Research Fellow

What we offer

Working with some of the greatest intellects in the world, UCL also offers a generous pension scheme and holiday allowance, plus closure and bank holidays as well as enhanced parental pay and more.

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

About us

A Research Fellow post is available to work with Senior Research Fellow Dr Paul Nderitu at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL, ranked the best place in the world to study ophthalmology (CWUR Rankings by Subject 2017).

UCL Institute of Ophthalmology conducts cutting-edge research, attracting principal investigators, post-doctoral fellows and MD/PhD students of the highest international calibre to a stimulating research environment.

About the role

The successful Research Fellow will have an exciting opportunity to play a leading role in a project that will develop state-of-the art AI clinical support tools for the detection and prediction of two of the most common causes of sight-loss; diabetic eye disease (diabetic retinopathy) and sight-threatening age-related macula degeneration (wetAMD). The successful candidate will gain experience in developing AI models using longitudinal multimodal retinal imaging data from Moorfields Eye Hospital, a world-leading institution for eye care.

The post is funded from the 1 January 2027 until 31 December 2027, in the first instance. The salary for this role will be on Grade 7, between spine points 32-34 (£46,261 - £48,679 per annum, inclusive of London Allowance.)

Appointment as a Research Fellow at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD. If this is not the case, an initial appointment will be made as a Research Assistant at Grade 6b with payment at Grade 7 backdated upon award of a PhD to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis (with corrections).

About you

The successful candidate will hold an PhD in a relevant topic, such as computer science. They will have significant experience in computer vision, deep learning tools (e.g. PyTorch), large-data analysis, statistical analysis and familiarity with manuscript writing and working in cluster or cloud-based environments.

Experience with longitudinal data and/or healthcare datasets, particularly in ophthalmology, foundation models, and domain adaptation techniques, will be advantageous.

The applicant should also have excellent communication skills and a commitment to conducting high-quality research that will benefit healthcare.

Application Process

If you have any queries regarding the vacancy please contact Dr Paul Nderitu (p.nderitu@ucl.ac.uk)

If you have any queries regarding the application process please email: ioo.hr@ucl.ac.uk.

A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page.

To apply for the vacancy please click on the '

Please ensure you attach your CV and highest academic qualification. In addition, please ensure you provide a personal statement outlining how you meet the criteria to support your application. Please DO NOT attach research papers.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London's Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.
We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL's workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.

Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality.