Postdoctoral Researcher – CREST Study
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Ref. no. NUIG 004-16
Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a part time, fixed term contract
position as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Nursing and Midwifery on a Health
Research Board 30 month funded project entitled ‘A Comprehensive Resilience-building
psychosocial Intervention to improve the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers’
known as CREST. The position is half-time (50%) initially and is available from March 2016 for
an initial 6 month contract with an opportunity to extend to the life of the project. The successful
candidate will report to the study principal investigator (Prof. Dympna Casey, School of Nursing
and Midwifery).
In Ireland over 26,000 people with dementia live in the community. Current health care
strategies are insufficient to cope with this. New ways of improving outcomes for people with
dementia are needed. Resilience focuses on personal attributes and external assets and one’s
ability to use these resources to ‘bounce back’ in the face of adversity. However resilience
theory has not been used to underpin therapeutic interventions for people with dementia. Using
Windle’s framework we hypothesised that a resilience building intervention could only be
effective if it simultaneously targeted the individual, community and society. We reviewed the
literature, consulted with experts in resilience and dementia, including people with dementia and
carers, we identified four relevant previously evaluated single interventions. We combined these
single interventions to create a novel Comprehensive Resilience-building psychosocial
Intervention (CREST). This study aims to confirm and finalise CREST and undertake a pilot in
advance of evaluation in an RCT. The project will run over 30 months and commences in March
2016.
Job description
The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring the successful planning,
implementation and operational management of all aspects of the CREST study. S/he will have
day to day operational responsibility for the project and will be required to take an active role in
all aspects of the research. In addition to the practical research aspects, a key part of the role
will be to plan, execute, and finalise projects according to strict deadlines. The successful
applicant will need excellent research and project management skills and will need to be able to
engage successfully with all key stakeholders.
They will contribute to all parts of the research including recruitment of pilot sites, data
collection, data analysis, and literature reviewing and protocol development. They will be
supported by the rest of the research team in general and PI in particular.
Main duties and responsibilities:
 Determine appropriate methodologies for research as appropriate, under the direction of
the PI
 Develop a project plan for agreement with the Steering Group.
 Compile data required for comprehensive progress reports, and presentations.
 Draft reports as required
 Develop and support project communication strategy.
 Manage the day to day operational matters of the project
 Recruitment of pilot sites and site management
 Draft ethics as required
 Develop data collection tools for use within the project.
 Coordinate the outcome measures for sites, define standard data collection and
reporting procedures
 Assist in developing and managing the social marketing elements of the project
 Co-ordinate the timely delivery of the CREST intervention
 Establish and maintain effective and efficient communication mechanisms with all key
stakeholders involved in the project
 Undertake and write up literature review work as required;
 Draft trial protocol paper and other research papers as required
 Contribute to the dissemination of information and findings;
 Undertake data collection, analysis and write up as required
 Supervise, support and oversee the work of research assistants
 Prepare presentations for conferences;
 Assist in other reasonable research-related tasks as requested by Prof Casey or that
may be agreed with the research partners
Requirements
 A PhD in nursing, IT or a related field.
 Substantial experience in research
 Experience of working and or conducting research in health care/community settings
 Evidence of successful project management including operational management of
budget.
 Flexibility in meeting research project requirements
 Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills
 Proven track record of ability to meet deadlines, to initiate, plan, organise and deliver
programmes of work
 Excellent written and oral communication skills
 Evidence of peer review publications and or report writing
 Capable of working independently and autonomously;
 Highly motivated and passionate about developing high quality research;
 Skilled at researching project-related issues and products;
 Self-motivated with strong attention to detail and quality
 Excellent IT skills e.g. Word, Excel, SPSS , Nvivo or equivalent.
 Clearance by Gárda vetting bureau
Desirable
 Experience of working with people with dementia
 Experience of conducting or participating on social marketing initiatives
 Experience of conducting RCTs
 Experience of contributing and participating on research funded projects e.g. EU level
project, HRB projects
Informal enquiries may be made to the PI Professor Dympna Casey at
dympna.casey@nuigalway.ie
Salary: €41,181 fixed per annum, pro-rata for this part-time (50%) post.
Start date: 1st March 2016
Further information on research and working at NUI Galway is available on Research at NUI
Galway
Further information about the School of Nursing and Midwifery is available at
http://www.nuigalway.ie/nursingmidwifery/
TO APPLY:
Candidates are requested to submit a covering letter, CV and the names and addresses of
three and not more than five referees via e-mail (in word or PDF only) to: Ms. Aileen Connolly
aileen.a. connolly@nuigalway.ie
Applicants must put the post reference number NUIG 004-16 in the subject heading of the email
application.
Closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Thursday 11th February 2016
Interview date: Interviews to be held week of the 22rd February 2016
National University of Ireland, Galway is an equal opportunities employer.