Postdoctoral Researcher

Job Title: Postdoctoral Researcher Department: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery Reporting to: Dr. Elizabeth Morrow (Principal Investigator) and Prof Mary Lynch Executive Vice Dean for Research Location: 121 St Stephen's Green, Dublin. Contract/Duration: Full time/ 2-year contract (first 2 months 80%) Remuneration: Experienced Postdoctoral Research Grade PD2 Point 1 Closing Date: 23:45pm Sunday 14th December 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 is for an experienced full-time Postdoctoral Researcher with over 5 years of health research postdoctoral experience (PhD completed in or before 2020). The Attune Project aims to enhance the responsiveness of Ireland's home support services through the lived experience of older adults. The study has been funded by the Health Research Board in Ireland through the Evidence for Policy programme. It is a 2-year project to inform the development and implementation of the statutory home support service. The project will provide valuable evidence into the lived experiences of older adult home support service users. The research team will work closely with colleagues in the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Health (DoH) to inform and shape the responsiveness of the new home support scheme in Ireland. The Attune Project is based in the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI with collaborators from around Ireland. The project focuses on exploring the needs and preferences of older adults who use home support services using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The research will also involve extensive stakeholder engagement to take into consideration the perspectives of paid and unpaid/family carers, home support provider organisations (HSE, private and voluntary), regulators, educators and policymakers regarding home support service responsiveness. We are looking to appoint an experienced full-time Postdoctoral Researcher with over 5 years of health research postdoctoral experience to support the Attune project. Their responsibilities will include data collection (national survey, interviews and focus groups), data management, and analysis (qualitative and quantitative); participant recruitment, coordination; literature reviews; and assisting with the preparation of research outputs. The role will also involve supporting Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) through a service user, carer and advocacy panel. The post will be based in the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery (Dublin) and will involve working across disciplines and with policy owners for the project. The role will involve data collection with older adults across Ireland who are likely to have complex health and social care needs. The role will include the need to travel, sometimes at short notice. Specifically, the duties of the post are: Literature review (Rapid Review method), produce analysis of literature and evidence summaries. National survey administration, data management, quantitative and qualitative analysis and reporting results. Keeping check of response rates and underrepresented groups. Project management of specific tasks within the overall project delivery e.g., setting up policy briefing meetings. Recruitment of research participants. Conducting interviews (telephone/video interviews, or in home settings) and focus groups with service user, carer and healthcare provider study participants. Data collection with older adults who are likely to have complex health and social care needs. Attending and supporting Project Advisory Group meetings and policy briefing meetings. Support for PPI and the engagement and management of a Service user, Carer and Advocacy Panel. Writing up findings for briefing papers and reports. Co-authorship of academic publications, conference presentations, dissemination to the public and compliance with open access requirements. Complying with statutory legislation, RCSI and department rules and requirements in staff welfare and safety. Representing the best interests of the Faculty and wider RCSI at all times. Undergoing programmes of training and development as required. Performing such other duties as may be requested from time to time. Qualifications: Essential qualifications: PhD in a health or related discipline (e.g., public health, health services, nursing, psychology, social sciences, sociology, nutrition, allied health, social work, social care). English language proficiency certificate (if English is not your first language). Desirable: A clinical qualification or health professional registration e.g., registered nurse or social worker. Degree/qualifications in research methods, statistics or health data management. Project management qualification. Certificates in research integrity, data protection, safeguarding (training will also be provided in post). ** Knowledge & Experience ** Essential criteria: At least 5 years post PhD experience in a research or academic post. Knowledge of home support, needs assessment, quality of life, care planning, etc. Experience of collecting informed consent and research data from older adults who may have communication differences or needs. Experience of research with older adult health service users, research collaborators and healthcare professionals/service providers. Knowledge and skills of literature review (Rapid Review method), accessing databases and downloading articles for analysis using electronic searches. Experience of analysing survey data and data from semi-structured telephone/video interviews with older adults or unpaid/family carers (use of Framework Approach and statistical methods). Experience of organising online meetings and conferences/roundtable events, taking minutes, producing briefing papers. Academic writing skills and a publication record (lead or co-authorship of at least 2 academic papers). IT skills (Microsoft teams, SharePoint, Excel). Ability to travel across Ireland to collect data in home settings if required, possibly at short notice. Desirable: Data management, data analysis, statistics skills (experience of using SPSS, NVivo). Experience of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and engaged research (PPI payments, co-design, service user panel support). Skills in financial management (e.g., arranging invoices, managing expenses, placing orders). Theoretical knowledge of implementation, design thinking, or systems perspectives. Dissemination skills e.g., creating newsletters, content development, social media. 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 - we'd love to hear from you. Application Process All applications for this post must be made through the career's webpage RCSi - Careers. Informal Enquiries can be directed to Dr. Elizabeth Morrow (). Please note that we do not accept CVs directly. Click here to read our Recruitment and Selection Policy for Researcher.