UKHSA Science Group Placement information
This placement in the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Group of UKHSA spans:
a) the Private Office of the CSO (London),
b) the Evaluation & Epidemiological Science Division (Porton Down, Bristol and London), and
c) the Behavioural Science and Insight Unit (Porton Down and London) of UKHSA.
Opportunities across these teams will provide trainees with a unique public health specialist training experience at the national level. The supervisory team are scientific experts in their field and have a strong track record of supervision across public health, field epidemiology and academic training programmes (including PhD supervision).
This opportunity is offered as both a South West region training placement, and as a Nationally Available Training Placement (NATP) through the Faculty of Public Health. Across both these schemes, there is capacity to host up to three public health trainees at any one time, typically for 12 months duration. Although Porton Down, 2 Rivergate or 10 South Colonnade will be the official placement base, flexible and home working arrangements will be supported.
The registrar would be expected to take a leadership role in specific project(s) / area(s) of work, and to provide public health expertise to the wider work of their host team. They will work day-to-day under the supervision of a senior expert who is a trained Activity or Educational Supervisor.
What training and experience does this placement offer?
Science and research are at the core of the work of UKHSA to tackle the major public health challenges we face, including new and emerging infections of high consequence or pandemic potential, climate change, air pollution, antibiotic resistance, vaccine confidence and addressing underlying health inequalities. The UKHSA CSO Group provides strong leadership and a range of critical scientific functions which directly enable the organisation mission of UKHSA to prepare for, prevent and respond to health threats, save lives and protect livelihoods.
Overall, the placement provides registrars with an outstanding opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of UKHSA Science and Research, apply core public health skills to complex scenarios, and develop a broad range of skills including leadership, influencing, evaluation and project management in a national context.
The Private Office of the Chief Scientific Officer
The CSO Group is led by the Chief Scientific Officer who oversee 4 Directorates. The Group is responsible for making sure that UKHSA has access to the evidence needed to protect health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards, generating that evidence, and applying it to secure health. The Private Office supports the CSO to deliver their function in a number of ways, including the management of strategic relationships (with international partners, other government departments, research funders, industry and academia), as well as supporting the delivery of strategic priorities.
Registrars will gain experience of:
• strategy and national policy development and implementation
• work with other government departments and external stakeholders, including academia and industry
The Evaluation & Epidemiological Science Division and Behavioural Science and Insight Unit
The Evaluation & Epidemiological Science (EES) Division provides leadership and strengthened capabilities and capacity in the delivery of public health evaluations and the application of epidemiological science. The Behavioural Science and Insight Unit (BSIU) provides subject matter expertise and leadership in the application of behavioural and social science to health protection. EES and BSIU maintain close working links and are based within the same Directorate within the Science Group.
The placement maintains strong links with the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Evaluation & Behavioural Science at the University of Bristol in partnership with UKHSA, where trainees can access research projects and academic work to support their training needs.
Registrars will:
• have access to projects through both EES and BSIU, including those which support public health incidents and emergency preparedness and response priorities
• collaborate with topic expert teams across UKHSA on priority evaluations of public health interventions
• benefit from links to trainees in other programmes including infectious diseases, microbiology, and leadership fellows
• have access to training seminars, lectures and other opportunities scheduled during their placement
Key Contacts
Specialty Tutor: Charles Beck
This page was last updated in August 2025