Post-Doctoral Researcher

Post Date : 19-Jan-2026 Close Date : 03-Feb-2026 Job Title: Post-Doctoral Researcher Department: School of Population Health Reporting to: Prof. Ed Gregg Location: RCSI, Dublin 2 Contract/Duration: Specified purpose contract, up to 36 months Remuneration: Post will be appointed on the IUA Post-Doctoral Salary Scales (up to PD2.1, depending on experience) Closing Date: 3rd of February 2026 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 2025-2029” 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 first in the world for “Good Health and Well-being” in the Times Higher Education #SDG #SDG Impact Rankings 2025. 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. In 2024, RCSI was delighted to be named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in Ireland. At RCSI, our core values of Respect, Collaboration, Scholarship, and Innovation are at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive environment where every colleague is valued and empowered to thrive. Our dedication to these values ensures that we foster a culture of mutual respect, open collaboration, continuous learning, and innovative thinking. Join us at RCSI, where your contributions will be recognised, and you will be part of a dynamic team making a real impact on global health. 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. About the School of Population Health Established in 2022, the School of Population Health (SPH) builds on existing strengths at RCSI in behavioural science for population health, analytic and population health sciences. The School comprises the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Department of Health Psychology, Data Science Centre, Healthcare Outcomes Research Centre (HORC), Institute of Global Surgery and SPHeRE (Structured Population health, Policy and Health Services Research Education – national doctoral programme). It included some 103 academic, research and professional staff, as well as 46 PhD scholars.  Population health scientists and researchers at RCSI have an impressive, multi-year track record undertaking impactful multi-disciplinary research and collaborating with an extensive network of international and national partners. Summary of Post We have a full-time Post-Doctoral position available in the School of Population Health, suitable for an epidemiologist, health policy researcher, or health data scientist with excellent analytical skills. The candidate will work on a new project funded by the Health Research Board Secondary Data Analyis Projects (SDAP) programme; ‘Assessing Status and Trends in Diabetes Care in Ireland and the Early Impact of Health Care Reform’. This research programme aims to examine the levels and trends of diabetes preventive care practices, risk factors, and preventable hospitalizations in Ireland among adults with T2DM, and how these outcomes have been affected by implementation of the national Sláintecare Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Progamme. The candidate will work with a multi-disciplinary consortium of experts to conduct a series of observational epidemiologic analyses and natural experimental studies using primary care-based electronic medical record data and data on hospital admission in Ireland.  The candidate will be lead in the development of study design and analyses to compare the levels of care, risk factor control, and outcomes according to access and eligibility to the Sláintecare CDM programme. The position will involve working in the School of Population Health and Department of General Practice in RCSI, and with Centric Health. Centric Health primary care practice data group presents a unique opportunity to develop a state-of-the-art population-based analytic data system that serves multiple needs of decision support, population monitoring, and comparative effectiveness research. The programme is designed to help policy-makers to prioritise issues and populations at risk of inadequate diabetes care, assess the impact and modify the national diabetes prevention and care guidelines, and inform the architecture and metrics of the national diabetes registry. Specifically, the duties of the post are: •                Conceptualise and design new studies and investigations of the risk factors, trends and effective interventions for chronic diseases •                Assemble, collect or seek data access approval, including relevant ethical approval for the assembly of data sets for epidemiologic studies and natural experiments for chronic diseases •                Analyse epidemiologic, health systems and implementation data to identify modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors and effective interventions for prevention and control of chronic conditions •                Design and undertake appropriate data analyses using advanced approaches to reduce bias with quasi-experimental studies. •                Supervision of doctoral/postgraduate students •                Advanced skills in using R or Python •                Prepare and implement a data management plan ensuring a secure data environment •                Co-ordinate own day-to-day work to support ongoing projects •                Develop final report with recommendations •                Contribute to dissemination of research findings including conference presentations, peer-reviewed articles, social media content, and policy briefs •                Lead, co-author and prepare papers for peer-reviewed publications, reports/policy briefs and presentations to stakeholders •                Work with the principal investigator, members of the research team, colleagues and other stakeholders to ensure project deliverables are achieved •                Assist with funding applications that might be considered for related projects Qualifications – (Essential): •                PhD in Data Science, Biostatistics, Applied Mathematics, Health Services Research, Public Health, Population Health sciences, Epidemiology, or related discipline Knowledge & Experience – (Essential): •                Documented research experience with epidemiology, biostatistics, public health or health services research •                Excellent quantitative analytical experience using large and complex datasets •                Ability to work independently and efficiently •                Excellent organisational, interpersonal, report writing and IT skills •                Demonstrable capacity for independent research, experience of research leadership •                Project management experience •                Track record of peer-reviewed publications in journals of high quality/impact •                Excellent written, oral, and presentation skills Knowledge & Experience (Desirable): •       Research experience with literature review, data collection from different stakeholder groups •       Experience with machine learning and/or artificial intelligence analytic approaches •       Supervisory or co-supervisory experience of master’s/PhD students •       Content expertise in chronic disease care and prevention •       Experience of working in multidisciplinary and international research teams •       Experience in stakeholder engagement •       Project and team leadership, coordination and management skills Skills and Competencies •       Communication skills: proven ability to communicate complex information to a range of audiences •       Project management skills: ability to ensure that project plans are communicated and that timelines are met •       Teamwork: works effectively as part of a team by sharing information, supporting colleagues, and building positive working relationships •       Conscientious: takes a proactive, detail‑oriented approach to work to anticipate issues and deliver high‑quality outputs •       Flexibility: able to adapt to changing priorities and operate effectively in a busy environment. •       Motivated: demonstrates a positive, proactive attitude and commitment to the goals of the role and programme. 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 Please apply online through the RCSI careers portal on the closing date with your CV and cover letter. Informal Enquiries can be directed to Elaine Healy, Research Manager, email: elainehealy@rcsi.ie. Please note we do not accept CVs directly. Click here to read our Recruitment and Selection Policy for Researcher. Garda vetting and occupational health review may be required for this role, depending on the nature of the duties and responsibilities. Further information will be provided during the recruitment process. Eligibility to Work in Ireland Visa sponsorship is available for candidates who fully meet the essential criteria of the role. Candidates who require a work permit or hosting agreement are welcome to apply. Proof of eligibility documentation will be required at a later stage in the recruitment process. Please note that sponsorship is subject to approval by the relevant Irish authorities and role-specific eligibility. Click on the link(s) below to view documents Filesize JD HRB SDAP Post Doc Jan26.pdf 361.3 Return to Search Apply for Job