Current Scholarship Opportunities

Postgraduate Studentship in Nutrition and Metabolic Health
School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin
4 Year Fully Funded PhD Studentship

Applications are invited for the following studentship:

Project title

Sweet Deception? Metabolic and Sensory Responses to Non-Nutritive Sweeteners

A new PhD position is currently available for a student to join the DAFM-funded ‘SWEETWISE’ consortium (involving UCD, TUD and TCD) to study the impact of sweeteners on metabolic health outcomes.

Background

Excess dietary sugar intake is a major public health challenge in Ireland, contributing to rising rates of obesity, metabolic disease, and dental caries, particularly in children. National and EU policy targets call for substantial reductions in added and free sugars, yet effective, evidencebased strategies to achieve these goals remain limited. Non-nutritive sweeteners are increasingly used as sugar substitutes, but uncertainty around their metabolic effects and safe application continues to hinder clear guidance for industry, policymakers, and consumers.
This PhD project forms part of SWEETWISE, a large, multidisciplinary research programme aimed at developing safe, sustainable, and evidence-based strategies for sugar reduction across the food system. Focusing on both metabolic and sensory effects of non-nutritive sweeteners, the successful candidate will generate robust preclinical evidence in a range of rodent and human genetic variant models to inform sweetener use, complementing parallel human, food reformulation, dental health, and behavioural research within the SWEETWISE project.

Each successful candidate must:

• Hold a 2.1 Bachelor’s Degree at QQI level 8 or Higher undergraduate degree on the National Framework of Ireland in a biological science related subject.
• Be competent in scientific writing and oral presentations.
• Be highly motivated and self-directed.
• Have a minimum proficiency in all Microsoft packages.

Candidates will ideally:

• Previous experience of working in a research laboratory environment. Experience with pre-clinical models is beneficial but not required.
• Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Have the ability to work in a team.
• Have proven organisational, administrative, analytical and problem-solving skills; be able to identify potential difficulties and formulate solutions.
• Have the ability to work on own initiative, prioritise and manage a number of projects.

Benefits:

• The student will receive a stipend of €25,000 per annum.
• Contribution to fees up to a maximum of €6,000 per annum. This position is restricted to applicants who are eligible for EU funding. Only EU citizens or individuals who hold a residency status conferring EU fee and funding eligibility will be considered.

How to apply: Please submit your application via the following form: (opens in a new window)https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdW0LWIQ4r8IZW6KZE1JLhtI0YWIhTp6mtEPMycmhJc6K2cPQ/viewform?usp=dialog

• Diploma and Transcripts of academic records (undergraduate and postgraduates)
• A detailed CV
• A supporting statement of no more than two pages (font size 12) outlining their academic and professional experience relevant to this project.
• Names and contact details of 2 academic referees

To find out more: Shortlisted candidates will be called to interview, expected start date is May 2026. Enquiries can be directed via email to, (opens in a new window)Dr Clare Reynolds ((opens in a new window)clare.reynolds@ucd.ie) and (opens in a new window)Dr Emma Feeney ((opens in a new window)emma.feeney@ucd.ie).

Offers are subject to standard checks such as references.
University College Dublin is an equal opportunities employer.

The Mysterious Melanoma-protected Hair Follicle Melanocyte: search for insights into the control of follicular pigment cell cycle status

Applications are invited from suitably-qualified candidates (“Doctoral Candidate”) for a 4-year, fulltime PhD position (includes tuition fees @EU level only, project running costs, and a stipend of €25,000/yr or €2,083/mo) at the Charles Institute of Dermatology, University College Dublin, Ireland.

Brief Project Description

Cutaneous Melanoma is a common and aggressive cancer of melanocytes originating in the epidermis of the skin. If not identified and treated early, melanoma has a substantial risk of spreading (metastasis). Patients with distant melanoma metastasis have a ~30% survival chance at 5 years, even with recently-available and expensive immunotherapies. Most published research data are drawn from animal/fish/cell-line model studies, with little current original research interrogating melanoma development in human skin tissues itself.

This project sits within a wider program in the Tobin Lab., involving other PhD student and postdoctoral level scientists to ask why melanocytes located in different compartments of the human skin show much variability in their tendency to become melanoma. For example, post-mitotic melanocytes in the epidermis, which usually resist both cell division and death by apoptosis, are paradoxically the ones that are liable to convert to melanoma. By contrast, melanocytes in the hair follicle are not susceptible, despite that they, by contrast, proliferate and apoptose physiologically during life-long hair growth cycling.

What will the successful PhD candidate study?

Their specific focus will be to interrogate the most unusual cell dynamics of the human hair follicle melanocyte, in terms of the checks and balances that regulate their transitions from melanoblast to proliferating melanocyte to differentiating melanocyte to (potentially) senescent melanocyte or apoptosing melanocyte in this skin appendage.

Host Institution & Laboratory

The candidate will join a group of approximately 4 PhD students and 4 Postdocs under the supervision of Desmond J Tobin PhD, MRIA (Full Professor of Dermatological Science at UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology https://www.ucd.ie/charles/ ). The Charles is the only academic centre dedicated to skin and dermatological research on the island of Ireland. University College Dublin (https://www.ucd.ie/) is Ireland’s largest university and consistently ranks in the top 1% globally.

Qualifications / Expertise

Applicants should have a good BSc Hons degree (min. upper 2nd) or a Masters degree in Cell Biology or a related discipline. The ideal candidate will have experience in as many of the following techniques as possible: mammalian cell culture; cellular &molecular biology; protein & gene analysis; and immunohistochemistry. They must be highly organized, rigorous, and scientifically curious. They must be highly motivated with strong written, oral, and interpersonal skills. They should have experience of working independently and as a part of team. They must be fluent in spoken and written English (to C1 level).

Starting date

The candidate is expected to start in May 2026.  

How to apply

Please send your letter of motivation (1 page max), CV, academic transcript(s), and referee’s contact details (3 referees min.) to (opens in a new window)Prof. Desmond Tobin ((opens in a new window)desmond.tobin@ucd.ie) no later than March 31th, 2026.

Project Title: Seasonal and spatial patterns of badger diet through stable isotope analysis

Applications are invited for a fully funded 4-year PhD student, based in the School of Agriculture and Food Science in UCD, to start January or May 2026.

Project background

This PhD project forms part of a wider collaborative effort to better understand the ecology of badgers (Meles meles) in Ireland and support bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication. The research is a joint initiative between UCD’s Schools of Agriculture and Food Science, and Biology and Environmental Science, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

Ongoing work includes large-scale GPS tracking of badger movements and camera-trap studies estimating local population densities. This PhD will complement these projects by examining badger diet across different population densities, using stable isotope analysis of inert tissues (e.g., whiskers). Combining dietary data with movement patterns and density estimates will provide new insights into how badgers use various habitats in rural Ireland.

Badgers are both wildlife reservoirs of bTB and keystone species in the ecosystem. Understanding their diet offers a non-invasive means to explore how and when they interact with agricultural areas, helping identify times and places where farm incursions are more likely. The project will also address broader ecological questions, such as seasonal and density-dependent variation in diet.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop advanced laboratory skills, contribute to wildlife ecology research, and play a role in Ireland’s national bTB eradication effort.

The project goals may include, but are not limited to:

1. Studying spatial, temporal, and individual differences in badger diet across Ireland
2. Understanding the effects, if any, of local badger density and group size on individual diet.
3. Analysing the effects of the different management options (culling and vaccination) on badgers’ diet

Candidate profile

The ideal candidate will:

• Hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in biology, ecology, or other relevant
  discipline.
• Have strong, demonstrable quantitative background
• Have experience working with R
• Be proficient in English (English language requirements).
• Have full-time availability

What we offer

• A yearly stipend of €25,000 (tax-free).
• Tuition fees covered at both EU and non-EU rates.
• An annual research budget covering lab and research expenses, and a conference and travel stipend of 2,000 per annum.

Application

Applications should be sent by 14th of December 2025 (23:59 Dublin time) following (opens in a new window)this link and include the following documents in PDF format:

• CV or resume
• A one-page cover letter outlining your motivation for applying to the PhD programme and the specific topic area
• Copies of all academic transcripts (if you are currently enrolled in a master’s programme and have not yet received your final results, please include all transcripts to date)
• The names and contact details of two academic referees

Please send all inquiries – about the application process, the project, the school, UCD, Dublin, or anything else you’re interested in knowing more about – by email to (opens in a new window)Dr. Virginia Morera-Pujol ((opens in a new window)virginia.morera-pujol@ucd.ie).