Postdoctoral Researcher

RCSI - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Ireland; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

RCSI - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin 2 invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher in population health sciences. The role involves leading a collaborative project with HSE partners to apply system dynamics modelling to maternity care and service pathways, with opportunities to publish in peer‑reviewed journals.

The position, primarily based in the School of Population Health, is a Specified Purpose contract for up to 24 months, starting January 2027.

Qualifications

• PhD in population health sciences or related discipline.
• Strong track record of peer‑reviewed publications in high‑quality journals.
• Experience with system dynamics modelling and epidemiological/economic modelling.

Responsibilities

• Analytics and reporting to support research objectives and datasets for analysis.
• Coordinate compliance and ethics in line with GDPR and regulations.
• Engage with clinical partners and research teams to map maternity care pathways and develop causal diagrams.
• Oversee project timelines and deliverables to meet objectives.
• Assist in literature review and preparation of papers for publication and policy briefs.
• Disseminate research results at scientific meetings and other channels.

Skills

Quantitative analysis

Systems dynamics modelling

Epidemiology

Research leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Education

PhD in population health sciences

Job description

RCSI - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Organisation/Company RCSI - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Department Human Resources Research Field Medical sciences » Health sciences Researcher Profile Established Researcher (R3) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 28 Oct 2026 - 17:00 (Europe/Dublin) Country Ireland Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Department: School of Population Health, RCSI

Tenure: Specified Purpose Contract for up to 24 months

Salary: Postdoctoral Level 1 Scale

Reporting to: Professor Kathleen Bennett

Start Date: January 2027

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 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.

Background

The RCSI School of Population Health is looking to transform the way that population-level data and research platforms are deployed in Ireland to make key decisions on health care and systems. This project is funded by Research Ireland Rinn AI collaborative research centre in Data Science and AI. Collaborators from the HSE, including health intelligence and health service improvement are key partners in this project. RCSI Rinn AI are now seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Researcher with excellent quantitative skills to join the team to lead on a collaborative project involving the HSE and other academic collaborators.

Overall purpose of this position

Increasing maternal age, obesity, chronic disease in pregnancy, gestational diabetes and social complexity are recognised features of the changing maternity population. These factors are influenced by social determinants of health, healthcare access, care pathways and service responses. Less is understood about how these interactions influence service use and outcomes over time, or how alternative population health and service interventions may alter future trajectories.

System Dynamics Modelling provides a structured approach for examining these relationships. It can represent interactions between population characteristics, clinical risk, service provision, capacity and outcomes, while also accounting for feedback mechanisms, delays and potential unintended consequences. This allows alternative population health and service responses to be explored before implementation, supporting service planning and improvement to achieve greater population health benefit. The proposed project provides an opportunity to build on the established Population Based Planning approach for maternity services by adding System Dynamics Modelling as a method for exploring how population need, service use, care pathways, capacity and outcomes interact over time. Using maternity as a demonstrator supports understanding of how need develops over time, how future system behaviour may change, and how alternative responses could be explored before implementation.

The position is primarily based in the School of Population Health, RCSI, Dublin 2 but will involve collaboration with HSE Health Intelligence and Health Service Improvement. The project involves a unique consortium of academic, health intelligence, health system, and public health stakeholders. Skills development in system dynamic modelling is part of a broader community of practice being established for population health intelligence and Systems Thinking training in HSE Public Health. The postholder will be encouraged to share their learning with other participants in this regard.

Specifically, the duties of the post are as follows:

• Analytics and reporting: Develop System dynamic modelling and intervention scenario testing and reporting mechanisms to support research objectives, including generating custom reports and datasets for analysis by research teams.
• Compliance and ethics coordination: Manage and oversee all aspects of data privacy and security in line with GDPR and other relevant regulations
• Stakeholder engagement: Work closely with clinical partners, healthcare providers, and research teams in participatory research to map relevant maternity care pathways and develop causal loop diagrams, including leverage points.
• Project management: Oversee the timeline and deliverables of the project, ensuring milestones are met and aligned with the broader project objectives.
• Literature review and academic writing: Conduct literature review and assist with preparation of papers for peer-reviewed publications, reports/policy briefs and presentations to stakeholders
• Disseminate results of the research at scientific meetings and through other channels

Qualifications – (Essential):

• A PhD degree or equivalent in population health sciences, epidemiology, biostatistics, modelling or related discipline

Knowledge & Experience – (Essential):

• Demonstrate capacity for independent research, experience of research leadership
• Strong track record of peer-reviewed publications in journals of high-quality impact
• Excellent quantitative analysis skills particularly in epidemiological/economic modelling including systems dynamic modelling, advanced methodologies, epidemiology or related area
• Ability to work independently and efficiently
• Excellent organisational, interpersonal, report writing and IT skills.
• Content expertise in health service improvement, and/or maternity care
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary research teams
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and/or participatory research
• Project and team leadership, coordination and management skills

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.