The Human Sciences Research Unit (HSRU), housed within the department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick, are seeking candidates interested in pursuing postdoctoral fellowships in the areas of Healthy Ageing and Performance Nutrition.
Career-FIT is a new trans-national scheme that offers an opportunity for experienced researchers to develop their careers in market focused applied research in Ireland’s Technology Centres. The Career-FIT programme offers 50 fellowships of 36 months’ duration for incoming mobility to the Centre Hosts, with an enterprise secondment option during the Fellowship. The HSRU are currently undertaking a programme of work within Food for Health Ireland (FHI) Enterprise Ireland’s national technology centre in food and health. FHI is a collaboration between public research organisations and several dairy industry partners, conducting market-focused research on the development of functional food ingredients to improve consumer’s health and performance. The focus within the HSRU is on identifying ingredients which have bioactivities regulating musculoskeletal health and performance in ageing and athletic populations using a ‘cell to society’ approach comprising both in vitro and human studies. The HSRU also has a number of parallel industry partner specific programmes of work ongoing. For a sample of the type of work we do see here:
Selection of candidates is through a transparent process based on demonstrated excellence of the applicant, potential of the research programme, host organisation capacity to provide a developmental environment, and training/career development impact of the Fellowship. The HSRU has significant experience in mentoring postdoctoral candidates with >10 mentorship years completed in FHI so far, which have supported not only scientific progress but also the training and development of our postdocs in line with their long term career goals.
27 Fellowships will be awarded in the 2018 Call. The call is now open with a deadline for applications of 30th April 2018. Awarded Fellowships will run for 3 years from 30 October 2018 to 30 September 2021.
If interested, please see the below eligibility criteria, benefits of the career-fit programme and the contact details for each of the principal investigators within the HSRU. Interested candidates should contact the team by early March at the latest.
Applicant Eligibility
- Experienced researchers are eligible, i.e. those researchers in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience at the time of recruitment.
- Applicants of any nationality are welcome to apply – note researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Ireland for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to the recruitment date of 31 JULY 2018.
- Applicants must be able to communicate through the English language.
Why Apply?
- Excellent development and training
- Prestigious
- Collaborative
- Contractual Security
- Excellent salary, plus family allowance
- Inter-sectoral mobility
- Acquisition of skills
- Gain experience translating research into practice – widening career options
Principal Investigators
Dr Brian Carson (brian.carson@ul.ie or @DrBPCarson)
Dr Catherine Norton (Catherine.Norton@ul.ie or @NortonNutrition)
Prof Phil Jakeman (phil.jakeman@ul.ie)
Dr Brian Carson is a lecturer in exercise physiology and course director for the BSc in 
Sport and Exercise Sciences programme in the department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick. Dr Carson’s research interests are primarily focussed on the plasticity and metabolic adaption of skeletal muscle in response to physical activity and nutrition. A member of the Centre for Physical Activity and Health Research (C-PHAR) and the Health Research Institute (HRI). Dr Carson’s current research projects are investigating the association between physical activity behaviours and metabolic health with a specific focus on metabolic flexibility and how physical activity interventions can monitor these outcomes. Contact Dr Carson via email brian.carson@ul.ie or follow him on Twitter .
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