Research Officer

Location: Food Biosciences Department, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork, P61 C996ResearchSalary: Research Officer with a Salary Scale of €41,996 to €79,618Closing Date: *****/ :00 PMFunded Full TimeJob DescriptionDuration:Temporary externally funded non Grant-in-Aid contract post, the indicative duration of which is 42 months, subject to contract.A panel may be formed from which future similar vacancies may be filled; such a panel will remain active for a maximum period of 12 months.Basic FunctionTeagasc seeks to recruit a Research Officer to an exciting Research Ireland funded position.The successful candidate will be a self-motivated researcher who will be involved in all aspects of the project, with a particular focus on microbiology, fermented food development, microbiome analysis/bioinformatics (shotgun metagenomics and/or metatranscriptomic/RNASeq), as well as contributing to animal studies.Other tasks will include working with Prof Cotter to coordinate budgets and manage administrative aspects, data, risk, logistics and timelines.They will also work closely with two InFer funded PhD students, collaborators and the funding agency.BackgroundResearch Ireland has funded the project entitled "InFer: Investigating the specific impact of fermented foods, and associated components, on the gut microbiome and health".InFer is led by Teagasc through Professor Paul Cotter.The focus of the project is to identify and optimise the microorganisms and other components present in specific fermented foods, and to assess their impact on gut health usingin vivomodels.Job ObjectivesCharacterise fermented foods and gut microbiomesCulture fermented food microbes to generate new communities and foodsContribute to animal studiesContribute to management of the project and supervision of PhD studentsTo assist Teagasc in meeting the commitments of the Quality Customer Service Charter and Action Plan.To actively participate in the annual business planning and Performance Management Development System (PMDS) processes.Fully co-operate with the provisions made for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of themselves, fellow staff and non-Teagasc staff and co-operate with management in enabling Teagasc to comply with legal obligations.This includes full compliance with the responsibilities outlined in the Safety Statement.Any other duties as may be assigned from time to timeThis job specification is intended as a guide to the general range of duties and is intended to be neither definitive nor restrictive.It will be reviewed from time to time with the post holder.Skills RequirementEssentialDesirableQualificationsAn honours Level 8 degree, (as recognised on the National Framework of Qualifications or equivalent), Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology or a related discipline.A postgraduate degree and/or research experience in Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology would be a distinct advantageSkills/KnowledgeDemonstrated research and technical expertise relating to one or more of the following:Characterization, development and scale up of fermented foodsMolecular microbiologyBioinformatic analysis of microbiome dataWorking with animal modelsEvidence of research activity (publications, conference presentations, awards) and future scholarly output (working papers, research proposals, etc.)Excellent project management, analytical, report writing and data analysis skills.Experience in setting own research agenda.Evidence of teamwork and collaboration with relevant partners.Behavioural CompetenciesAn ability to collaborate with team members and PhD students to help build research knowledge and skill, and to guide professional development.Commitment to teamwork and collaborating with colleagues as per our Teagasc Together ethos.Excellent communication skills (oral, written, presentation) with an ability to enable effective knowledge and technology transfer.EligibilityThis is an open public competition.Should a current serving Teagasc staff member be successful in their application through open public competition for this post, their current contract of employment with Teagasc will come to an end on taking up this post.Note: The 'essential' qualifications, knowledge, skills and behavioural competencies outlined above are 'must-have' which will be used in the selection process.