PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICANTS SHOULD BE ENROLLED IN A MASTER PROGRAM AND THE INTERNSHIP SHOULD BE A MANDATORY PART OF THE DIPLOMA.

Researchers of the Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Group (EPICAN) of the Department of Precision Health (DoPH) at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) have an opening within the research project RELIANCE: “REaL-life cANCEr epidemiology” which focuses on identifying risk factors for cancer, with particular emphasis on prevention and care. This pluridisciplinary research team is led by Claudine Backes, PhD, Scientific Director of the National Cancer Registry of Luxembourg (Registre National du Cancer (RNC)) and head of the Cancer and Prevention Epidemiology Group (EPICAN) at the LIH.
The RELIANCE population-based research pilot study was initiated under the umbrella of the “Plan National Cancer 2020-2024” (PNC2) and is funded by the Directorate of Health (DiSa) of the Ministry of Health (MiSa) as part of the PNC2. It aimed to investigate cancer epidemiology in Luxembourg for the first time using longitudinal data from the RNC. This study investigated a range of research questions using RNC breast cancer data and explored potential secondary data linkages.
The aim is to provide hands-on experience in activities such as statistical estimation, data linkage, and analysis and visualization of health data. It further supports the development of practical skills in working with real-world datasets, developing reproducible workflows, and producing analytical outputs to support epidemiological research and public health decision-making.
In the context of the continuation of this project, we are recruiting a Master’s Student. This student will be co-supervised by Claudine Backes, PhD, and Bruno Lima, PhD, data scientist.

KEY SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s level in Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Data Science, or a related field. Applicants should be enrolled in a Master program and the internship should be a mandatory part of the diploma.
• Experience with R for statistical computing, data analysis and visualization;
• Some experience with Git for version control is helpful, but not mandatory;
• Good writing skills in English. The understanding of another language (French, German, Luxembourgish) used in Luxembourg would be an asset;
• Strong attention to detail, especially when working health-related and sensitive data;
• Good organizational skills and the facility to work in a multidisciplinary team.

• Contribute to the cleaning, preparation and harmonization of data for analysis;
• Assist the implementation of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines to deliver data products;
• Produce descriptive tables and visualizations to support internal reporting;
• Identify potential external sources for data linkage and integration;
• Contribute to documentation of methods and findings;
• Present preliminary results at project and wider Departmental meetings;
• Join other DoPH or group-based activities.