Royal College of Surgeons

Job Title: Clinical Research Fellow Department: Department of Psychiatry Reporting to: Associate Professor John Lyne and Professor David Cotter, Department of Psychiatry Location: RCSI Education & Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9. HSE, Newcastle Hospital, Greystones, Co. Wicklow Contract/Duration: Full time. Minimum 12 months. Up to 36 months. Remuneration: NCHD Registrar Scale (point commensurate with experience) Closing Date: 7th of January 2025 RCSI is a community of academic, research, clinical and professional staff working collaboratively to lead the world to better health. Here, you will thrive in an innovative and inclusive atmosphere and your personal development and wellbeing will be supported. We invite you to join us to help deliver on our exciting mission "To educate, nurture and discover for the benefit of human health". We seek candidates whose experience to date has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to the "Race Equality Action Plan 2021-2024" at RCSI. Our students come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds. This makes our university stronger and ensures we hire the best talent. Innovating for a Healthier Future 2023-2027 is RCSI's new five-year strategic plan. Through it, RCSI will enhance human health by meeting the health workforce needs of society, creating the insights and inventions that drive health improvements, and working in partnership with patients and the public in support of better health and well-being for all. The strategy unites the RCSI community in supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals - with a particular focus on Goal 3, which targets good health and well-being. For each of the last six years, RCSI has been positioned in the Top 300 of universities worldwide in the Times Higher World University Rankings. We are proud that RCSI ranks fifth in the world for "Good Health and Well-being" in the Times Higher Education #SDG #SDG Impact Rankings 2024. This reflects our commitment to supporting people of all ages to live healthy lives and our work to promote the concepts of well-being and positive health. Our values of Respect, Collaboration, Scholarship and Innovation continue to unite and direct our purpose. About Our Research RCSI recognises that excellence in research is critical to the quality of its educational activities, its credibility, and, overall, to its mission to enhance human health. RCSI's research strategy aims to build upon its strength in translational biomedical and clinical research to deliver transformational, high impact changes in health care. Targeting both Irish national and EU funding, along with increased collaboration with industry, is a major part of the RCSI research strategy. Forging increased collaboration between RCSI PIs and industry is of critical importance to achieving success in this area. RCSI is also committed to provide its researchers with the supports and developmental opportunities to enable them to continuously grow and support their overall career development. Summary of Post This post, funded by a European Horizon grant, is part of a European multicenter randomized controlled trial within the TRUSTING Group ( The overall project is entitled 'A TRUSTworthy speech-based AI monitoring system for the prediction of relapse in individuals with schizophrenia'. The research aims to utilise an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool for the early clinical detection of psychosis relapse. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is a partner in this Europe-wide collaboration. Individuals with psychosis are at substantial risk of relapse with previous studies suggesting that 80% will have a psychosis relapse at some point. The TRUSTING research group has developed an online AI app to detect speech changes early in psychosis relapse. The researcher in this post will be involved in the Irish arm of a multi-centre randomized controlled trial to investigate whether this app can detect psychosis early by asking individuals at risk of psychosis relapse to record a short speech sample at regular intervals. The researcher in this study will collect data for the trial and publish papers related to use of artificial intelligence and speech markers in psychosis. The researcher will liaise with other European research centres and build up collaborative research networks for ongoing research. The successful candidate will likely undertake a research degree, either MD or PhD. The candidate should have a history of publishing research, and have an interest in improving the care delivered in mental health services using Artificial Intelligence techniques. This project is led by Associate Professor John Lyne. Specifically, the duties of the post are: Manage activities associated with the research group including the preparation and submission of research ethics applications, managing project and individual authorisations, delivery of appropriate training, and contributing to experimental design and post study analysis. Attend programmes of training and development related to the trial as may be required from time to time, including Good Clinical Practice training. Review of study designs and statistical analysis plans as required. Review of draft progress reports. Seek consent from individuals to participate in the trial and collect data for the trial. Participate in statistics training as needed and undertake statistical analysis. Collaborate with European research partners. Support the preparation of scientific reports and grant review reports as required. Writing of peer-review publications and presentations. Academic supervision of students and research staff, as required. Other such duties as may be assigned from time to time. Complying with statutory legislation and Department rules and requirements in development of your own and general staff welfare and safety. Representing the best interests of the Department/College at all times. Qualifications - (Essential): MB Degree (or equivalent) Knowledge & Experience - (Essential): Research publications in a relevant field, ideally psychosis. Knowledge & Experience - (Desirable): Psychiatry membership (CPI and/or MRCPsych) or examinations Very strong research skills and a proven track record in publication of good research in this area. An understanding of the field of psychosis. An understanding of the use of speech markers in psychosis. An awareness of the role of natural language processing and spoken language processing in psychosis. An understanding of the types of artificial intelligence used in mental health research. Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills Attention to detail and thoroughness in work practices and an ability to work to deadlines A capacity to work collaboratively as part of a team as well as independently, in a nonstructured environment An ability to win the confidence of stakeholders, researchers and research partner representatives An ability to foster and sustain academic relationships internally and externally A desire to be a leader in innovation of mental health services safely using AI into the future We are all too aware that imposter syndrome and the confidence gap can sometimes stop fantastic candidates putting themselves forward, so please do submit an application. Application Process Please apply online through the RCSI careers portal no later than 5pm on the closing date with your CV and cover letter. Informal Enquiries can be directed to Associate Prof John Lyne (), Department of Psychiatry, RCSI. Please note we do not accept CVs directly. Employee benefits At RCSI, we help care for our people so they can focus on our mission to educate, nurture, and discover for the benefit of human health. RCSI make sure you have the resources you need to thrive. We offer a wide range of benefits in areas including time away, finance, community, health, and well-being and insuring your financial future. In addition to our city centre campus and world-class facilities, there are a wide range of excellent benefits available to our employees, including: Onsite gym €10 per month Flexible working arrangements Automatic enrolment to a pension scheme for all employees (Willis Towers Watson, pension documents outlined below) RCSI Investment Guide Pension Scheme Guide Benefits Schedule Life assurance/death in service Long term illness/disability income replacement Free advice on health/motor and home insurance Discounted services, including GP Support for parents and carers Taxsaver commuter tickets BiketoWork Free eye test at the National Optometry centre €12/day for parking for all RSCI staff in the St. Stephens green/RCSI car park RCSI's Learning and Development team facilitate and provide training opportunities for all staff Sports and social club Opportunities to volunteer in the community 26.5 days leave - 20 days annual leave plus 6.5 days Privilege days - In addition to your annual leave entitlements and public holidays, RCSI also grants privilege days to our employees (paid time off during Easter and Christmas periods). We also offer a number of leave options to support the working lives of our employees. Paid maternity leave Paid Paternity leave Parental leave