Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics

Post Date : 16-Feb-2024 Close Date : 18-Mar-2024

Job Title: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics

Reporting To: Head of the Department of Physiology & Medical Physics

Location: 123 St Stephens Green Dublin 2

School (or department): Department of Physiology & Medical Physics

Contract type/duration: Permanent

Closing date for applications: March 18th 2024

Interview date: Early April 2024

Start date: July 2024

Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI):

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”.

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 to announce that RCSI has ranked first in the world for “Good Health and Well-being” in the Times Higher Education #SDG Impact Rankings 2023. 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 R espect, C ollaboration, S cholarship and I nnovation continue to unite and direct our purpose.

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. More details about RCSI can be found at www. rcsi.ie; in particular, we would point potential applicants towards the 2023 Institutional Review document, which gives a comprehensive overview of RCSI's governance, breadth of scope – Access here

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.

Department of Physiology and Medical Physics

The Department of Physiology and Medical Physics is a large, high achieving academic department that is fully engaged with the five strategic goals of RCSI: Excellence in Education , Impactful Research and Innovation, Enhanced Organisational Capabilities and Leadership in International Medical Education , and Strong Strategic Partnerships.

Our Department is at the forefront of interdisciplinary, translational (bench to bed-side and bed-side to bench) Systems Medicine Research in RCSI, with an established focus on Network Biology, Molecular Imaging, Computational Biology and Personalized Medicine, particularly in the following disease areas:

Cancer (colorectal, breast, brain tumours, lymphomas)

Neurological disease (ALS, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, stroke, rare neurological disorders)

Metabolism and metabolic disorders (diabetes, mitochondrial disease)

Our Excellence in Research is recognised by SFI funding to Department staff through multiple SFI Investigator and Career Development Awards, as well as several SFI-funded commercialization and research infrastructure awards.

On an international level, the Department has coordinated several FP7 and H2020 programmes, including H2020 Colossus, Ireland's largest FP7 project EpiMiRNA (€15 Mio), the FP7 projects Angio-predict (€6 Mio) and Apo-decide (€3Mio), and the H2020 projects Water-Spout (€3 Mio).

Regarding training of next generation researchers, to date, the Department has coordinated the H2020 MSC ITN networks, MEL-PLEX, PurinesDX, and GLIO-TRAIN and currently coordinates its forth training network, GLIORESOLVE, in the fields of melanoma, neurological & neurodegenerative diseases and glioblastoma respectively. The Department also participates in several strategic European projects such as Joint Programme in Neurodegeneration Research (JPND), the Centres for Excellence in Neurodegeneration (COEN), PRECISION ALS, PRIME, NeuroInsight, InterTau, SFI NasPro, SFI-CRT-GDS, AICRI Start, PANIWATER, SURG- Water, COST Action PRESTO.

Our research activities have generated recent senior author publications in Sciences Advances, Nature Communications, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Brain, Gut, Annals of Oncology and Journal of Clinical Investigation

Furthermore, our Department is home to two major research centres: the SFI FutureNeuro Research Centre and the Centre for Systems Medicine.

About FutureNeuro

FutureNeuro is the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases. This is a €30Mio national research Centre with 30 multi-disciplinary teams based across eight universities in Ireland. Prof David Henshall is the Director of FutureNeuro with departmental colleagues Prof Jochen Prehn and Dr Tobias Engel among the key investigators in the Centre. The Centre focuses on making discoveries and developing technologies to solve the urgent, unmet needs of people living with neurological disorders and the health professionals who care for them. This includes developing rapid and accurate tools for diagnosis, the development of therapies to correct damaged brain networks, technologies to enable self- monitoring of health and well-being, and linking this to Ireland's national imaging, diagnostics and eHealth infrastructure based in our specialist care hospitals. FutureNeuro's researchers are translation- and commercially- focused, working with more than 20 different companies spanning large biotechnology companies through to Ireland-based spin-outs. FutureNeuro is now preparing to expand its research capabilities and the important support functions to ensure exponential growth. The Centre has also supported over 360 education and public engagement activities.

A full list of FutureNeuro's publications can be found here.

About Centre for Systems Medicine (CSM)

The mission of the Centre for Systems Medicine (CSM) is to provide a translational research centre which identifies genes, proteins and metabolites implicated in human disease and utilizes systems biology and mathematical approaches in order to develop new therapies and prognostic tools for the treatment of cancer, neurological disorders and metabolic disorders, and to develop more targeted therapies for patients . The CSM hosts, and collaborates in, multiple FP7 consortia (APO-DECIDE, ANGIO-PREDICT, SYS-MEL, EpimiRNA) and national centres (BREAST-PREDICT).

Prof Jochen Prehn is Director of the Centre for Systems Medicine. The CSM is supported by an Administrations and Operations Manager, a Dissemination and Outreach Officer, and a Director of Molecular Imaging. There are currently 12 independent Investigators operating within the Centre.

A full list of the CSM's publications can be found here.

Core Facilities of CSM

A full description of CSM's Core facilities can be found here.

Cancer Biobanking

A full description of CSM's Cancer Biobanking facilities can be found here.

Education and Outreach

As an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional centre, the CSM influences the traditional programmes in RCSI and ensures the incorporation of interdisciplinary research programmes and training elements such as linking researchers with industry, clinicians and entrepreneurs. In addition, The CSM provides extensive training on infrastructure, such as clean rooms, electron microscopes and research techniques. This ensures graduates and postgraduates have a combination of technical aptitude and a range of generic and transferable skills.

RCSI and the CSM deliver school resources and hosts activities that influence primary and secondary school curricula. One initiative called ‘Small Science, Big Ideas' involves senior researchers and post-docs visiting a minimum of one primary school (approx. 90 children) each academic year to deliver workshops designed specifically for younger children, introducing them to ways scientists work and allowing them to conduct simple experiments. This year the CSM hosed its first TY programme where twelve TY students from Dublin and its surrounding areas participated in a three day interactive science programme. The programme ended with sessions on the importance of Systems Biology and Biostatistics in translational research.

See our website for more information on education and outreach

Objective of this post:

The principal objective of the post is to provide teaching, co-ordination and examining of RCSI's undergraduate medical teaching programmes, and to support the development of a new medical curriculum, in the area of Medical Physics. In addition, the successful applicant will contribute to the research agenda of the Dept. of Physiology & Medical Physics through securing research funding as principal or co-applicant, and publish their research in high quality publications at a level commensurate with experience.

RCSI is seeking a professional who is passionate about teaching, who would like to contribute to working as an academic in a multicultural environment. The successful candidate will demonstrate energy, initiative and excellent organisation and communication skills.

The post- holder will be based in the Department of Physiology & Medical Physics as part of Medical Physics

Specific Responsibilities include:

Contributing to the delivery, coordination and administration of the Department's undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes and to coordinate other relevant teaching modules as required

Developing an internationally competitive research programme in strategic research areas of the Department by securing research funding and publishing scientific papers in journals of high quality/impact

Supervising undergraduate students and postgraduate students at Masters and PhD level

Fostering industry-academia interactions and commercialization of research findings

Developing, monitoring and supporting the education programme within the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, including the application of well-established and tested education methods that are in accordance with best-practice policy and procedures

Contributing to the development and introduction of new teaching programmes, teaching modalities and modes of assessment

Contributing to quality assurance/quality improvement and accreditation of program modules

Participating in the development of RCSI's teaching and learning strategy including the effective use of technology-enhanced learning

Liaising with colleagues across RCSI international campuses in the facilitation of research and teaching activities

Attending Board and Committee meetings as required

Ensuring that all Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland policies and procedures are adhered to

Complying with statutory legislation and Department rules and requirements in furtherance of your own and general staff welfare and safety

Undergoing programmes of training and development as may be required from time to time

Undertaking overseas assignments as may be required

Representing the best interests of the Department and RCSI at all times

Performing such other related duties as may be required

Person Specification Essential:

PhD in a Physics, Biomedical Engineering, or in a closely related discipline

Strong teaching interest and skill set, as evidenced by experience of, a proven track record in, and enthusiasm for undergraduate teaching and assessment in Medical Physics, or related areas and disciplines

Internationally competitive research record, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications in journals of high quality/impact and grant support in areas of strategic relevance to the Dept. of Physiology & RCSI

Enthusiasm for your specialist teaching area and the ability to engage your students to successfully transfer this passion and learning

Capacity for original thought and the ability to produce original and up to date teaching methods

An ability to continuously adapt and innovate teaching methods to ensure students' full understanding

Demonstrate an interest in seeking ways and opportunities to support students' whole development.

The successful candidates core values and behaviours should demonstrate:

General Competencies

Student and customer service

Scholarship and excellence

Collegiality and professionalism People Development

Innovation and flexibility

Planning and organising Excellence and Scholarship

Leadership competencies

Vision

Leadership and respect

People Development

Student and customer service

Excellence and Scholarship

Person Specification Desirable:

Effective communication style appropriate to audience and situation

Strong commitment to own personal and professional development

Has excellent time-management skills to effectively progress across all three domains of responsibilities (teaching, research, and service)

Can build and maintain strong working relationships

Has a proven ability for both independent and teamwork

We are all too aware that imposter syndrome and the confidence gap can sometimes stop fantastic candidates putting themselves forward, so please do apply — we would love to hear from you.

The Process:

Interview and presentation

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a formal competence-based interview and presentation. Interviews will be arranged in April 2024

Employee Benefits

RCSI make sure you have the resources you need to thrive by offering a wide range of benefits in areas including time away, finance, community, health, and well-being and insuring your financial future. Below are some additional benefits available to you as an RCSI employee:

Minimum of 20 days annual leave, plus an additional 6.5 Privilege days

Flexible/hybrid working options for colleagues across many roles

Additional leave options incl. paid maternity leave, paternity/parental leave, study leave

7% Employer pension contribution

Onsite gym €10 per/mth incl. classes and PT sessions

Childcare support 20% discount at Giraffe

Free eye test and annual flu vaccination

TaxSaver commuter tickets and Bike to Work schemes

A site sustainability team focusing on the environmental initiatives; Green Campus Initiative '

Competitively priced café and restaurant

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion forums, and network groups

Employee assistance programme with Spectrum Life

Learning and Development training programmes incl. LinkedIn Learning for career progression

Discounted services incl. GP visits, 10% off dental, staff parking, mobile tariffs, Group Scheme discount on numerous brands

Sports and social club incl. yoga, Pilates, fitness classes, Zumba, running club, social evenings, Summer BBQ

Ticket Draws for events including; Rugby, Taste of Dublin, Dublin Horse Show, theatre, music & comedy events

Informal Enquiries:

Informal enquiries are invited in the first instance through Judy Walsh, Human Resources Department (email: [email protected] ). All applications for this post must be made through the career's webpage www. rcsi/careers . Judy can arrange for relevant queries on the academic aspects of the role to be addressed by the hiring manager.