Julius Sim

Biography

Julius initially studied English at the University of Durham, after which he gained an MSc (with distinction) in sociology at South Bank Polytechnic, an MSc (with distinction) in applied statistics at Sheffield Hallam University, and a PhD in philosophy, supervised by David McNaughton, at Keele University.

Before coming to Keele in 1997, Julius had a brief but successful career in Pizza Express, which he unwisely forsook for a longer, but markedly less successful, career in the National Health Service, before subsequently joining Coventry University as a lecturer in social and health research.

Julius is a Chartered Statistician and Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. He is also a qualified translator, with an MA (with merit) in French translation from the Open University.

Research and scholarship

Julius's research within Keele is mainly located in the School of Medicine, but he has also worked with the social gerontology, psychology and criminology research groups within Keele. His research centres on methodology, both qualitative and quantitative, and ethics: specific interests include research ethics, qualitative synthesis (metasynthesis) and clinical trial methodology. In addition he has an interest in the sociology of chronic illness and women’s health.

Teaching

Julius has at various times taught research methodology and ethics in all Faculties within Keele. His teaching is currently focused mainly within postgraduate programmes in health and social sciences.

Further information

Julius has been deputy chair on Sub-Panel 3 of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, having also been deputy chair of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework and Chair of Sub-Panel 12 of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. He has served on the East Midlands Committee of the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit funding scheme, the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Commissioning Board, and the Research for Patient and Public Benefit scheme (Health and Social Care, Wales) funding committee.

He works as an adviser within the NIHR Research Support Service operated by the University of Birmingham and Partners (Birmingham, Keele and Warwick).