POSITION DETAILS

Department of Inflammation and Ageing, School of Infection, Inflammation and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Fixed salary of £41,313.00 additional allowances may be applicable depending on circumstances
Grade: 7 (Spot)
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 36 months
Closing date: 23rd April 2025

BACKGROUND

We are seeking an applicant for a fully-funded HORIZON-MSCA-2023-DN PhD studentship in the Department of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, in the group of Dr Niharika Duggal to support a translational research project aiming to elucidate how microbiome dysbiosis, immunesenescence, and muscle ageing contribute to frailty. Through a combination of in vitro studies using models of the human colonic microbiota and co-culture cell models (epithelial cells and immune cells) to study the influence of microbiota derived metabolites on restoring mucosal homeostasis followed by a human clinical trial to evaluate the potential of microbiome-based nutraceutical therapies (e.g., polybiotics and postbiotics) to combat T cell ageing, reduce inflammaging, and improve physical functioning in older adults. As part of the UNION doctoral network, we are expecting the technician to register for a PhD position in the Duggal lab at UoB starting in September 2025.
You will be a member of the UNION Doctoral Network. The principal objective of network is to provide world-class doctoral training to a new generation of early-career researchers, and it is responsible for the training of 17 PhD students. As part of this network, you will have the opportunity to visit partner labs within the network for longer collaborative visits as well as substantial training opportunities within academia and industry. As such, international travel and networking will be integral parts of your training during your PhD. UNION aims to greatly improve the understanding of ageing and frailty, a huge burden on health and care costs worldwide, tackling a major health priority. We envision that the link between cutting-edge science and clinical practice will generate guidelines and policies, which in turn will benefit public health policy and will promote societal sustainability globally. UNION is built on the premise that ageing and age-related dysfunction are complex, dynamic and multifactorial in nature, yet can be tackled. The disentanglement and the modulation of the elements of this complexity are required to reduce frailty and thereby extend healthy life expectancy.
This position is led by Dr Duggal at the University of Birmingham (UK). Dr Duggal’s research focusses on investigating the role of immunesenescence as a contributor to pathological conditions that affect older adults and dissecting the role of microbiome changes in driving immunesenescence and investigating the potential of microbiome-based interventions in reversing the immune ageing clock to promoting healthy ageing. The Department of Inflammation and Ageing aims to understand how inflammatory processes drive biological ageing and translate this into interventions to prevent age-related disease and frailty by bringing together researchers specialising in immunesenescence, muscular health, epigenetics, microbiome and Computational Biology. The University of Birmingham is one of the leading research-based universities in the United Kingdom. Birmingham is 68th in the 2024 QS World University Rankings for Life Sciences and Medicine, and joint 11th with a research power ranking of 6th in the recent University research ranking of the UK (Medicine, REF-2021).

ROLE SUMMARY

• Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids
• Work within the UNION research grant and project.
• Operate within the research area of immunesenescence to evaluate the potential of microbiome-based nutraceutical therapies to combat T cell ageing, reduce inflammaging, and improve physical functioning in older adults.
• Operate within area of specialism
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results
• Contribute to generating funding
• Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar
• Interact with other members of the UNION consortium and fulfil the responsibilities associated with the studentship, such as attending consortium meetings, training activities and international secondments to partner organisations.
• Contribute towards achieving the sustainability goals of the research group.
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, under supervision of the project leader.
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research.
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines.
• Carry out administrative tasks related directly to the delivery of the research
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

MAIN DUTIES

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, and research interviews
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.