Research Associate - North West Cancer Research Prehab Project

Research Assistant/Postdoctoral Research Associate in Translational Physiology

Lancaster Medical School is seeking to appoint a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to lead a new research grant awarded to Dr Chris Gaffney by North West Cancer Research. The grant will be in prehabilitation and colorectal cancer. Specifically, we will test whether prehabilitation can have any neuroprotective effects during chemotherapy and is a collaboration between Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster Department of Psychology, and NHS Trusts in the region. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Main duties entail:

• Leading in the construction of new knowledge of how neuroplasticity can be impacted upon by exercise and chemotherapy.
• Recruiting participants to take part in research studies
• Designing studies and leading the scientific and methodological approach  
• Ensuring research practices are compliant and up to date with Open Science practices 
• Data collection from participants including data management and quality assurance
• Participation in project meetings; preparation and presentation of talks, posters and reports to disseminate the results of studies
• Day-to-day lab management including opportunities to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate lab members
• Managing lab engagement activities and online media

ABOUT YOU

The successful candidate will:

• Be a motivated and organised researcher and are excited and enthusiastic about the research 
• Have (or submitted) a PhD in Physiology or Neuroscience with experience of working in human testing, preferably patient cohorts 
• Be an excellent project manager and be able to lead the project independently and meet deadlines
• Have excellent quantitative research skills including in programming and statistical analysis

THE BENEFITS OF THE ROLE 

• Generous holiday leave - 25 days (pro-rata) annual leave plus University closure days and bank holidays. 
• Access to employee pension scheme, and annual flexible benefits scheme. 
• We are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across the Faculty, and supporting family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis. The faculty holds an Athena Swan Silver Award, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in Higher Education and research.   
• For more information about the benefits of working at Lancaster University, including support for relocation from overseas, see Jobs - Lancaster University  

Lancaster Medical School is a busy teaching and research active Department.  It is home to a friendly group of over 60 Academic staff, with teams of Research and Professional Services and Technical staff.  The successful candidate would join the Experimental Medicine research group co-led by Dr Chris Gaffney and Dr Hannah Jarvis and would also participate in cross-site research group meetings with East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (BRIDGES). Further information about the Medical School is available at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lms/ 

Please upload a cover letter with your application. 

We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups, and for this full-time post, we expect a start date by October.

This role is indefinite, subject to funding, which is currently only available for 2.5 years.

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be addressed to Dr Chris Gaffney, Senior Lecturer in Integrative Physiology, c.gaffney@lancaster.ac.uk 

Please note: unless specified otherwise in the advert, all advertised roles are UK based.

Find out what it's like to work at Lancaster University, including information on our wide range of employee benefits, support networks and our policies and facilities for a family-friendly workplace.

The University recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address all inequality in higher education whilst promoting the importance and wellbeing for all our colleagues. 

We warmly welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their age, religion, gender identity or expression, race, disability or sexual orientation, and are committed to promoting diversity, and equality of opportunity.