Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Biomolecular & Biomedical Science

Applications are invited for a temporary 24 month post of a Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1 within UCD School of Biomolecular & Biomedical Science.

The bioeconomy encompasses the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, biobased products and bioenergy. The SFI funded Bioeconomy research centre (BiOrbic) performs world leading frontier research in collaboration with industry to convert Ireland's natural resources on land and in the sea to a wide range of value added products for the development of a sustainable Irish bioeconomy. Biorbic's research programme aligns with the European Circular Biobased Europe Joint undertaking (CBE-JU) strategic research and innovation agenda.

The research project will investigate the microbial conversion of sugars contaminated with lignin and lignin breakdown products derived from wood into value added products. The research project will use bioprocessing (fermentation) and may employ synthetic biology tools to design a yeast strain with high potential for the growth on these wood-based substrates. This microorganism will be grown in a stirred tank reactor to achieve high cell density and subsequently harvested and dried to produce a powder. Optimisation of the fermentation and downstream processing will be undertaken as part of the project. The project is a collaboration with other researchers in a collaborative national project NXTGENWOOD and thus it is part of a greater set of projects investigating valorisation of wood.

Salary range: €42,782 - €49,177 per annum

Appointment on the above range will be dependent upon qualifications and experience.

Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on the 16th of October 2023.

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.

The PD1 position is intended for early stage researchers, either just after completion of a PhD or for someone entering a new area for the first time. If you have already completed your PD1 stage in UCD or will soon complete a PD1, or you are an external applicant whose total Postdoctoral experience, inclusive of the duration of the advertised post, would exceed 4 years, you should not apply and should refer to PD2 posts instead.

Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/