About the Role
The School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast seek to appoint an exceptional Research Fellow to join the AMR and One Health Lab and Huws Group. Working within a multidisciplinary team, the appointee will support PUREMILK, a BBSRC Follow-on Fund project focused on the formulation and pre-clinical preparation of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for treating bovine mastitis.
The postholder will support the development, optimisation, quality control and preparation of intramammary AMP formulations for pre-clinical and clinical mastitis studies, ensuring preparations are characterised and meet standards for transfer to project partners. Working with Queen’s project leads and partners at the Moredun Research Institute and RAFT Solutions, they will prepare, test and document formulations for evaluation in bovine mastitis models and partner-led studies.
Activities include formulation preparation, sterility assessment, stability testing, rheological profiling, physicochemical characterisation, compatibility testing and formulation data preparation for reports, publications, intellectual property protection, regulatory engagement and commercial development. Excellent organisational and communication skills are essential. Priority will be given to candidates with expertise in pharmaceutical or biochemical formulation science and demonstrable experience in peptide or antimicrobial compound development, antimicrobial formulation, pharmaceutical microbiology, peptide therapeutics, drug delivery or related areas.
The postholder will support commercial milestones by engaging with farmers and scientists, contributing to freedom-to-operate checks, preparing data for patent filing and Veterinary Medicines Directorate submission, and supporting licensing discussions. The role will ensure AMP formulations are fit for partner and regulatory testing, supporting sustainable dairy production and healthy animals and people.
About the Person
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.
Fixed-term contract (available for approximately 9 months). 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 flexible working options, 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-and-benefits/
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