  Background: The Skyrme energy density functional is widely used in mean-field
calculations of nuclear structure and dynamics. However, its reliance on
phenomenology may compromise its isovector properties and its performance for
exotic nuclear systems.
  Purpose: This work investigates the possibility of removing some
phenomenology from the density functional by drawing on the high-energy
degrees-of-freedom of the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model. The QMC model has
microscopically derived isovector properties and far fewer adjustable
parameters.
  Method: The parameters of the Skyrme interaction are fixed using the energy
density functional of the QMC model, to give the Skyrme-QMC (SQMC)
parameterisation.
  Results: Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations of the Sn, Pb and $N=126$
chains are reported, in which SQMC performs with an accuracy comparable to
modern phenomenological functionals.
  Conclusions: The isovector terms of the energy density functional are
significant for the binding energies of neutron-rich nuclei. The isovector
dependence of the nuclear spin-orbit interaction must be taken into account for
calculations of r-process nucleosynthesis abundances.
