Postdoctoral Researcher (PatentsInHumans Project) (24 Month Temporary Contract)

Overview of the PatentsInHumans project:

PatentsInHumans is a 5-year European Research Council Starting Grant funded project led by Principal Investigator, Professor Aisling McMahon, which commenced on 1st November 2022.

PatentsInHumans (www.patentsinhumans.eu) investigates the role of bioethics in the patenting and licensing of technologies related to the human body, including, for example, medicines, medical devices etc.

The Role

As part of this project, we are seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Researcher. Under the supervision of Prof McMahon, the successful candidate will conduct empirical and desk-based research to gain insights over the types of bioethical issues that can be posed by patents over such technologies, and to develop an understanding of to what extent such bioethical issues are currently considered, if at all within the relevant legal systems in Europe..

The successful candidate will conduct semi-structured interviews and focus groups with relevant experts and stakeholders to gain qualitative understandings of the potential bioethical implications posed and challenges to engaging with these . Together with the Principal Investigator they will analyse such data and will contribute to project deliverables and publications. The successful candidate will also support the Principal Investigator in carrying out other research tasks related to the project, including conducting legal research, literature reviews and contributing to project reports.

The Postdoctoral Researcher will join a well-supported multidisciplinary team within the research-intensive School of Law and Criminology in Maynooth University. They will be supported in their personal career development plan throughout by Professor McMahon.

For this position, we are ideally looking to appoint a candidate with knowledge of empirical methods and analysis, such as semi-structured interviews or focus groups.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101042147.

The ideal candidate will have:

Essential

• A PhD in law, or related discipline such as political sciences, bioethics, criminology or sociology, together with evidence of relevant knowledge of, at least one area related to the project, such as intellectual property law, health law, or bioethics;
• An undergraduate degree in law, or related discipline, with a minimum 2.1 grade or higher;
• General knowledge of empirical methods and analysis;
• Excellent research skills;
• A record of scholarly work and publication appropriate to career stage;
• Willingness to undertake travel in Europe for research purposes;
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English.
• Excellent attention to detail, flexibility, initiative and good problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work with a great degree of autonomy, manage workloads, deadlines, and responsibilities.
• Excellent computer skills, including proficiency in Word, Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat;
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

Desirable

• Experience in using qualitative empirical methods, such as semi-structured interviews or focus groups, and in conducting analysis of empirical data;
• Demonstrable knowledge of areas related to the project such as human rights, and EU law;
• A record of peer reviewed publication(s), appropriate to career stage;
• Demonstrable experience of conducting socio-legal and interdisciplinary research;
• Previous experience of working as part of a team on interdisciplinary research projects;

For further details including comprehensive job description please see reference number 030401 on the Maynooth University vacancies page at: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/human-resources/vacancies

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