Epilepsy Ireland recruiting for new role of Research Officer

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Epilepsy Ireland are delighted to confirm that we have recently begun recruiting for the newly created role of Research Officer within our organisation. 

As an organisation that has invested over €1.5 million in a range of epilepsy research projects since 2009, the creation of this new role reiterates our commitment to epilepsy research in Ireland. 

Despite our investments in epilepsy research – and indeed, our various other non-financial contributions to epilepsy research – our activities in research is the only aspect of our organisation that currently doesn’t have a direct personnel presence. In addition, growing our presence in the epilepsy research community, both nationally and internationally, was identified as a key strategic aim by our members, supporters and volunteers within our current strategic plan 2022-2026 – with the creation of this role a long-term aspiration for our organisation. 

Despite the role being a long-term aspiration, and our ever-growing growing presence within the epilepsy research community in Ireland over the past decade, financial constraints and competing priorities within our organisation has meant that the creation of the role has not been possible historically.

However, this has recently changed thanks to a significant personal donation from a donor (who wishes to remain anonymous) who has an interest in research, and an admiration for all our work on behalf of people with epilepsy and their families. The donation has given us the opportunity to make this role a reality for an initial period of two years. The creation of the new role is also timely, as preparations are already underway internally to launch our 9th Research Funding Call under the Health Research Charities Ireland – Health Research Board (HRCI-HRB) Joint funding scheme. We are hopeful that our participation will see further investments in epilepsy research following the completion of that process. 

The opportunity to create this new role would not have been possible without this person’s incredible contribution in support of our work and we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the anonymous donor. 

It is envisioned that this new role will help manage and enhance our activities in terms of engagement with researchers and research projects. In addition, a responsibility of the new role will be to encourage the participation of people with epilepsy in epilepsy research through public and patient involvement (PPI). The role is still actively recruiting, with the invitation for applications set to close later this week. The full description of this newly created role can be found by visiting the ‘About Us’ section of our website.

The creation of the Research Officer role is the second significant achievement (in terms of enhancing organisational capacity) as identified by our current Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026 – following the creation of the Youth Resource Officer role in 2024. 

Both these roles have been made possible thanks to significant corporate and personal donations – showing how this support can make long-term organisational aspirations a reality as we continue our journey towards a society where no person’s life is limited by epilepsy. If you would like to discuss supporting our work via a personal donation, corporate partnership or legacy donation, please get in touch with our Fundraising and Development Manager, Cian Dikker, by emailing cdikker@epilepsy.ie.

We look forward to welcoming our new Research Officer to our team following the conclusion of the recruitment process and would like to once again thank our anonymous donor for their incredible support. 

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