Job Description

• The Department of Statistics invites suitably qualified candidates to join their team.

The Department

• The Department of Statistics at Rhodes University is seeking to appoint a Professor or Associate Professor in the Mathematical Statistical Sciences, or Data Science (Statistical/Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence) or a Professor or Associate Professor with extensive research and supervision in the statistical computational sciences and statistical modelling.
• The successful candidate will take a leading role in shaping and advancing the Department’s data science and applied statistics programs.
• The appointee will be expected to contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and to offer specialized R training.

Main Objectives

• All academics are responsible for disseminating knowledge (teaching and learning), creating knowledge (research), and engaging in community engagement, recognising differences in executing these responsibilities within the various departments and faculties.
• Professors and Associate Professors are expected to be actively involved in the development and advancement of the discipline through a high level of professional and scholarly engagement.
• Academics are also expected to assume administrative, management, and/or leadership duties at the departmental, faculty, and/or university levels.
• A Professor and an Associate Professor are to provide academic leadership in the following areas: teaching and learning, research and community engagement, and contribute towards the institution’s governance.
• This professor’s leadership contribution should be evidenced at the departmental, faculty, and institutional levels

The Requirements

• A PhD either in the Mathematical Statistical Sciences or Data Sciences (Mathematical or Statistical) or Mathematics (Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence), or a senior academic with a PhD and a distinguished track record of publication and supervision of research in the Statistical Computational Sciences and Applied Statistical Modelling.

Teaching experience in some of the following disciplinary areas of Statistics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels:

• Distribution theory
• Multivariate Analysis
• Generalized Linear Models
• Classification
• Statistical or Machine Learning
• Bayesian Statistics
• Financial Statistics
• Stochastic Processes
• Time Series Analysis
• Fixed and Mixed Effects Modelling
• Generalised Additive Models
• Non-linear Models
• Data Science and Spacial Statistics.
• Strong computational proficiency in R is essential.
• A sustained commitment to academic excellence and leadership is essential.
• A sustained contribution to academic and professional communities with associated high-quality research published in reputable journals and extensive participation in conferences and a well-developed scholarly network is required.

Professor:

• Extensive teaching experience
• Research supervision of PhD and Masters degrees to completion.
• Track record of research publication.
• International profile in your discipline.
• Associate Professor

Considerable teaching

• Research supervision of Masters and preferably PhD degrees required.
• Track record of research publication.
• National and emerging international profile in your discipline.

Closing Date: 07 July 2025