Post-Doctoral Researcher School of Pharmacy/College of Medicine and Health

Applications are invited for the position of Post-Doctoral Researcher in the School of Pharmacy for the All-Island Vaccine Research and Training Alliance (AIVRT). Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity (World Health Organisation, WHO). AMR bacteria cause death, disability, prolonged illness, longer hospitalisation and increased healthcare costs. Few antimicrobial options exist to treat AMR infections. Vaccination is the paramount medical intervention in human history to fight infection. Vaccines, unlike antibiotics, do not select for antimicrobial resistance, hence hold the key to overcome AMR infections and reduce antibiotic usage.

AIVRT hub brings together researchers from, UCD, QUB, UCC and TCD in an ambitious four-year alliance to better human health through vaccination and to train the next generation of all-island researchers in vaccine design, development, testing and deployment research.

This project will use a mixed-methods approach to examine how individuals’ capabilities, opportunities, and motivations influence their decision-making behaviour, and how the setting including societal, community, sociodemographic factors, and healthcare service impact on vaccine confidence and complacency. We will use the Intervention Mapping to identify interventions for subsequent implementation that will improve vaccine uptake in key populations across the island of Ireland. This will support ongoing Doctoral research to (i) Identify determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake (ii) Prioritise existing interventions to increase vaccine coverage (iii): Identify behaviour-based determinants in vaccine decision-making across the island and (iv) Tailor interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine.

Our aim is to develop a set of implementable guidelines to aid national and regional health authorities to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake. 

This will improve population-based protection against infectious disease across the island of Ireland.

This position will be aligned to Work Package 5 - Develop Tailored Interventions to Address Vaccine Uptake across the Island of Ireland.