We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher with advanced expertise in health data architecture, data governance, and research informatics to support the All-Island E-Health Hub for Cancer at Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR), Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI), and the Northern Ireland Biobank. Aligned with the e-Hub's strategic priorities, the post-holder will lead work to map, evaluate, and connect heterogeneous health and research datasets across HSCNI systems, legacy cohort studies, and biobank resources, with particular emphasis on assessing data readiness and implementing standards-based harmonisation (e.g. OMOP Common Data Model) to enable national and international federated analyses.
The role explicitly includes critical appraisal of legacy datasets, including assessment of data ageing, metadata completeness, consent scope, and governance constraints, rather than assuming direct migration into new environments. The successful candidate will contribute to high-impact research questions related to cancer data federation and aligning data pathways, to optimise national and international analyses of treatment, diagnosis and care quality, with the potential to contribute to Cancer Registry and Northern Ireland Biobank analyses.
The role offers a unique opportunity to develop regional data federation structures and enhance future policy-relevant insights while engaging in collaborative all-island infrastructure planning and the opportunity to contribute to next-generation cancer data analytics across Ireland, with direct supervision from Prof Mark Lawler, Dr Ethna McFerran and Dr Damien Bennett.
The successful candidate must have, and your application should clearly demonstrate that you meet the following essential criteria:
To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information.
This post is available until 1 September 2027. Fixed term contract posts are available for the stated period in the first instance but in particular circumstances may be renewed or made permanent subject to availability of funding.
What we offer:
Beyond a competitive salary, the University offers an attractive benefits package including a holiday entitlement of up to 8.4 weeks a year, pension schemes and development opportunities. We support staff wellbeing with work-life balance initiatives and support for physical and mental health. You can find more detail on all of this and more at https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/HumanResources/pay-reward-andbenefits
Queen's University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI and Athena Swan and have established staff networks such as iRise (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and PRISM (LGBTQ+) which help us progress equality. For further information on our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit www.qub.ac.uk/diversity.
If you are an international applicant and don't already hold a visa that permits you to take up the role you are applying for, please use the information provided on our website to self-assess whether the University is likely to be able to support a visa application - http://go.qub.ac.uk/internationalstaffsupport
Candidate Information