Job Title: Postdoctoral Fellow / Senior Postdoctoral Fellow Department: School of Nursing and Midwifery Reporting to: Prof Chanel Watson Location: RCSI, Dublin Contract/Duration: Specified purpose contract, up to 12 months Remuneration: Aligned with IUA salary Scale Closing date: 9th of December 2025 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 fifth in the world for "Good Health and Well-being" in the Times Higher Education #SDG #SDG Impact Rankings 2024. 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. Summary of Post The provision of learning supports to student and novice/newly qualified nurses and midwives is a universally accepted requirement. A number of clinical practice supports exist in Ireland including the clinical placement coordinator (CPC), introduced on an experimental basis alongside the Registration/Diploma in Nursing Studies programme in Ireland in 1994. It is estimated that there will be a requirement to incrementally increase to circa 4,000 preregistration nursing and midwifery students over the next decade. These estimated increases will require the development of appropriate clinical infrastructure and resources across the health services which include extensive expansion into the community settings to reflect the vision of Slintecare. The commissioning of an evaluation of the support(s) and mentorship in practice for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students and newly qualified staff is embedded in policy recommendations in the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery (Department of Health, 2022). The School of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI have been awarded a grant to undertake the project described in further detail below and is seeking to employ a postdoctoral fellow to support this work. The role is a hybrid-based role. The aim of the project is to determine the scope and effectiveness, enablers and barriers of the current support model(s) in practice placement for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students and newly qualified staff to inform best practice in relation to effective practice support model(s), thus determining a new or revised model(s) to support these groups. This mixed methods study will involve a rapid evidence-based review of clinical supports in place internationally, and engagement with undergraduate student nurses and midwives and newly qualified staff (studying or working in Ireland) alongside key stakeholders through quantitative and qualitative approaches. A report will be produced which will include recommendations for clinical supports into the future for undergraduate student nurses and midwives and newly qualified nurses and midwives. Specifically, the duties of the post are: The successful candidate will be expected to Be highly motivated and to perform with a high level of independence. Work with external collaborators (including academic, clinical and health services management) and internally within RCSI. Coordinate own day to day work to support the project. Participate in all aspects of the project including the scoping review, quantitative research methods, qualitative research methods and writing the final report. Facilitate communication and dissemination of project findings including conference presentations and authored peer reviewed articles. Undergo any appropriate training applicable to the project. Oversee mechanisms to ensure that all RCSI policies and procedures are adhered to. Comply with statutory legislation and RCSI rules and requirements in furtherance of your own and general staff welfare and safety. Represent the best interests of RCSI at all times. Undertake duties assigned by the Principal Investigator or his/her nominee in support of the project. Qualifications - (Essential): Doctoral level studies completed or nearing completion Nursing/Midwifery registration with NMBI Knowledge & Experience - (Essential): Experience in a particular research methodology including analysis Experience in ethics application submission Evidence of being able to work independently Evidence of working successfully and engaging positively with colleagues, collaborators, students and project stakeholders Strong research and scientific English writing skills Evidence of ability to meet deadlines Excellent communication style and proficiency in report writing and presentation skills Knowledge of undergraduate education of nurses and midwives Experience of working with undergraduate nursing and midwifery students and newly qualified nurses and midwives Knowledge & Experience - (Desirable): Experience in mixed methods research Good scientific track record as demonstrated by authorship on research papers Excellent organisational and IT 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. Informal Enquiries: Informal enquiries are invited in the first instance through Clarissa Disconzi, Human Resources Department (email: ). All applications for this post must be made through the career's webpage Clarissa can arrange for relevant queries on the academic aspects of the role to be addressed by the hiring manager. Please note we do not accept CVs directly.