Post-Doctoral Position: Fall-Related Injury Prevention in Older Adults
UW-Schlegel Research Institute for Aging (RIA), Safety Flooring Laboratory
University of Waterloo (UW), Department of Kinesiology, Injury Biomechanics & Aging Laboratory
One Post-Doctoral position is available immediately to contribute to Dr. Andrew Laing’s research programs associated with fall-related injury prevention in older adults. This position will serve as a bridge between Dr. Laing’s Safety Flooring Laboratory (based out of the UW-Schlegel Research Institute for Aging) and the Injury Biomechanics and Aging Laboratory (associated with the University of Waterloo’s Department of Kinesiology). We are looking for an energetic and creative post-doctoral fellow to contribute to the development and implementation of novel lines of research related to injury prevention, falls, and mobility in older adults.
Research will aim to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions intending to reduce the risk of injuries in older adults. Complementary basic and clinically-oriented research streams will also investigate factors related to mobility and fall risk patterns (and related predictive algorithms) that could inform downstream intervention approaches.
Requirements: The incumbent must have a PhD in Kinesiology, Engineering, Neuroscience, Clinical Science (or related area) and experience working with stakeholder groups including older adults, elder care facilities, industry, and multi-disciplinary research groups. Candidates are expected to demonstrate an excellent track-record of peer-reviewed publications. Relevant skills include expertise related to impact biomechanics (physical test systems and/or computational simulations), probabilistic modeling approaches, and/or epidemiological methods for population-based studies. Experience working with research funding agencies, in addition to programming in Matlab, would be strong assets.
Research Environment: This position will physically be based out of the Centre of Excellence for Innovation in Aging on University of Waterloo’s north campus. The Centre is home to the UW-Schlegel Research Institute for Aging offices and laboratories, and includes Ontario’s first purpose-built teaching long-term care home which operates as one of the Schlegel Villages (The Village at University Gates). The incumbent will benefit from a multidisciplinary training and research environment spanning academia, elder care facilities, and industry. Details on RIA researchers and theme areas can be found at their website.Similarly, UW’s Department of Kinesiology utilizes multidisciplinary research approaches (e.g. biomechanics, neuroscience, physiology and nutrition) towards its aim of optimizing health, preventing injury and illness, and extending the years of high quality life.
Specifics: Annual salary depends on level of experience. Funding is available initially for a 1-year contract. Start date is negotiable but ideally would be no later than January 2018.
Process: Applications should be emailed to actlaing@uwaterloo.ca with a subject line of LAING-RIA-PDF-2017 (feel free to email Dr. Laing with questions before submitting a formal application). While the submission deadline is December 17, applications will be considered until a suitable candidate is found. As part of the application please attach as a single PDF file:
- A personal statement describing research interests, experience, and goals (< 2 pages)
- A complete curriculum vitae
- Names and contact information of three references