Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Mechanobiology of Tissues)

• Institute for Molecular Bioscience

• Join a university ranked in the world’s top 50

• Plan for your future with a generous 17% superannuation allowance 

• Fast track your career with our early career academic development program

• Based at St Lucia Campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world, and within an environment where interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.

At the core of our teaching remains our students, and their experience with us sets a foundation for success far beyond graduation. UQ has made a commitment to making education opportunities available for all Queenslanders, regardless of personal, financial, or geographical barriers.

As part of our commitment to excellence in research and professional practice in academic contexts, we are proud to provide our staff with access to world-class facilities and equipment, grant writing support, greater research funding opportunities, and other forms of staff support and development.

About This Opportunity 

The University of Queensland has an exciting opportunity for a Postdoctoral researcher to join the ARC Laureate Program led by Professor Alpha Yap. The program’s overall goal is to understand how mechanical communication between cells supports the homeostasis and integrity of epithelial tissues. The team uses an interdisciplinary approach, working with national and international collaborators to combine experimental cell biology, optical microscopy, biophysical assays and physical theory. It is an opportunity for an ambitious research scientist to expand their capacity, extend their professional research network, and develop leadership in research and supervision.

This is a full-time position, being offered as a 3-year maximum contract, with the potential for renewal, based at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB), St. Lucia. In this role, the successful applicant will undertake competitive research to characterize how tissue mechanics and mechanical signaling respond to homeostatic stresses, such as apoptosis, in epithelial tissues. Experimental models include zebrafish and cellular systems and candidates with research expertise in the zebrafish model are especially sought for this project.

This is an exciting opportunity for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to focus their efforts on developing their expertise and emerging research profile in their discipline. At this level it is expected that the incumbent will contribute to service and engagement roles and activities.  

Key responsibilities include:  

1. Research

• Produces quality research outputs consistent with discipline norms by publishing or exhibiting in high quality outlets.

• Participate in applications for competitive research funding to support projects and activities.

• Work with colleagues in the development of joint research projects and applications for competitive research funding support.

• Contribute to progressing towards transfer of knowledge, technology and practices to research end users through translation, including commercialisation of UQ intellectual property.

• Develop a coherent research program and an emerging research profile.

• Review and draw upon best practice research methodologies.

2. Supervision and Researcher Development

• Contribute to the effective supervision of Honours and Higher Degree by Research students (as appropriate).

• Demonstrates personal effectiveness in supervision and the management of researcher development.

• Effective lead and develop supervisee performance and conduct by providing feedback, coaching, and professional development.

• As appropriate, manage research support staff effectively throughout the employee lifecycle in accordance with University policy and procedures.

• Working to promptly resolve conflict and grievances when they arise in accordance with University policy and procedures.

3. Citizenship and Service

• Demonstrate citizenship behaviours that align to the UQ values.

• Shows leadership of self through collaboration and active participation in priority activities for the unit

• Provide support to other academic positions and unit operations as needed during other team members absences.

• Contribute to internal service roles and administrative processes as required, including participation in decision-making and service on relevant committees.

• Collaborate in service activities external to the immediate organisation unit.

• Begin to develop external links and partnerships by cultivating relationships with industry, government departments, professional bodies and the wider community.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance .

This is a full-time (100%), fixed-term position for up to 3 years. At Academic level A the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $75,808.68 – $100,926.59, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $88,696.16 – $118,084.11 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

The greater benefits of joining the UQ community are broad:  from being part of a Group of Eight university, to recognition of prior service with other Australian universities, up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, 17.5% annual leave loading, and genuine career progression opportunities via the academic promotions process.

About You  

• Completion or near completion of a PhD in the discipline area (cell biology, developmental biology, or biophysics).

• Extensive experience in using zebrafish models or mammalian organoid models.

• Experience in live-cell optical microscopy.

• Evidence of publications in reputed refereed journals and presenting at conferences.

• Evidence of contributions towards successfully obtaining external research funding.

• Some experience in meaningful internal service roles and contributions towards external activities

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: Visa sponsorship may be available for this appointment. 

• Mandatory Immunisations: It is a condition of employment for this role that you will be required to provide evidence of immunisation against certain vaccine preventable diseases.

• Background Checks: All final applicants for this position may be asked to consent to a criminal record check. Please note that people with criminal records are not automatically barred from applying for this position. Each application will be considered on its merits. 

Relocating from interstate or overseas? We’ll support you with the visa sponsorship process and a relocation support package. You can find out more about life in Australia’s Sunshine State here .

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Alpha Yap [email protected]

For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.
 

Want to Apply? 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Resume

• Cover letter

• Responses to the ‘About You’ section

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected]  

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Wednesday 7 February 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (R-33662).