Postdoctoral Researcher - CO-ACT, 1 FTE, School of Psychology, 011658 Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for the following position with the CO-ACT project.
Full-time, fixed term/specific purpose position as a postdoctoral researcher (for 30 months)
The post-holder will be based in the School of Psychology and will work in collaboration with the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology at the Institute for Lifecourse & Society (ILAS).
The position is available immediately.
The position is funded by the Health Research Board Ireland (THCS-2025-2), as part of a co-fund European Partnership Transforming Health and Care Systems (THCS) .
The CO-ACT team
CO-ACT - Co-Designing Adaptive Care Transformations for Ageing Communities - is led by a team of researchers from Ireland (Galway), the Netherlands (Utrecht), Finland (Jyväskylä) and Portugal (Lisbon). The Principal Investigator (PI) for the University of Galway team is Prof Molly Byrne , Professor of Health Psychology and Director of the Health Behaviour Change Research Group (HBCRG) at the School of Psychology.
Co-investigators are:
1. Prof Kieran Walsh , Professor of Ageing & Public Policy and Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) within the Institute for Lifecourse and Society and, 2. Prof Michelle Canavan , Professor of Older Adult Health at University of Galway and Consultant Geriatrician at University Hospital Galway.
The overall project is coordinated by researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands .
The research team in University of Galway will include the PI, the two co-investigators, a postdoctoral researcher (for 30 months) and a research assistant (for 24 months).
The CO-ACT project The project addresses Europe’s ageing population, rising healthcare costs, and growing pressures on health and care ecosystems. The work aims to promote healthy ageing through prevention and public health policies--as the most effective strategy to mitigate the impact of population ageing and reduce pressure on healthcare systems.
The project is structured around four interconnected work packages designed to develop, adapt, implement, and scale evidence-based person-centred health and care solutions for community-dwelling older adults across diverse European contexts. The project will utilise approaches from Implementation Science and Health Psychology to adapt and enhance implementation of health and care solutions from other regions in Europe into novel health and community care settings, called ’Living Labs’.
Project objectives include:
(1) To develop ecosystem maps for each of the regions involved, which will provide a snapshot of integrated community healthcare solutions for older adults in each of the regions.
(2) To optimize care pathways by adapting and implementing solutions in living labs across diverse healthcare ecosystems in European member states.
(3) To ensure long-term impact and accessibility of project outcomes by developing dissemination strategies, including toolkits, training programs, and a knowledge exchange platform.
Salary
The postdoctoral researcher will be placed at the PD1 salary scale: ¤46,805 - ¤59,063 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.
The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale (subject to the project’s funding limitations), where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale.
(Research Salary Scales - University of Galway)
Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (Irish Time) on 19th March 2026. It will not be possible to consider applications received after the closing date.
Interviews are planned to be held in Galway on 31st March 2026 (after 11.00).
Candidates called for interview will be requested to prepare a 10 minute presentation focusing on: ’How I would approach the task of adapting evidence-based health and social care interventions to new contexts’.
*Please review full job description for further details and essential requirements.
Click on the link(s) below to view documents
011658 Full Job Description (2).pdf
