Research Fellow for the Shared Care fOr Physical and sExual HEALTH in youth with mental illness project (SCOPE for HEALTH project)

Post Status: Specific Purpose Contract – Full-time.

Location: Institute of Population Health, Russell Centre, Tallaght Cross, D24 DH74. Hybrid working is possible with this post.

Reports to: Associate Professor Catherine Darker

Hours of work: 5 days per week

Closing date: 12 Noon (Irish Standard Time), Friday 10^th May, 2024

Please note that Garda vetting will be sought in respect of individuals who come under consideration for a post.

Post Summary

We are seeking to recruit a Research Fellow to work on the SCOPE for HEALTH (Shared Care fOr Physical and sExual HEALTH in youth mental health) work package of the VISTA project (VISion To Action for promoting mental health and recovery: An Implementation Science approach to "Sharing the Vision" - Ireland's national mental health policy). The VISTA project comprises six work packages that together focus on how recommendations within “Sharing the Vision” can be best implemented, thereby bridging the gap between policy and policy implementation. The SCOPE for HEALTH work package is led by Associate Professor Catherine Darker (TCD) and Dr Karen O’Connor (HSE) and Associate Professor John Paul Lyne (HSE).

Physical and sexual health needs of young people with mental illness are often overlooked in spite of increasing awareness of their importance in mental illness. This is highlighted further by the now established ‘mortality gap’ which suggests that individuals with mental illness have a shorter life expectancy by approximately 15 years. Understanding and improving this disparity in life expectancy needs to be prioritised in mental health services.

Recommendation 19 of ‘Sharing the Vision’ recommends “that the physical health needs of all users of specialist mental health services should be given particular attention by their General Practitioner. A ‘shared care’ approach is recommended”. However, such a shared care approach between primary and secondary care is not in place within Ireland. This work package will look to address this policy implementation gap and care gap to support the implementation of this recommendation.

The SCOPE for HEALTH work package utilises a mixed methods study design. Initially a systematic review of barriers and facilitators to implementation of a shared care model for physical and sexual health for young people with mental health difficulties will be undertaken; quantitative analyses of the 4 waves of the Growing Up in Ireland's rich dataset will be conducted; a series of focus groups with stakeholders to elicit their views of determinants to implementation will also be conducted. The data from these projects will be synthesized to produce a definitive list of determinants for implementation. This will be matched to the Implementation Science CFIR-ERIC Matching Tool to match barriers to generic strategies for implementation. Those generic strategies will be tailored and made context specific to Ireland by undergoing a process of refinement and consensus building with different stakeholders such as policymakers, psychiatrists, GPs and patients. This will be achieved using a combination of World Café methodologies and Delphi Consensus techniques. By the end of this stepped process, we will have a content specific, feasible and stakeholder acceptable implementation blueprint for SCOPE for HEALTH. 

This post is offered on a full-time basis, and will start immediately. The position will appeal to anyone who wishes to develop their research career and profile. The salary is commensurate with the IUA scale for a postdoctoral position. The post will primarily be based in the Institute of Population Health (IPH) in Tallaght however, the post may require travel to data collection sites.

Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post

Supervision and support will be provided to:

• Work collaboratively with the PIs of the SCOPE for HEALTH project, and project partners in achieving the goals set out.

• To act as the central contact point for the work package and provide regular updates to the work package team.

• Help set up and participate in a project oversight group.
• Obtain Ethical and DPO Approval for the study.

• To conduct relevant literature searches, individual and focus group interviews, data analysis, and support knowledge translation activities as directed by the WP team.

• Assist with dissemination through international peer-reviewed publications.
• Prepare reports and papers for publication.

Funding Information

The post is funded by the Health Research Board Applied Programme Award.

Person Specification

Qualifications

A PhD in health or social care or social sciences or equivalent

Knowledge & Experience Required (Essential and Desirable)

• A background in health related research (essential), preferably mental health research (desirable).
• Experience conducting scoping/systematic reviews (desirable).
• Experience in quantitative analyses of large cohort datasets (essential).
• Experience of qualitative research methods (including recruitment, data collection and analysis) (essential).
• Experience in conducting research with young people (desirable).
• Experience of writing for publication and/or having a publication record (desirable).
• Experience of implementation science research (desirable).

Skills & Competencies

• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
• Strong organisational and project management skills (including time management, task prioritisation, problem solving, and decision making).
• Writing reports and papers for publication.
• Ability to foster positive working relationships with stakeholder groups and partner organizations.
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team.
• Ability to use data analysis tools (e.g. SPSS and NVIVO).
• Ability to use systematic review software (e.g., COVIDENCE)

Application Procedure

Applicants should submit a full Curriculum Vitae to include the names and contact details of 2 referees (including email addresses), together with a cover letter (1xA4 page) that specifically addresses the duties and responsibilities of the post to:-
Associate Professor Catherine Darker catherine.darker@tcd.ie

Further Information for Applicants

URL Link to Area: www.tcd.ie

URL Link to Human Resources: www.tcd.ie/hr

GARDA CLEARANCE:

Police vetting will be sought in respect of individuals who come under consideration for a post.

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants will be required to complete and return a Garda vetting form should they come under consideration for appointment. In some cases they may be requested to complete the form on the day of interview. This form will be forwarded to An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) for security checks on all Irish addresses at which they have resided. An Garda Síochána will make enquiries with the Police Service of Northern Ireland with respect to addresses in Northern Ireland. If an applicant is not successful in obtaining the post for whatever reason, this information will be destroyed. If an applicant, therefore, subsequently comes under consideration for another position, they will be required to supply this information again.

While applicants must complete information in relation to all addresses at which they have resided, the vetting is only done on addresses on the island of Ireland.

If an applicant has resided / studied in countries outside of Ireland for a period of 6 months or more, it is mandatory for them to furnish a Police Criminal Records Check/ Police Certificate from those countries stating that they have no convictions recorded against them while residing there. Applicants will need to provide a separate Police Criminal Records Check/ Police Certificate for each country in which they have resided. The Police Criminal Records Check/ Police Certificate must be dated after the date the applicant left the relevant country. Applicants should provide documentation in the English and/or Irish language. Translations must be provided by a registered translation company/institute in the Republic of Ireland; all costs will be borne by the applicant. Only original version documents will be accepted.

Applicants should be aware that any information obtained in the Garda Vetting process can be made available to the employing area.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to seek security clearances in a timely fashion as they can take some time. No applicant will be appointed without this information being provided and being in order.

The following websites may be of assistance in this regard:

www.disclosurescotland.co.uk

www.psni.police.uk

This website provides information on obtaining a national police clearance certificate for Australia

www.afp.gov.au

This website provides information on obtaining police clearance in New Zealand.

www.courts.govt.nz

For other countries not listed above applicants may find it helpful to contact the relevant embassies who could provide information on seeking Police Clearance. Original Police Clearance documentation should be forwarded to Human Resources where it will be copied and the original returned to the applicant by post. Any cost incurred in this process will be borne by the Applicant.

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

Trinity is Ireland’s leading university and is ranked 98th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2023). Founded in 1592, the University is steeped in history with a reputation for excellence in education, research and innovation.

Located on an iconic campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, Trinity has 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across our three faculties – Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences.

Trinity is ranked as the 17th most international university in the world (Times Higher Education Rankings 2020) and has students and staff from over 120 countries.

The pursuit of excellence through research and scholarship is at the heart of a Trinity education, and our researchers have an outstanding publication record and strong record of grant success. Trinity has developed 19 broad-based multidisciplinary research themes that cut across disciplines and facilitate world-leading research and collaboration within the University and with colleagues around the world. Trinity is also home to 5 leading flagship research institutes:

• Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI)
• Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN)
• Trinity Translational Medical Institute (TTMI)
• Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (TLRH)
• Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN)

Trinity is 1st in Europe for Producing Entrepreneurs for the 7th year in a row and Europe’s only representative in the world’s top-50 universities

(Pitchbook 2021-2022).

Trinity is home to the famous Old Library and to the historic Book of Kells as well as other internationally significant holdings in manuscripts, maps and early printed material. The Trinity Library is a legal deposit library, granting the University the right to claim a copy of every book published in Ireland and the UK. At present, the Library’s holdings span approximately 6.5 million printed items, 400,000 e-books and 150,000 e-journals.

With over 120,000 alumni, Trinity’s tradition of independent intellectual inquiry has produced some of the world’s finest, most original minds including the writers Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureates), the mathematician William Rowan Hamilton and the physicist Ernest Walton (Nobel laureate), the political thinker Edmund Burke, and the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. This tradition finds expression today in a campus culture of scholarship, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and dedication to societal reform.

Rankings

Trinity College Dublin is the top ranked university in Ireland. Using the QS methodology we are ranked 98^th in the world and using the Times Higher Education World University Ranking methodology we are 146th in the World.

• Trinity College Dublin is Ireland's No.1 University
  (QS World University Ranking 2023, Times Higher Education Rankings 2022)
• Trinity is ranked 98th in the World
  (QS World University Ranking 2023)
• Trinity is ranked No.1 in Europe for Producing Entrepreneurs for the 7th year in a row Pitchbook 2021-2022

Full details are available at: www.tcd.ie/research/about/rankings.

The Selection Process in Trinity

The Selection Committee (Interview Panel) may include members of the Academic and Administrative community together with External Assessor(s) who are expert in the area. Applications will be acknowledged by email. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt within 1 day of submitting your application online, please contact the named hiring lead on the job specification immediately and prior to the closing date/time. 

Given the degree of co-ordination and planning to have a Selection Committee available on the specified date, the University regrets that it may not be in a position to offer alternate selection dates. Where candidates are unavailable, reserves may be drawn from a shortlist. Outcomes of interviews are notified in writing to candidates and are issued no later than 5 working days following the selection day. 

In some instances the Selection Committee may avail of telephone or video conferencing. The University’s selection methods may consist of any or all of the following: Interviews, Presentations, Psychometric Testing, References and Situational Exercises.

It is the policy of the University to conduct pre-employment medical screening/full pre-employment medicals. Information supplied by candidates in their application (Cover Letter and CV) will be used to shortlist for interview.

Applications from non-EEA citizens are welcomed. However, eligibility is determined by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and further information on the Highly Skills Eligible Occupations List is set out in Schedule 3 of the Regulations dbei.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Workplace-and-Skills/Employment-Permits/Employment-Permit-Eligibility/Highly-Skilled-Eligible-Occupations-List and the Ineligible Categories of Employment are set out in Schedule 4 of the Regulations dbei.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Workplace-and-Skills/Employment-Permits/Employment-Permit-Eligibility/Ineligible-Categories-of-Employment. Non-EEA candidates should note that the onus is on them to secure a visa to travel to Ireland prior to interview. Non-EEA candidates should also be aware that even if successful at interview, an appointment to the post is contingent on the securing of an employment permit.

Equal Opportunities Policy

Trinity is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to employment policies, procedures and practices which do not discriminate on grounds such as gender, civil status, family status, age, disability, race, religious belief, sexual orientation or membership of the travelling community. On that basis we encourage and welcome talented people from all backgrounds to join our staff community. Trinity’s Diversity Statement can be viewed in full at www.tcd.ie/diversity-inclusion/diversity-statement.

Pension Entitlements

This is a pensionable position and the provisions of the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 will apply in relation to retirement age for pension purposes. Details of the relevant Pension Scheme will be provided to the successful applicant.

Applicants should note that they will be required to complete a Pre-Employment Declaration to confirm whether or not they have previously availed of an Irish Public Service Scheme of incentivised early retirement or enhanced redundancy payment. Applicants will also be required to declare any entitlements to a Public Service pension benefit (in payment or preserved) from any other Irish Public Service employment.

Applicants formerly employed by the Irish Public Service that may previously have availed of an Irish Public Service Scheme of Incentivised early retirement or enhanced redundancy payment should ensure that they are not precluded from re-engagement in the Irish Public Service under the terms of such Schemes. Such queries should be directed to an applicant’s former Irish Public Service Employer in the first instance.

Application Procedure

Candidates should submit a full Curriculum Vitae to include the names and contact details of 2 referees (including email addresses), together with a cover letter (1x A4 page) that specifically addresses the duties and responsibilities of the post set out above to:

Catherine.darker@tcd.ie

Applications will only be accepted by email