Research Fellow – Clinical Pain Science

• School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

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

• Access state-of-the-art facilities to further your research endeavours

• Collaborate with highly awarded, world-class colleagues

• Based at our 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 

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Research Fellow, with expertise in clinical pain science, to join our world-class School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. This is an exciting opportunity to engage in research to further your expertise and growing research profile to achieve national recognition in clinical pain science and an opportunity to manage service and engagement roles and activities.

The successful applicant will take a leadership role in research projects funded by a new NHMRC Synergy Grant, and will play a central role in the administration and organisation of the relevant project(s) within Professor Paul Hodges’ research group within the School. The role includes engagement with chief investigators and associate investigators for the grant across Australia and internationally.

The projects encompass the development and testing of multimodal measurement tool(s) to identify the predominant mechanism for a patient’s pain (in collaboration with the International Association for the Study of Pain Terminology Task Force), and research to understand the neurobiology of pain. Projects include consensus projects with international expert leaders in pain research, cohort studies with diverse measurement methods, and studies to investigate neurobiological mechanisms that underpin different pain presentations.

Key responsibilities will include (but are not limited to): 

• With the project Chief Investigators, develop and undertake a coherent program of research that addresses the aims of the project.

• Produce quality research outputs consistent with discipline norms by publishing or exhibiting in national research journals, other appropriate refereed publications and conference publications, with a lead role in some outputs.

• Participate in, or contribute as chief investigator role, in applications for competitive research funding to support projects and activities, which includes actively seeking, obtaining and managing research funding.

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

• Demonstrate a track record of the effective supervision of Honours and Higher Degree by Research students.

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

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

• Actively pursue and 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, fixed-term position for 3 years at Academic level B.

At Academic level B, the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $108,201 - $128,201, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $126,595 – $149,996 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, flexible working arrangements including hybrid on site/WFH options and flexible start/finish times, and genuine career progression opportunities via the academic promotions process.

About You  

• Completion of a PhD in a field related to pain science (physiotherapy, psychology, medicine, other health discipline or science).

• An advanced understanding of pain and pain science.

• A growing profile in research in pain science.

• Ability to quickly acquire new laboratory techniques and to perform them routinely at a high level of accuracy and efficiency.

• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills with demonstrated capacity to collaborate diverse teams.

• A developing reputation and track record of publications in reputed refereed journals and presenting at conferences.

• Evidence of successfully seeking, obtaining and managing external research funding.

• A growing record of supervision of Honours and Higher Degree by Research students to successful completion.

• Experience in meaningful internal service roles in conjunction with active contributions to external activities.

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor Paul Hodges, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and DISCERN Director, at [email protected] .

For application queries, and to request the position description of this role, 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 Friday 26 April 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number: R-35542).