Durham University
Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience. Less than 3 hours north of London, and an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. The Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are home to breath-taking scenery and attractions. Durham offers an excellent choice of city, suburban and rural residential locations. The University provides a range of benefits including pension and childcare benefits and the University's Relocation Manager can assist with potential schooling requirements.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our university community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

The KTP Project

The KTP Associate will lead a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project that is a collaboration between Durham University and MoreLife UK Ltd. based in Leeds. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme helps businesses to innovate and grow through the aid of discipline specific academic expertise. It does this by linking them with an academic supervisory team and a researcher in a university to work on a specific project.
Working alongside CTO, project managers, digital programme lead, psychology lead and software development team, the KTP Associate will be involved in a project to design, develop and implement innovative methods for delivering real-time personalised weight management interventions, via an accessible digital platform.
Department of Computer Science - The successful candidate will be working with academics in the Department of Computer Science. The Department is a UK Top 10 Department according to the Complete University Guide 2023. We are committed to high quality research and are proud of the people who make it happen. Computer Science increased excellence in all areas of research since the last research assessment exercise, moving 6 places up the ranking to the 20th position for REF 2021. Our research strengths include AI, computer vision, theoretical computer science, high-performance computing, digital humanities and bioinformatics. We put high emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion for our staff and students. Since 2020, the department has moved into a new purpose-built building. Our strong alumni network contributes to the department in many ways - including our External Advisory Board, visiting speakers, student placements, and philanthropic support of scholarships. We have some highly influential alumni in the Tech Sector.
MoreLife (more-life.co.uk/) is a health and well-being company providing services to NHS England and local authorities. The services include weight management, smoking cessation, and active well-being programmes, NHS health checks, consultancy and training. The staff include psychologists, nutritionist, dietician, sports/activity leaders. The staff and services are supported by a digital infrastructure comprising a staff-facing data management system and client-facing system. The company has a strong track record of multi-disciplinary research; the CEO Paul Gately is a Professor of Sports. MoreLife is located in Headingley, Leeds.

Specific responsibilities of the Associate:
• Identify internal stakeholders of MoreLife (UK) Ltd. Understand company business & capabilities. Problem statement and project scope formulation.
• Review of state-of-the-art. Identify methods, including: responsible AI, privacy-enhancing technologies, machine learning algorithms for recommender systems, user interface (UI) adaptation, HCI, application evaluation and user studies.
• Develop system specifications
• Back-end design and development: Develop and evaluate the personalised RS; Developing UI adaptation logic
• Develop system prototype: inputs, data storage, methodologies for protection of personal data, output implementation and integration.
• Evaluate RS using standardize performance metrics.
• Evaluate the application (RS and UI) in an online user study.
• Implementation and integration with MoreLife systems.
• Promotion of the project, final reporting, including progress reviews and updates to stakeholders.
• Journal/conference paper writing and publishing.

Responsible to:Dr Sunčica Hadžidedić, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Durham University.
Grant Westermann, MoreLife UK Ltd.

Location:The KTP Associate will be employed by Durham University but will be based at MoreLife UK, Leeds, and will be expected to spend time in Durham University to undertake the partnership's objectives.
Person Specification

The Requirements

Essential:

1. Qualifications

• A first degree in Computer Science or other numerate discipline with a significant component of computing
• MSc in Computer Science / Machine Learning / Data Science / Business Analytics

2. Experience

• Excellent understanding and application of concepts, tools and techniques in machine learning
• Excellent understanding of recommender system techniques and methods
• Good understanding of the security and privacy of machine learning
• Experience in designing, performing and completing a research project
• Demonstrable ability of verbal and written communication of project results to a variety of audiences including non-technical ones
• Evidence of ability to write reports and scientific papers

3. Skills

• Recommender system techniques (and use of associated libraries and packages)
• Machine learning
• Programming languages, particularly Python
• Data science
• Privacy-by-design and security-by-design practices
• User studies
• Collection of heterogeneous data
• Teamwork - demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a team, including participating in research meetings
• Independent work - demonstrate skills in time and project management
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

4. Attributes

• Ability to work and communicate with (very) different disciplines e.g., MoreLife psychologists, nutritionists and engage with MoreLife clients

Desirable skills:

• PhD in Computer Science / machine learning / data science
• Understanding of HCI, user experience evaluation and user-centred system design
• Understanding of trustworthiness in AI (fairness, robustness, responsible AI principles)
• Understanding of privacy-enhancing technologies and security principles
• Understanding of agile methodology and project life cycle
• Demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a diverse and interdisciplinary team
• Show ability to communicate efficiently with end-users
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Prior publication record in scientific venues

What to submit?

All applicants are asked to submit:
• A CV and cover letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
• One own article (including a conference/journal paper, a manuscript in preparation or a BSc/MSc thesis chapter)

Additional Information:
For an informal discussion about the post please contact:
Dr Sunčica Hadžidedić, (e-mail: )
Grant Westermann (e-mail: )
Find more information about the company at:https://www.more-life.co.uk/
Find out more about the University at:https://www.dur.ac.uk/
Find more information on the Innovate UK programme at:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/knowledge-transfer-partnerships-what-they-are-and-how-to-apply

Next Steps
The assessment for the post will include several stages:
Stage 1. A review of the submitted applications by a panel of KTP team members.
Stage 2. Candidates selected for stage 2 will be invited for interview to present their own experience in the here specified post requirements and responsibilities and present a prior research project or study. The interviews are planned for January 2025.
Stage 3. Candidates selected for the final assessment stage will be tested on practical skills related to this job post. They will be given a task to develop a simple recommender system based on a provided dataset, in Python, within 1 hour, and while observed by the interview panel members.