Research Assistant

Post Date : 09-Feb-2024 Close Date : 01-Mar-2024

Job Title: Research Assistant

Department: Department of Medicine

Reporting to: Prof. Jarushka Naidoo

Location: RCSI ERC Building, Beaumont Hospital

Contract/Duration: Specified purpose contract – 2 years

Remuneration: Aligned with the IUA Research Salary Scale, Level 1 point 5 (€32,979 per annum)

Closing Date: 01/03/24

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. For each of the last six years, RCSI has been positioned in the Top 250 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 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

We are excited to announce a 2 year, research assistant position in Prof. Naidoo's lung cancer research group and conjunction with the Dowling laboratory at RCSI. The successful candidate will be involved in immunotherapy-related clinical and translational research studies. This position will be based at RCSI Education and Research Building at Beaumont Hospital. We are seeking candidates with a keen interest in clinical and translational cancer research. The successful candidate will be working within a highly motivated and collaborative environment, and will have the opportunity to contribute to an exciting and rapidly evolving field. If you are passionate about cancer translational research, we would encourage you to apply for this position.

Specifically, the duties of the post are :

Co-ordinate the collection of clinical samples.

Processing of clinical samples.

Development and leadership of a prospective database for immunotherapy- treated patients.

Recording of clinical +/- translational data in large dataset platforms.

Co-ordinate and organise webinar series.

Present regular progress reports to members of the research group or to external audiences to disseminate and publicise research findings.

Prepare, in consultation with supervisors, material for publication in national and international journals and presentations at international conferences.

Carry out routine administrative tasks associated with the research project/s and to assist the study PI and key team members, to ensure those project/s are completed on time and within budget. These might include organisation of project meetings and documentation, financial control, risk assessment of research activities.

Qualifications – (Essential):

A Bachelor of Science degree in relevant discipline.

Knowledge & Experience – (Essential):

Knowledge in handling and processing patient samples.

Excellent communication skills.

Independent and pro-active.

Knowledge & Experience – (Desirable):

Experience developing and working with large datasets and databases

Previous experience and competence with molecular biology techniques (in particular flow cytometry and cell culture).

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 Dr. Catríona Dowling: [email protected]. Please note we do not accept CVs directly. Click here to read our Recruitment and Selection Policy for Researcher.

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 #rcsia