive and responsive to course participants' needs. All courses include practical sessions or computer workshops to enable participants to put the learned methods into practice.      

Further information on all CASS courses and online registration can be found at www.southampton.ac.uk/cass

If you have any further questions please contact us at cass@southampton.ac.uk        
As places are limited and these courses are popular it is advisable to register as early as possible. Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 5376 Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 5763 Email: cass@southampton.ac.uk         
Course Fees:        

£30 per day for UK-registered students.
£60 per day for staff from UK academic institutions, ESRC funded researchers and charities. £220 per day for all other participants.    

Changes to the above information may occur. Please check the CASS website for updates : www.southampton.ac.uk/cass       

Applications are invited for two Post Doctoral Research Fellows in the School of Law, University of Edinburgh.

Post Doctoral Research Fellow:

This one-year position is open to a dynamic, committed and enthusiastic scholar working in one or more of the areas of research strengths of the School and who will have completed their doctoral viva or submitted their thesis by 31 December 2011. The Fellowship is designed to give the successful candidate the opportunity to maximise the outputs from, and impact of, doctoral work and to further develop research and interpersonal skills. The Fellow will work closely with an established scholar in the field who will act both as mentor and a potential collaborator for future work.

The successful candidate will present a coherent plan of work for the Fellowship period and beyond, including key deliverables such as the production of a monograph and/or peer-reviewed publications. 20% of the Fellowship will involve close working with the School of Law Research Office on research skills development. You may direct informal enquiries about the post to Professor Graeme Laurie(Graeme.Laurie@ed.ac.uk).

As an enthusiastic, articulate and adaptable graduate educated to doctoral level in law, you will bring excellent research, writing and interpersonal skills and a detailed knowledge of EU law – primarily EU substantive/free movement and EU competition law – to the post. You will be principally responsible for a research scoping study, exploring the ways in which ‘proof’ is handled by the European Court of Justice, especially in the context of rationalising derogations from EU free movement law in contrast to the more empirical approach adopted under EU competition law.

The key objective of this scoping research study is to explore whether there are discernible standards and patterns in the Court’s treatment of evidence or proof in these fields, contributing in turn to a bigger research project to be developed from these themes. You may direct informal enquiries about the post to Professor Niamh Nic Shuibhne(niamh.nicshuibhne@ed.ac.uk).

How to apply:

Applications for both positions are invited for the closing date of 30 June 2011(5pm).

These positions are full time and are available from 1 September 2011 for twelve months.

Appointments will be made on the UE07 scale (£29,853-£35,646).

We encourage all applicants to apply online at http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/. You will receive email confirmation of safe receipt of your application.

Opportunities for four placement fellowships in the Welsh Government are available in the following projects:

• Improving Research Access to Potentially Disclosive Data for Wales
  - Data Access Fellowship (WAG1)
• Maximising the Use of Existing Administrative Data Sets for Wales through Data Linking
  - Data-linking Fellowship (WAG2)
• Maximising the Use of Existing Administrative and Survey Data Sets for Wales
  - (WAG3)
• Maximising the Use of Existing Administrative Data Sets for Wales through Computer Modelling and Simulation
  - Computer Modelling and Simulation Fellowship (WAG4)

See attachments for details of each.

School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow.

Applications are invited for 4 fully funded MSc places in Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Glasgow. The courses start in September 2011, and successful candidates can study on any one of our five taught Master’s degrees, namely:

• MRes in Advanced Statistics
• MSc in Biostatistics
• MSc in Environmental Statistics
• MSc in Social Statistics
• MSc in Statistics

The first of these degrees is aimed at students with an honours degree (e.g. in Mathematics) which has a substantial Statistics component. The remaining four can be attended by graduates in any discipline who have some mathematical background. Further details of these courses are available from our website at

http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/mathematicsstatistics/postgraduate/

In addition, suitably qualified candidates could enrol on the MSc in Statistics by research if an appropriate project and supervisor can be found.

The Statistics group at the University of Glasgow is internationally renowned for its research excellence, and has a vibrant community of around 30 postgraduate students. Our research strengths include statistical methodology, biostatistics and environmental statistics, and further details can be found at:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/mathematicsstatistics/research/

These fully funded places cover all University fees (at the UK/EU rate), as well as a stipend at the EPSRC rate, which last year was £13,590.

Informal enquires should be directed to Professor John McColl

Formal applications should be made on-line at:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/howtoapplyforataughtdegree/

Your application should include a C.V. as well as details of two academic referees. There is no formal deadline for applications for these degree programmes, but we expect to make decisions on the funded places at the beginning of June 2011.

The Charity Commission are responsible for the registration and regulation of applraximately 180,000 cahrities in England and Wales and for maintaining a public Register of Charities.  The Register contains comprehensive infomration about each charity including purpose, main client group, areas of operation, income and expenditire, employee and volunteer numbers.

Full details about the Charity Commission Register including information on how to make an application to access the data is available from the ADLS website.

New Software Relase - MLwiN 2.23

For details of bug fixes:  http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/bugs/fixes.html

To upgrade to the latest version:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/download/upgrades.html

New Realcom user forum

A Realcom section has been created within the MLwiN user forum:

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=ae7f518c7b36cf7b8f5ecbf9aba496ed

You can view this forum as a guest or log in to post or answer questions about Realcom or Realcom-Impute

The following new studies have been released:

SN 6748  Benefits and Costs of Knowledge and Technology Transfer: a Panel Data Analysis, 1985-2007

SN 6760  National Child Development Study: Sweeps 1-6, 1958-2000, Self-Reported Measures

SN 6757  European Values Study: Wave 4, Great Britain, 2009-2010

SN 6651  British Business and Public Policy: the Informational and Structural Determinants of Political Influence, 2007-2009

SN 6756  Smart Enforcement in Environmental Legal Systems: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Regulatory Satellite Monitoring in Australia, 2009-2010

SN 6694  Offshoring and Outsourcing Innovation? The New Challenge for Multinationals, 2007-2010

SN 6753  Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies, 2009

For the latest information on all ESDS International data portfolio updates, visit http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/dataupdate.asp

To order or to view further information on these data collections, or for access to the whole collection, please see the online catalogue web page:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/search/searchStart.asp

The following new studies have been released:-

SN 6755  Annual Population Survey, October 2009 - September 2010: Special Licence Access
SN 6752  National Child Development Study: Understanding Individual Behaviour, 2010
SN 6754  Annual Population Survey, October 2009 - September 2010
SN 6655  Living Costs and Food Survey, 2009
SN 6733  Citizenship Survey, 2009-2010

For the latest information on all ESDS International data portfolio updates, visit http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/dataupdate.asp

To order or to view further information on these data collections, or for access to the whole collection, please see the online catalogue web page:
http://www.esds.ac.uk/search/searchStart.asp

Scotland's Chief Statistician has published Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2009-10. This publication presents the latest figures on racist incidents recorded by Scottish Police Forces.

The main findings are:

• There were 4,952 racist incidents recorded in 2009-10, compared to the 5,143 incidents recorded in 2008-09. This equates to a four per cent decrease on 2008-09
• The number of crimes decreased in 2009-10 (from 6,615 crimes in 2008-09 to 5,819 crimes in 2009-10), which equates to a decrease of twelve per cent
• In 2009-10, around 98 per cent of incidents recorded resulted in one or more crimes being recorded
• The most frequently recorded crime in 2009-10 was racially aggravated conduct, accounting for 65 per cent of all crimes recorded as part of racist incidents
• In 2009-10, around 48 per cent of victims, for whom ethnic origin was known, were of Asian origin (that is, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese or other Asian), with the majority being Pakistani
• For those incidents in 2009-10, where perpetrator information was available, approximately 96 per cent of perpetrators, for whom ethnic origin was known, were of white origin

Statistical data in this Bulletin is reported on a financial year basis. Statistics from April 2004 to March 2010 are available in the Bulletin, with statistics for financial year 2003-04 available on request.

In response to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the then Scottish Executive produced an action plan to progress the recommendations set out in the MacPherson report, which included the setting up of a statistical collection covering racist incidents.

The definition of a racist incident, as given by Sir William MacPherson in his Report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, is:

"A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person."

In the context of the data for this bulletin, the above definition was used.

The statistics reported here are based on a simple count of the number of racist incidents recorded by the police and the crimes, victims and perpetrators arising from these incidents. Only returns from the eight Scottish police forces are included in this bulletin.

In one incident, one or more victims may be involved, and one or more perpetrators. There may be no criminal element, or several crimes or offences may occur.

The detailed classification of crimes and offences used by the Scottish Government to collect criminal statistics contains about 360 codes.

In Scotland, assault is a common law offence. In order to distinguish between serious and minor assaults, police forces use a common definition of what constitutes a serious assault.

'Minor assault', as defined by the Scottish Government, is any assault which does not fall into the following definition of Serious Assault:

'An assault in which the victim sustained an injury resulting in detention in hospital as an in-patient or any of the following injuries whether or not detained in hospital: fractures, severe concussion, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, lacerations requiring sutures which may lead to impairment or disfigurement, or any other injury which may lead to impairment or disfigurement.

Download the full bulletin

NCRM bursaries of up to £1,000 per person are available to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills in research methods.

Read further and apply

The Department of Sociology invites applications for fully-funded Masters and PhD studentships in quantitative sociology or survey methodology. Programmes are either for four years, including a one-year Masters, or three years, for applicants who already have research methods training at postgraduate level.
                                                           
Students can choose from several Masters degrees, leading on to a PhD based in the Department of Sociology (Quantitative Sociology) or ISER (Survey Methodology). Masters degrees are available as standalone one-year degrees, but without ESRC funding.                                                   
ISER: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees       

Sociology: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/prospective/Research_Degrees/ 
      
Masters: http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/prospective/PG_Programmes/
              
For more information about our ESRC studentships, eligibility and available funding, please see: www.essex.ac.uk/dtc.
                                               
You will need a formal offer of a postgraduate place at Essex before you can be considered. You can apply online for postgraduate study at Essex at: www.essex.ac.uk/pgapply and then apply for these studentships.
                                     
You should submit your application for postgraduate study by 28 April 2011 at the very latest, to ensure you meet our subsequent ESRC funding application deadline of 13 May 2011.                                   

Realcom no longer support original mixed-responses module of Realcom as the functionality is included in Realcom-Impute.  Because of this the original REalcom installer has been split into realcom-factor and realcom-measerr.  Further details

Realcom-Impute: A bug that can affect the covariance estimates for discrete responses has been fixed - an updated version fo the software is now available from Realcom Imputation.

ONS are undertaking a consultation on the future of the GHS/GLF. This is a vitally important consultation as the survey series will be discontinued if users do not indicate an overriding need for the survey.  The consultation is open for 12 weeks until the 6th May and can be accessed at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/about/consultations/open-consultations/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/

Please note, that this is a specific consultation on the future of the GHS/GLF.  Comments made in the more general consultation from December last year will be rolled forwards and do not need to be made again.

A further opportunity to make your voice heard on the future of the survey will be the at the GHS/GLF user meeting on Wednesday 23 March 2011 at the Royal Statistical Society, London. To view the programme for the meeting and book a place please go to:

www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2011-03-23/

Book now to avoid disappointment.

The University of Edinburgh Business school are advertising a post for a Lecturer in Management Science.

Details concerning the job can be found at http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk.  Vacancy number 3014172

Closing date for applications 31 March

The University of Edinburgh is currently seeking applicants for the MSc in Social Research for September 2011.

Thsi postgraduate degree is ideal for combining a postgraduate researcg methods training with work-based social research, also on a part tie basis.  Candidiates can specialiize in quantitative methods.

This degree can be taken as the "1" part of  "1 + 3 ESRC funding" via the newly formed Scottish Doctoral Training Centre.

Further details.

For further information contact Alison Koslowski

The 2011 3-day inter-disciplinary Conference will gather together an international group of researchers who have expertise in the linkage of administrative or routine data for health research or health care improvement. Seminars will cover the value of record linkage in health research, the use of routinely collected data in clinical trials, governance of health related research and methodological challenges of record linkage.

Abstracts for the conference must be submitted by the 1st April 2011.

The Centre for Multilevel modelling announce the publication or their new website:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/

MLwiN's new address is

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/software/mlwin/

If you visit the old web site you will be redirected automatically to the new one. Everything that was on the old site is now here, mostly within the same structure, it is just the address that has changed -  and we have a new simplified appearance.

We apologise for any inconvenience you may have in changing your bookmarks.

If there is anything you cannot find please let us know - email us at:
hilary.browne@bristol.ac.uk or info-cmm@bristol.ac.uk.

Dear multilevel modellers

We have three news items -

1) The CMM team have released a new on-line course module  - Module 8: "Multilevel Modelling in Practice: Research Questions, Data Preparation and Analysis Lesson"

In this module we consider the whole process of conducting a research project using multilevel modelling, taking as an example a study of ethnic differences in educational achievement and progress.

You will need to log on or register onto our course to view the full module. Further details can be found here:
http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/learning-training/course-topics.shtml#m08

2) Professor Fiona Steele, Dr George Leckie and Dr Mark McCann will be giving a workshop in Belfast on 13-14 April 2011 - "Introduction to Multilevel Modelling
in STATA"  Further details:http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/TandE/events2011/0413/index.php

3) Realcom Impute has been updated. A bug has been fixed in realcom-impute and realcom mixed response, that could have given incorrect values for some level 2 random effects associated with level 1 responses when level 1 categorical responses were present. Further details and to download Realcom Impute, go to:
http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/research/Realcom/imputation.shtml

The main objective of the 2011 Census is to provide high quality population statistics as required by a wide range of users including policy makers, service providers, academics, commercial enterprises and the general public. To achieve this, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) consults widely with users to make sure our census output products are relevant and practical for them to use. Further background on this programme of consultation can be found on the GROS website.

This current phase of consultation builds on the one we ran in spring 2010. In particular, it provides users with the following for review and comment

• a list of pre-defined tables where there have been significant revisions since 2001 in the underlying census questions, coding or definitions (and hence problems in comparing 2011 outputs with 2001); and

• draft outlines of some proposed new pre-defined tables based on suggestions made by users in the spring 2010 consultation for additional cross-tabulations (mainly those which relate to the questions being asked for the first time in 2011).

Getting Involved

To take part in this consultation please visit the GROS website  where all the detailed consultation documentation and guidance on how to participate can be found.

The consultation is open to everyone. The closing date for providing submissions is Thursday, 31st March 2011.

Should you have any queries regarding Scotland's outputs consultation or providing submissions,please email:
Census.Consultation@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester Universities have been jointly awarded an ESRC Doctoral Training Centre (NWDTC) through which 63 studentships are available, for students beginning their Doctoral training in October 2011. Up to four of these studentships are available at Lancaster for PhD projects in Quantitative Methods, and are open to candidates of any nationality. Lancaster has exceptional strength in quantitative methods for the social sciences, which is primarily based in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics or in the School of Health and Medicine.

In the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Applied Statistics group led by Prof. Brian Francis has a long-established reputation as one of the strongest research groups in Social Statistics, with a strong focus quantitative criminology, quantitative sociology, social research methods and social medicine. Current research areas include longitudinal latent variable techniques, latent transition analysis, IRT models, statistical modelling of longitudinal categorical data, statistical linguistics and financial statistics.

Joint supervision with a second supervisor in the relevant social science discipline is common. In the School of Health and Medicine, the CHICAS group led by Prof Peter Diggle has an international reputation in the development and application of spatial and longitudinal statistical methods and their substantive application in the health sciences, with a particular focus on social, environmental and tropical disease epidemiology. PhD projects are often linked to collaborative partners in the UK and internationally: current examples include the National Health Service and the Health Protection Agency (UK), the World Health Organisation (Switzerland), the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (Burkina Faso), Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Yale Universities (USA) and Fiocruz Research Foundation (Brazil).

Candidates for these studentships should provide a full CV together with a covering letter explaining their motivation for undertaking PhD studies and an indication of their specific interests within the general area of statistical methods relevant to the social sciences and/or in applications to particular areas of the social sciences. Applications involving the secondary analysis of survey and administrative datasets are particularly welcome.

Please send applications to Angela Mercer, Department of Maths and Statistics, Fylde College, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK (A.Mercer-at-Lancaster.ac.uk).

Informal inquiries about these studentships are encouraged by e-mail to either Brian Francis (b.Francis-at-Lancaster.ac.uk) or Peter Diggle (p.Diggle-at-lancaster.ac.uk). 

Short-listed candidates will be expected to refine their research proposals in consultation with their potential supervisors, with a view to making a full application to the university by 25 March 2011 Each studentship will include fees, an annual stipend of £16,590 and a travel/ research training support fund of approximately £1000.

Successful candidates will normally receive funding for either three or four years. Four-year awards will be structured as 1+3 years, consisting of a full-time taught MSc in the first year followed by three years of PhD study. In all cases continuation of the award beyond the first year will be subject to satisfactory academic progress.

Strathclyde University has a job opportunity for a post doc working in risk and reliability.

Research Associate
Theory and Applications of Risk and Reliability Analyses
Department of Management Science

You will preferably have a PhD in Operational Research, Probability or Statistics, and will join a lively group working in Management Science on theory and applications of risk and reliability analyses

This group has an international reputation, and works together with leading companies and agencies on a number of different applied and theoretical projects. The Strathclyde Risk Consortium brings together a number of businesses and government agencies to work with us on themes of common interest and to generate new research problems. We have externally funded research projects including an EPSRC-funded project on availability of wind turbines, where we work with the Strathclyde Institute for Energy and Environment and renewables companies, and a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Scottish Water

The Department of Management Science is one of the UK's leading OR departments, running amongst other things successful MScs in Operational Research and Business Analysis and Consulting

Details about the department can be found at http://www.managementscience.org

For an application pack visit http://vacancies.strath.ac.uk or contact Human Resources, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ. Tel. 0141 553 4133, quoting ref: JA/R1/2011.

Closing date: 09 February 2011.

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ACC987/research-associate/

A very small error has been discovered in some of the datazone rates and ranks associated with the annual update to the employment domain.

Please note that this is a minor error which only affects the rates and ranks of some of the relatively less deprived datazones in the employment domain annual update.

There is no impact on SIMD 2009 and the statistical bulletin associated with the annual updates is not affected.

Explanation

When the income and employment domain annual updates were published in October, only rates, and not counts, of deprived individuals were available in the datazone level background data.  More recently, we approached DWP so that we could add datazone level counts of income and employment deprived people to this background data.

While check these counts against the rates provisionally received some small inconsistencies were identified.  Unfortunately, upon further checking, DWP found that the employment domain rates which they had previously provided (and that had been published) were incorrect for 37 datazones.  This in turn has an impact upon the domain ranks for these datazones and a number of other surrounding datazones.

All of the datazones which have been affected are in deciles 9 and 10 and so any analysis of the most deprived datazones remains valid.

Corrected employment domain rates have now been published on the SIMD website, as have counts of income and deprived individuals.  These can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD/AnnualUpdates

If you have any questions regarding this please contact Andrew White.

CRFR announce their sixth new researchers in families and relationships conference  which will provide an opportunity to discuss research issues and present papers in a supportive environment.  The conference will include:

• Presentations by new researchers on either substantive topics, theoretical issues, or methodological issues or innovations
• Opportunities to discuss work and network with peers 
• Personal and career development opportunity in presenting research 
• Discussion of research issues with like-minded colleagues

This is a multi-disciplinary and cross-sector event.  Around fifty new researchers attended each of the previous events, with papers presented by new researchers from a range of voluntary organisations and academic disciplines and institutions.

Who are 'New Researchers'?
By new researchers we mean people who have been working in a research environment for 5 years or less. This can be either within or outside the academic sector including Ph.D. students, other postgraduate students, researchers/lecturers within five years of completing their Ph.D. and academics returning to research, and researchers from the voluntary sector, Local Government, National Government and the private sector.

Conference Venue
John McIntyre Centre, Pollock Halls of Residence, University of Edinburgh

Call for Papers
Abstracts of up to 250 words should be submitted by 31st January 2011 from new researchers who wish to present a conference paper. Abstracts should either be
submitted via our website (www.crfr.ac.uk) or emailed to crfr.events@ed.ac.uk

Costs
Registration fee of £95.00 includes buffet lunch and light refreshments. 

Further information please contact:
Laura Marshall, Training & Events Administrator
L.marshall@ed.ac.uk or 0131 651 3001

CRFR 10 years - exploring why relationships matter

The second call for applications to AQMeN's Collaborative Small Grants Scheme will close on 28th January 2011.

For further information click here.

The Centre for Multilevel Modelling would like to announce our latest MLwiN release - 2.22. 

Some minor bugs have been fixed - for further information on what has been fixed click here.

Upgrade to new release.

For anyone thinking of purchasing MLwiN, the license prices remain the same as for 2009 for the time being.  However, from the 4th January the prices have been affected by the VAT increase.

If you wish to order MLwiN, or check out the new manual pacakages that are available click here.

PhD Opportunity at the University of Aberdeen. Closing Date for applications is 28th February 2011.

Supervisor(s):
Dr D Jackson, Dr J Macdiarmid & Dr G McNeill

Funded by:
MRC-DTG

Eligibility:
Candidates must have a First Class Honours Degree or a Distinction at Masters level.

This studentship is open to UK citizens only.

For further information on eligibility visit:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/graduate/prospective/MRCFlagship.php

As well as receiving a funded studentship for four years, the successful student will have a place in the Aberdeen/MRC Flagship student leadership course.

Information:
Childhood obesity rates have risen steadily over the last few decades.  Increased TV viewing has been consistently shown to  be linked to increased body fatness in children and there is some evidence that the relationship may be stronger in younger children.  Childhood dietary patterns and TV viewing are related; however, what role this takes is unclear.  This project will investigate the diet and TV viewing relationship in more detail within families of young children and explore the family lifestyle attitudes and behaviours that could be mediating the TV viewing/diet relationship.  The ultimate aim is to develop an intervention aimed at TV viewing and dietary behaviours.  This PhD project would be 'Phase 1' in the intervention development in accordance with the MRC framework for complex interventions and would develop a greater understanding of the processes involved by gathering evidence of behaviours and mechanisms that influence outcomes (Campbell et al 2000, Craig et al 2008).

For further information and details on how to apply visit:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/graduate/researchdetails.php?ID=790

The latest edition of Scottish Transport Statistics was published today together with an update 
of Key transport statistics card. It includes: 

(a) a Summary section which describes trends over the past 10 years, compares key
statistics with figures for Great Britain and provides longer- term historical series; 

(b) chapters on Road transport vehicles, Bus and coach travel, Road freight, Road network, 
Road traffic, Reported injury road accidents, Rail services,  Air transport, Water transport, 
Finance and Personal and cross-modal travel;  

(c) a section on International Comparisons.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Transport-Travel/PubScotTrans

The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is offering training bursaries up to £1000 to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills.

Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries. Please note that the bursary scheme is open for applications throughout the year i.e. there are no deadlines for applications. For further information about the bursaries and to apply please see: www.ncrm.ac.uk/about/funding/training/

Watch the Joy of Stats preview: http://www.rssenews.org.uk/#joyofstats

BBC4 is screening the full programme, which is presented by Professor Hans Rosling at 2100hrs GMT on 7th December. 

Global health expert, Hans Rosling, who has become one of the world's leading data visualisation experts brought his inimitable presentation skills to the hour long programme and romped through the field of statistics with the help of RSS fellow David Spiegelhalter, the Society's archives and many other acclaimed researchers and scientists.

AQMeN's Director, Susan McVie, will address the Scottish Government Annual Statistics Conference at Pollock Halls in Edinburgh today. 

The title of the paper is 'Doing Justice to Statistics' and Professor McVie will share her experience as a user of crime and justice statistics, as well as highlighting some of the future challenges for users and producers of official statistics.

1) The Centre for Multilevel Modelling would like to announce our latest MLwiN release - 2.21. Some minor bug fixes have been introduced, e.g: Fixed offset display; Fixed crash when saving worksheets containing an MCMC run that had been loaded from a previous version. For further details of the bug fixes go to:-

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/MLwiN/bugs/fixes.shtml 

2) We have published two new on-line audio-visual presentations: "Random Intercept Models" and "Random Slope Models". Further details of these and our other audio-visual presentations can be found here:-

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/learning-training/videos/index.shtml

3) In October the University of Bristol hosted Harvard's Professor Don Rubin giving "Causal Inference" talks - Further details and download the presentations here:-

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/research/rss-users-group.shtml#rubin

4) Two-Day Course on Multilevel Modelling presented by the Centre for Multilevel Modelling's Harvey Goldstein and George Leckie, at the Royal Statistical Society in London.  Download further details here:-

http://www.rss.org.uk/docs/Multilevel_modelling_flyer_Nov10.doc

5) We have been compiling a Tribute Book for our late and much-missed colleague Jon Rasbash. The aim is to collect memories of him in his professional life, whether of collaborating with him, encountering him at a conference, attending one of his workshops, or even just having been influenced by his research. We want to preserve both an idea of the impact of his work but also a sense of what he was like personally. The finished Tribute Book will be given to his family, and a copy will also be kept at CMM. More details about the Tribute Book, including where to send submissions, can be found here:-

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/team/jon.shtml#tribute

The deadline for contributions is the end of this year.

University of St Andrews

We are looking to recruit a Research Fellow to the UK’s National Centre for Statistical Ecology (NCSE). The successful candidate will, jointly with supervisor and NCSE co-Director Steve Buckland (steve@mcs.st-and.ac.uk), coordinate two research themes across NCSE: biodiversity monitoring methodologies and spatial and spatio-temporal models for ecological communities. You will also carry out research on biodiversity monitoring methodologies, and on designed experiments in distance sampling.

You should have a PhD in Statistics or closely related discipline, and publications in top journals. A PhD or research publications in statistical ecology would be a strong advantage. You should have statistical programming experience, be an effective communicator, and have evidence of innovative research abilities. Start date:1 Jan 2011 or later. The duration of the post is 2.5 years Appointment will be at grade 7, start salary of £36,715 per annum, or, for a candidate with less experience or knowledge of the area, at grade 6, salary range £29,853 - £35,656 per annum. Closing date: 23 November 2010.

How to apply: online at https://www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/welcome.aspx or call +44 (0)1334 462571 for an application pack Please quote ref: JC7693

The NHS Information Centre Trusted Data Linkage Service has been developed to provide researchers with access to high quality health care data whilst maintaining patient confidentiality.

A range of data linkage services are provided including the linkage of preson identifiable datasets into an anonymised format.  This process effectively reduces the IT security level needed to carry out research, minimises the time and skill level needed by a researcher to successfully link datasets and improves the potential for health related research which might otherwise not have been possible.

Full details are provided on the ADLS website.

For further information, contact Darren Lightfoot.

13 October 2010: UNIDO INDSTAT2 now available at ESDS International 2010.

ESDS International hosted by Mimas at the University of Manchester is delighted to announce the release of UNIDO INSTAT2 database.

This new database is derived from the two existing databases INDSTAT3 and INDSTAT4 by ISIC Rev2 and Rev3. 

INDSTAT2 2010 Edition combines historical time series data from 1963 to 2008 for 161 countries.

INDSTAT2 is the largest industrial statistics database of its kind.  Unlike other presented by different classification standards for different time periods, INDSTAT2 provides data by a single classification standard for more than 40 years, which makes it particularly valuable for long-term structural analysis.  As with INDSTAT4, INDSTAT2 presents data for seven principle indicators:

• number of establishments
• employment
• wages and salaries
• output
• value added
• gross fixed capital formation
• number of female employees

The value figures are presented in current prices.  The database includes the index numbers of industrial production, which show the real growth of the volume of production by 2-digit of ISIC Rev3.

ESDS International provide the following guides for the UNIDO INDSTAT2 database:

• Software user guide
• Dataset user guide containing information on the topics and countries covered

All databases within the ESDS International data portfolio are full versions of the data and are freely available to students, researchers and staff at UK Further and Higher education institutions via federated access management authentication and ESDS online registration.

Note: We cannot provide data to users outside of this community due to the data re-distribution licence agreements we have with our data providers.

The UNIDO INSTAT2 database can be access via federated access management authentication.

If you have any problems finding and accessing the data or have any feedback on the service please contact us.

Mimas, The University of Manchester
Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6109
Email:international@esds.ac.uk
URL: www.esds.ac.uk/International

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has introduced a core set of questions to six of its UK population surveys.  The data for these core questions have been combined into a single dataset called the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). The first results from the Integrated Household Survey have been published by ONS today at:-

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15381

The core questions cover seven broad topic areas -- demographics, labour market,income, education & qualifications, housing, migration and health. A question on self identified sexual orientation has been introduced to the IHS following a substantial programme of work by the ONS to develop an acceptable question which would not have an adverse effect on survey response rates.  The IHS results contain the first official estimates of the proportion of the UK population who identify as Gay,Lesbian or Bisexual.

The total sample size of the IHS across the UK is almost 450,000 with a sample size in Scotland of 55,000.

The IHS results have been classified as 'experimental statistics' by ONS. Experimental statistics are new statistics undergoing evaluation. They are published in order to involve users and stakeholders in their development and as a means to build in quality. As such users should exercise some caution when analysing and interpreting IHS data.  As the data are experimental ONS recommends that any publication that includes IHS data should state the experimental branding.

Further information can be obtained from:-

Neil Bannister, 01633 455 704, neil.bannister@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Caroline Jones, 01633 456 734, caroline.jones@ons.gsi.gov.uk

The RSS is launching its 10 year campaign for statistical literacy on World Statistics Day: 20/10/2010. The vision for the campaign, known to its friends as "getstats", is "a society in which our lives and choices are enriched by an understanding of statistics".

For a chance to help shape the campaign and to ge involved, follow the link:- https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/36VNXGM to a short web questionnaire.

It will only take a few minutes. Any general questions about the campaign should be sent to:- getstats@rss.org.uk.

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is offering training bursaries up to £1000 to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries.  http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/about/funding/training/

CORE collects a wide variety of information at the point of letting. Examples include household profile (age, sex, ethnicity, nationality, economic status, occupation, whether any occupant is pregnant), income, reasons for leaving last home, previous housing situation, and homelessness status. It also provides details on the property being let including size,rent, reason for letting, length of void time, and location (including postcode).

It also provides details on the property being let including size, rent,reason for letting, length of void time, and location (including postcode).

The system has been extended over time and from the 1st April 2010 all social housing registered providers, whether a local authority, housing association or private provider with a stock of over 250 units must supply CORE data to the Tenant Services Authority.

Detailed information about CORE data is now available (including access procedures) on the ADLS website at www.adls.ac.uk.

www.adls.ac.uk

Telephone: 01334 46 3901

The UK Data Archive has launched a new website. The website has a clearer and more consistent feel, to present a more open and contemporary image of their role in the social sciences and research.

The new image and web presence portrays a unique identity for the Archive which differentiates it from the ESDS. The Archive runs other key research data and support services, including the ESRC Census portal, the Survey Question Bank, the Secure Data Service, the History Data Service and the RELU Data Support Service. They also engage in related research and development activities supported by the ESRC, JISC, EU and other funders.

1. There is a new look and feel to the site - including the logo and colour scheme

2. Site navigation has been simplified and improved

3. Data can no longer be searched or accessed on the UK Data Archive site. Instead the site is a portal to our varied data resources. Users are very clearly directed to the ESDS where data can be found and accessed, much as it is now

4. Our Managing & Sharing pages are now called Create & Manage, and while they may look different, the content is the same

5. We have a new series of case studies submitted by users featuring how they used our data.

We are sure this will enhance user experience, but understand there may be initial inconvenience as everyone becomes familiar with the new style and layout. Apologies for any inconvenience that does arise

Please direct any enquiries to the Archive Communications team at comms@data-archive.ac.uk

*DATA ARCHIVE*
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
WIVENHOE PARK
COLCHESTER
ESSEX
CO4 3SQ

*T* +44(0)1206 872145
*W* www.data-archive.ac.uk

Applications are invited from candidates with a higher degree and experience in managing eHealth research for a Senior Data Analyst.

This new post is part of an initiative to establish a Records Research Portal for Scotland and provide analytical and statistical support to the Edinburgh Node of the Scottish Academic Health
Sciences Collaboration and the eHealth research programme within the Centre for Population Health Sciences.

Roles will include database interrogation and analysis, and secondary analysis of routine data; facilitate synergistic working and thinking across projects; and to provide support with representation at national bodies. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to writing papers, help initiate new grant applications, provide support in the writing of new applications and lead the Edinburgh contribution to the development of national networks and systems for electronic records research.

Ideally you will have experience as a masters or higher qualification researcher, experience with grant-writing and have high level skills in database interrogation and analysis. This post is funded for 2 years. For informal discussion of the opportunities available please contact:

Professor David Weller, 0131 650 9518 - david.weller@ed.ac.uk or Professor Aziz Sheikh, 0131 650 8102 - aziz.sheikh@ed.ac.uk

For further particulars please contact: Jan Bunyan, 0131 650 9518 or visit www.jobs.ed.ac.uk – Ref: 3013098

Closing date: 13th August 2010
Interview Date: 26th August 2010
Salary: £29,853 to £35,646

We are delighted to announce that Susan McVie, Director of AQMeN, has been awarded a personal chair - Professor of Quantitative Criminology - from Edinburgh University's School of Law. 

As well as her role as Director of AQMeN, she is Co-Director of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a prospective longitudinal study of youth offending based at the University of Edinburgh since 1998. She has responsibility for strategic management of the research programme and plays a key role in advancing statistical analysis of the data and publishing the results of the research.  And she is Leader of the CJ-Quest network for the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, another collaborative initiative involving Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities in partnership with the other Scottish HEIs. The CJ-Quest network has responsibility for conducting and facilitating high quality quantitative criminological research in Scotland, and developing statistical analysis and data modelling.

The ESRC has established a Panel to review the ESRC/JISC Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS).  This review will inform ESRC's and JISC's decision on the continued funding of the Service beyond the current contract that will end in 2012.

The Panel is anxiuos to gather feedback about the ESDS from those who may have used it.  Users of the Service, including both depositors and researchers utilising the datasets, are invited to complete a short survey, the results of which will inform the Review Panel's work.  The Panel would welcome the views of anyone wishing to share feedback with them.

The questionnaire should take about ten minutes to complete and can be accessed using the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/ESDSUserSurvey

You can find out more about the ESDS an dthe services it provides at its website.

Administrative data,  such as hospital, education or social security records, offer powerful tools for social science research.  However gaining access to and using this type of data successfully requires specialist skills.  Data owners, for example, will expect a high level of data security awareness before they will release potentially disclosive, personal data to a researcher.

This new ESRC 'Safe Researcher' training course aims to fill this skills gap.  The course will provide researchers with the basic understanding, knowledge and skills to apply for and use administrative data for research confidently and responsibly.  The course has been endorsed by major holding organisations in the UK and a certificate of attendance will be provided that can then be used to support applications.

The 'Safe Searcher' course will initially run on 14th September in Manchester and be repeated in London on the 12th November 2010.  The course has been subsidised by the ESRC and costs just £35 to attend.

Please note that places are limited and early booking is advisable.  For full course details and to reserve a place please go to the ADLS website.

The course is provided by the ESRC's Administrative Data Liaison Service (ADLS).  The aim of the service is to help improve data resources for academic researchers in the UK.  The ADLS raises awareness and utility of administrative data for research purposes and offers guidance and support to enable researchers to use administrative data safely and securely.

For further information contact Darren Lightfoot, ADLS Manager, on 01334 463901 or email adls@st-andrews.ac.uk

On October 27th 2010 the first meeting of Mplus user's group: Exploring the boundaries of Mplus will take place at Utrecht University.

The aim of Mplus user group is to bring together users of Mplus and to share information, learn about new developments and discuss solutions for typical Mplus problems. 

Meetings will take place twice a year for all interested researchers applied researchers, statisticians & methodologists).

Every meeting will start with a key-note presentation in combination with a practical.  In the afternoon, two or three 'thirty-minute' presentations will discuss developments in Mplus.  The remainder of the day is scheduled for discussing Mplus problems and solutions.  Every researcher can shortly present a problem, error message or other modelling issues with the audience and receive instant feedback.

Details of the first user group meeting.

Chair of Science Education
Department of Educational and Professional Studies
Kings College London

Closing Date: 1st July 2010

The Department of Education and Professional Studies in the School of Social Science and Education Public Policy, wishes to appoint an individual to the established Chair in Science Education. 

King's College London has a national and international reputation for its work in science education and this post is the UK's most prestigious chair in this field.  The Department is seeking to appoint somebody with international renown and applicants should have a strong research  profile and the ability to contribute more generally to a Department with a strong research culture.

The individual appointed will be required to supervise PhD students, teach on Masters courses and to lead the Science and Technology Education Group.

DEPS is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in teaching and research in which the appointee will have a major role in providing academic leadership.  Individuals who are interested in making a contribution to a friendly and energetic department with a strong research culture should obtain further details and application forms from the website.

The appointment will be made, dependent on relevant qualifications and experience, within the Professional scale.  Benefits include a final salary superannuation scheme and annual season ticket loan scheme.

For an informal discussion of the post please contact Professor Chris Winch

Email: Christopher.Winch@kcl.ac.uk
Tel:      020 7848 3852

Further Details and applications are available on the College's website or by emailing Human Resources at strand-recruitment@kcl.ac.uk

All correspondence should clearly state the job title and reference number:

A9/DAE/165/10/JL

Salary: £36,716 - £43,840

Ref 72/10/*

Closing date: 25 June

Applications are invited for a permanent (tenured) lectureship in
actuarial/financial mathematics, quantitative risk management, and/or
allied disciplines including statistics and probability.

You will be expected to hold a PhD in a related subject, and/or a professional actuarial qualification. You will have a track record of internationally excellent research, and will have well formulated research plans including, where appropriate, interactions with industry and knowledge exchange. You will also be committed to excellence in teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

*For established academics who have already demonstrated sustained excellence in research leadership,we may consider appointment at a higher level.*

Please address* informal enquiries* to:

Professor of Actuarial Mathematics: Angus Macdonald

+44 (0)131 451 3209
Email A.S.Macdonald@hw.ac.uk

Professor of Applied Probability: Sergey Foss
+44 (0)31 451 3238
Email S.Foss@hw.ac.uk

Professor of Statistics: Gavin Gibson
+44 (0)131 451 3205
Email G.J.Gibson@hw.ac.uk

Salary: £36,715 - £45,155 per annum
Start: as soon as possible

Closing Date: 20th August 2010

A vacancy exists in the Statistics Division of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews.

You should hold a PhD in Statistics or a closely related discipline, have a track record of high quality research outputs in some branch of probability or statistics,and be a committed teacher.  Your research plans should include attracting research funding.

The Statistics Division forms part of the School of Mathematics and Statistics and has particular strength in the area of Statistical Ecology.

Further information

The following new edition has been released:

SN 6361 - Scottish Household
Survey, 2007-2008

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=6361

Reason:
For the second edition (June 2010), data and documentation from the main survey
and the culture and sport module have been added to the dataset, which
previously contained only the travel diary data and documentation.

Five new reports using data from the first four years of the Growing Up in Scotland study (GUS) were published on 29th April 2010. Full reports and Research Summaries are available from the GUS website  or from the Scottish Government website:

The circumstances of persistently poor children

Health inequalities in the early years

Maternal mental health and its impact on child behaviour and development

Children's social, emotional and behavioural characteristics at entry to primary school

Impact of the home learning environment on child cognitive development

GUS data is available to download from the UK Data Archive.

Data documentation and supporting information, including copies of the

questionnaires, is available from the Data Archive or from the GUS website

(Using GUS data button).

For more information, please contact:

Lesley Kelly

GUS Dissemination Officer

CRFR, University of Edinburgh

Lesley.kelly@ed.ac.uk

ISD Scotland released a series of health statistics on Tuesday 25th May 2010.

Details of each publication along with a link to the statistics are provided on ISD Scotland's website.

The University of St Andrews has a number of funded MSc places for 2010/2011. It would be appreciated if this information could be passed to potential candidates.

In brief, we have two 1-year taught MSc programmes:

The MSc in Statistics. A course of advanced study (and research dissertation) for candidates with a good undergraduate degree in statistics. Full fees and good stipend, subject to eligibility.

The MSc in Applied Statistics and Data Mining. A prescriptive course of applied statistical study (and research dissertation) for those with a good quantitative undergraduate degree, seeking work in commercial analysis. Full fees and modest stipend, subject to eligibility. Course details can be found here
http://www.creem.st-and.ac.uk/datamining/


Eligibility for the studentships is limited to UK/EU residents.

Enquiries can be made to Andrew Tiftickjian - 
amt21@st-andrews.ac.uk

The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Kent has EPSRC funding available to support UK students on our MSc Statistics course for the coming academic year. The grants will cover the costs of tuition and pay a contribution towards living expenses. EU students are eligible for tuition fees only. Students from outside the EU are not eligible. Under a separate scheme, we also have a small number of £500 bursaries available without eligibility restrictions.

The MSc in Statistics at Kent is a long-established programme, accredited by the Royal Statistical Society, which trains statisticians for posts in industry, government, research and
teaching.

The course covers both the practical application of statistical methods and the underlying theory and consists of a mixture of compulsory and optional modules, as well as a substantial individually-supervised project. Full details are available at www.kent.ac.uk/ims/statistics/courses/MSc-stats.html

There is a wide choice of project topics, reflecting the diverse interests of staff. The Statistics Group at Kent was ranked highly in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, with 65% of research judged to be world leading or internationally excellent. Areas of particular strength include Bayesian statistics, bioinformatics, biometry, nonparametric methods and statistical ecology. For further information, please contact the Admissions Officer,Martin Ridout, msr@kent.ac.uk.

To make an online application, go to
https://records.kent.ac.uk/external/admissions

Statisticians, journalists and scientists today launch Making Sense of
Statistics, a guide that provides a few questions you can ask and outlines
the pitfalls to look out for when weighing up claims that use statistics.
Making Sense of Statistics is published by Sense About Science and Straight
Statistics in collaboration with the Royal Statistical Society.

http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/484/

There is also a short report, "Making Sense of Statistics in an election".

ISLP is managed by Reija Helenius, Head of Development, Information Services Unit of Statistics, Finland. 

The mission of the project is to support, create and participate in statistical literacy activities and promotion around the world.

Dr Margaret MacDougall, Medical Statistician and Researcher at the University of Edinburgh has the role of endeavouring to advance statistical literacy in Scotland.

The first ISLP Newsletter is to be released in May.  At this stage they are seeking information on recent or upcoming activities (including development of learning tools), events or publications, of relevance to the advancement of statistical literacy in Scotland.  If you would like to provide such details for publication in the newsletter, please contact Margaret MacDougall no later than Thursday 29th April 2010.

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is offering training bursaries up to £1000 to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries. Please note that the bursary scheme is open for applications throughout the year i.e. there are no deadlines for applications.

For further information and to apply, please go to NCRM website.

New SIRE resource now available.

A podcast from the first PhD - Workshop in Advanced Quantitative Methods in Economics; Finance is now available from the SIRE website.

The lecture was held on 18 January 2010 and delivered by Professor Mitra entitled "What Quantitative Methods does a Macroeconomist need to know".

www.sire.ac.uk/training_videos.html

The Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey seeks to appoint

A CHAIR IN QUANTITATIVE METHODS

This is a senior appointment to provide high-profile leadership in this
area in an outstanding department.

Full details of the post can be downloaded via the following link:

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AAP277/chair-in-quantitative-methods/

The closing date is Wednesday 7 April 2010.

Department of Statistics, University of Glasgow

MSc (by Research) Studentships in Statistics

The Department of Statistics is one of the largest in the UK and our research has a high international profile.  We currently have over 20 postgraduate students (PhD and MSc), and are delighted to be able to offer up to seven funded MSc places to join this highly active community.  The MSc degree takes the form of a one-year research project and is awarded on the basis of a thesis submitted at the end of the programme. 

In addition, students are given training in modern statistical methods through relevant courses such as those provided by the Scottish Mathematical Sciences Training Centre (SMSTC).  The skills and attributes graduates gain from this degree leave them well placed to begin a PhD programme or to seek immediate employment.

The topic of the research project can be either methodological or applied and is likely to be within one of the department's research strengths, namely Bayesian modelling, biostatistics, clinical trial design, clustering, environmetrics, shape analysis, forensic
statistics and genetics.  Examples of potential projects include (but are not limited to):

Mapping spatial inequalities in disease risk in Scotland
Evaluation of transfer evidence in forensic statistics 
Improving forecasting of patient recruitment in clinical trials 
Methods for the analysis of data on facial shape

The studentship provides a tax-free stipend of around 13,000 pounds, as well as the payment of fees at the UK/European rate.  The entry requirements include a first class or upper second class honours degree in mathematical sciences or a subject with a strong statistical component.  These seven studentships are currently available thanks to the generous sponsorship of a variety of organisations, including 

EPSRC 
Information Services Division of NHS Scotland
Boehringer Ingelheim
ICON

Further information about other postgraduate research opportunities, and details of specific projects, can be found at:-  
www.stats.gla.ac.uk/postgrad

Enquiries and applications should be directed to:

Prof. Adrian Bowman, Dept. of Statistics  
The University of Glasgow

0141-330-4046 

adrian@stats.gla.ac.uk  

It is with regret that we announce that the Centre for Multilevel Modelling Director, Jon Rasbash passed away earlier this week. We would like to offer our condolences to his family and to his many friends and colleagues.  Jon will be sadly missed.  An obituary for Jon can be found here:

http://www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/learning-training/multilevel-m-support/news.shtml

SCVO is seeking the services of a postgraduate statistician to contribute towards the analysis of a recent sample of Scottish Voluntary Sector data for financial year 2008-09. This short-term voluntary opportunity has genuine social value and will contribute to the understanding of the size and composition of the voluntary sector in Scotland. It comes with a guaranteed publication credit and a national and international audience. Full expenses will be paid.

If you wish to apply or would like further details, please contact: Ian Lees, Research Officer, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB. Tel: 0131 474 8025 or Email: ian.lees@scvo.org.uk.

Closing date: Monday 5th April.

The UK Statistics Authority has recently published three further Assessment reports covering:-

- Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics (HM Revenue & Customs) 
- Labour Market Statistics for Northern Ireland
- Special Assessment of the 2011 Censuses in the UK: Phase 1 (Office for
- National Statistics, the General Register Office for Scotland, and the
- Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency)

These are available on the Authority's website at:-
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/assessment-reports/index.html

The Authority has a statutory duty to assess all official statistics before they can be designated as National Statistics and to reassess all of the existing 1300 National Statistics in order to determine which of them can continue to be designated as National Statistics. This is a major task for the Authority and the post holder can expect to spend a significant proportion of their time ensuring that the Authority meets this objective.  Apply via:-

http://www.ons.gov.uk/jobs/current-vacancies/uk-statistics-authority---statistician-researcher-analyst-for-assessment-team/index.html

ScotStat is the Scottish Government Statistics Group Consultation network for user and providers of Scottish official statistics.

The 'Children Looked After Statistics 2008-09'* Statistics Publication Notice has been published by the Education Analytical Services Division, Analytical Services Unit - Children, Young People and Social Care Statistics.

You can access this publication via the following link -

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/02/22133946/0
 

STOR-i DTC Open Day, Lancaster University
Wednesday March 17, 2010

The STOR-i DTC at Lancaster University is a pioneering new 4 year Statistics and Operational Research PhD programme with substantial Government and industry backing. For October 2010 entry we have 10 fully-funded studentships, with up to 50% more funding than standard PhDs (equating to a competitive graduate salary).

STOR-i offers you a new style of PhD training, which provides an opportunity to:
be part of an exciting new group of researchers; co-operate and interact with like-minded peers; work directly with leading industry partners;  open up real potential for rapid career progression;  make a real scientific and industrial impact with your
research.

To find out more - come along to our open day. The programme for the day
will include talks describing: 

The STOR-i DTC 
What doing a PhD is really like 
Describing different research project areas 
Career opportunities in Statistics and Operational Research given by speakers from industry.

There will also be time to talk to some of our current PhD students, tour the campus and meet with members of staff. For those who have already applied for a place at the STOR-i DTC there will also be short interviews.

We have funds available to cover reasonable travel costs for students meeting the eligibility conditions for funding (http://www.stor-i.lancs.ac.uk/funding/). For those coming from further afield in the UK, we will also be able to arrange accommodation, again subject to you meeting the eligibility conditions.

Places are limited so please apply early by sending your CV to STOR-i@lancs.ac.uk.

The 2010 NERC sponsored Statistics training course for PhD students and RAs in Environmental Science will run in the University of Glasgow from August 30th to Sept 3.  Further details and registration information will appear shortly at www.gla.ac.uk/departments/statistics
 

ScotStat – Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008/09 – Partner Abuse and Sexual Victimisation reports

Scotland’s Chief Statistician published two National Statistics publications: (1) Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09: Partner Abuse and (2) Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09: Sexual Victimisation and Stalking.

Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2008-09:** Partner Abuse*

The report identifies the extent of partner abuse, both since the age of 16 and in the last 12 months. It examines the nature and impact of partner abuse and explores the extent to which people or organisations
ere informed about the abuse.

A link to this publication is below:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/12/14103249/0_

*Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2008-09:** Sexual Victimisation and Stalking*

The report presents information on the risk of experiencing stalking and harassment and sexual victimisation ever and in the last 12 months;  how risk varies among different groups of adults, for example by age and gender; and any relationship between victim and offender.

A link to this publication is below:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/12/14103338/0_

*Further information*

For further information about statistics on crime and justice, please visit the web area on the Scottish Government site:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice

Or contact Justice Analytical Services (Statistics):

Email:  justicestatistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Phone: 0131 244 2228
 

The Scottish House Conditions Survey is a major survey of homes across Scotland.  The most recent report has been published and can be found here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/11/23090958/0

The Economic and Social Research Council has just advertised the post of the Strategic Advisor for Data Resources to lead in the development and implementation of a UK Strategy for Data Resources for Social and Economic Research ensuring a strategic vision for maintenance and further development of the UK's data resources required for social science research. The post will be filled either through single appointment or, due to the breadth and depth of expertise required for the post, through a collaborative appointment of more than one applicant. The appointment is for 36 months.

Call closes on 22 January. Interviews are planned in early March. It is expected that the successful applicant will take up the post on 1 October 2010, or as practicable thereafter.

More information and full specifications is available at:
 

www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities

SENIOR RESEARCH OFFICER, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) The Institute for Social and Economic Research wishes to appoint a researcher to contribute to the UK element of a major new study of the socio-cultural integration of immigrants in four European countries, funded under the New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe (NORFACE) Migration in Europe programme. Candidates should have a background in a social science, an interest in migration research, an understanding of development work with immigrant communities, competence in quantitative analyses and experience with using or developing survey data. The ability to speak Polish or Punjabi / Urdu would be an advantage. The post is full-time and fixed-term for 2 years in the first instance.

Go to the University of Essex vacancies pages: http://www.essex.ac.uk/vacancies/ (Ref: RE966).
 

Please see attached form which is distributed at events to highlight forthcoming assessments of devolved Scottish Statistics.  

We would like to inform you that the Economic and Social Research Council has just advertised the post of the Strategic Advisor for Data Resources to lead in the development and implementation of a UK Strategy for Data Resources for Social and Economic Research ensuring a strategic vision for maintenance and further development of the UK's data resources required for social science research. The post will be filled either through single appointment or, due to the breadth and depth of expertise required for the post, through a collaborative appointment of more than one applicant. The appointment is for 36 months. Call closes on 22 January. Interviews are planned in early March. It is expected that the successful applicant will take up the post on 1 October 2010, or as practicable thereafter.

More information and full specifications is available at:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/current_funding_opportunities

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is a long running Scottish Government survey designed to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households and individuals on a range of issues.  There is a particular focus on information to inform government policy on communities, local government and transport.

An SHS Survey Review Project 2010 has been set up to assess the uses made of the survey with the primary aim of assessing the achieved benefits, quality and continued need for the survey and to maximise the benefits through appropriate question and topic content.  We are keen to engage with the broad-based user community - from the past, present and potentially the future of the survey – to better understand user
requirements in how to best shape the survey going forward.

A web-based survey has been set up to ask about your experiences of using the SHS, how well it meets your needs at the moment and how you think it could be improved in the future.  Your responses will help us to improve the quality of information the SHS collects and help us to improve the service we provide to all of our users.

We do appreciate the many demands on your time, and hope you will be able to spare 10 minutes to assist us by completing the survey. You can complete the survey using the following link: 

https://www.questback.com/scottishgovernment/shssurveyreview2010/

The survey will be open to respondents until Friday 29 January 2010.

If you have any questions about the web-based survey or questions regarding the SHS in general please contact Hugh Munro in the SHS Project Team.

Further information can be obtained from:

Contact:        Hugh Munro

Telephone:      0131 244 5415

Email:          shs@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Web:            www.scotland.gov.uk/SHS 

The Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University
(Melbourne Australia), is looking to recruit a Full Professor with a very strong research track record and international reputation. The Department provides a great research environment, with low teaching loads, good research funding opportunities and travel support, a large cohort of active staff and more than 30 PhD students.  Melbourne is a very liveable city, and attractive salary conditions can be negotiated.  Potential candidates with research strengths in any field of econometrics or in statistics are welcome to make contact with the Head of Department, Brett Inder (brett.inder@buseco.monash.edu.au) before November 30th, 2009, to discuss the
opportunity further.

For information about the department, see www.buseco.monash.edu.au/ebs
 

As a Senior Officer for the Research Data Management Support Services section at the UK Data Archive, you will be responsible for co-ordinating a JISC-supported project on research data management for ESRC data-rich investments. This involves working closely with selected ESRC Research Centres and Programmes to assess existing research data management practices; implement and help develop effective data management planning in research projects; and increase capacity within research centres through support and training.

You will work proactively with researchers and support staff in ESRC Research Centres and Programmes to develop good data management practices, procedures and tools; increase data sharing potential; and disseminate expertise and findings to the wider academic community.

Experience of undertaking research and data analysis in the social sciences, both quantitative and qualitative, are essential; as well as experience of working in a research team and handling research data. Good communication, time management and problem solving skills are equally important. The role requires regular travel within the UK, as
well as short term placements with collaborating research centres to work pro-actively with centre staff.

The post is fixed-term until 31 March 2011 and to start as soon as possible.

Further details: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/staffvacancies.asp

ESRC publish a National Strategy for building a world class social science research base in quantitative methods.  See attachment.