Postdoctoral Fellowship (28) at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position for a fixed term of 36 months to work on the ERC Synergy Grant FORAGER. The post will be based in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge and will work under the guidance of Dr Matt Osman.

The primary expected deliverable of the post will be the development of an updated generation of paleoclimate reanalyses spanning the Last Ice Age to the present, building on recent products developed by the C3PO research group. The role will entail synthesising and pairing globally distributed paleoclimate proxy records (e.g. ice core geochemistry, terrestrial and marine biomarkers, speleothems) with ensembles of climate model simulations using probabilistic methods, in order to produce dynamically consistent, spatially complete, and observationally coherent climate fields at decadal to centennial resolution. Emphasis will be placed on uncertainty analytics, proxy system emulation, and the development of statistical spatiotemporal downscaling approaches that help to improve the gap between native climate-model resolution and the types of sub-regional- or seasonal- scales required by end-users.

The Faculty of Divinity invites applications for the position of Research Associate in Christian Theology. This is a fixed-term position for four years, starting 1 October 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter, and is funded by the McDonald Agape Foundation.

The primary duty of the postholder will be to provide research assistance to Professor Simeon Zahl on his project: The Seen and the Unseen: Theology and the Frontiers of Experience. In addition, you will have the opportunity to work and produce high quality research of your own, in one or more areas in the field of Christian Theology. The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to teaching and supervision within the Faculty of Divinity.

The Deep Time Ecology lab is dedicated to understanding how ecology impacts evolution through deep time from the origins of animals to the present. The position is part of a five-year project starting in June 2026: Understanding selection in the early animals of the Ediacaran. This project will bring together geochemistry, palaeontology and evolutionary biology to create an innovative framework for understanding early animal evolution – specifically 1) What the patterns of early animal evolution were; 2) How selection acted upon these early animals; and 3) Why these adaptations occurred.

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join the Dev Group (www.devprostate.com/research) at the University of Cambridge Early Cancer Institute (https://www.earlycancer.cam.ac.uk).

We are focused on developing sensitive, specific and scalable approaches to early cancer detection and risk stratification, with particular emphasis on DNA methylation dynamics and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in liquid biopsies. Our work sits at the interface of computational biology, molecular science and translational medicine, generating large multi-omic datasets that require robust, reproducible analysis to identify rare signals with high accuracy and recall (www.devprostate.com/publications).

The post-holder will work on a Prostate Cancer Research funded initiative in partnership with collaborators at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Imperial College London, aiming to map epigenetic evolution and early carcinogenesis in prostate cancer. You will also contribute flexibly to other high-impact studies in the group, including multi-omic tumour profiling, lineage tracing and liquid biopsy development.

The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge invites expressions of interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships to establish an independent research group.

Successful candidates will be of the highest calibre, with an exceptional track record for their career stage and the potential to submit competitive fellowship applications. The department will assist with the development of your fellowship application and practice for interviews. If successful, we have a programme of support to establish your independence as an academic researcher, including setting up your lab and recruiting personnel, as well as mentoring and training to help you develop your career. You will also be supported by the Cambridge Biological Sciences Research Fellowships Framework (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/research/research-fellowships) and peer-to-peer mentoring through the early PI network (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/biological-sciences-early-pi-network). You will have group leader status equivalent to tenured staff, playing a full role in running the department and will be given opportunities to gain experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

The Department of Genetics provides a world class, highly interactive and supportive research environment within the School of Biological Sciences at Cambridge. Research Themes (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/research/research-themes) span the School, providing opportunities to network across disciplines and Departments. The department is diverse, covering a wide range of topics in fundamental genetics and the application of genetic approaches across the biological and biomedical sciences. We are interested in candidates across this range whose research would benefit from and enhance our research environment. Target fellowships include NERC Independent Fellowship, ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants, Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, Royal Society University Research Fellowship, Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, Branco-Weiss Research Fellowship, MRC Career Development Awards and BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship.

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral chemical biologist to work with Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian on methods for detecting small molecule-target interactions in biology and developing mono- and bi-functional small molecules to target specific biology. The programme of work will integrate chemistry with molecular biology to detect the interactions of small molecules with biomolecular targets (DNA, proteins or RNA) and their complexes in vitro and in cells. This is a new research programme in the lab which will exploit some of the genomic methods developed in the lab over several decades. See https://www.balasubramanian.co.uk for further information.

Applicants must have a background in small organic molecules and chemical biology. Experience in chemistry, biochemistry and nucleic acids would be highly desirable. We seek a highly-motivated individual with good communication skills and a capacity for innovation and creativity, who is able to work well as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

We are seeking to recruit a postdoctoral Research Associate with a background in cell biology and interest in infection research to join the laboratory of Dr Camilla Godlee in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Research in the Godlee lab focuses on how bacterial pathogens interact with eukaryotic membrane dynamics during infection and how this enables disease – https://www.godleelab.com/ https://www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/research/faculty/camilla-godlee. The candidate will be joining an MRC-funded project to study how Salmonella remodels host membrane dynamics in collaboration with Dr David Gershlick at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research https://www.cimr.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-david-gershlick. We are interested in determining how vesicle trafficking and organelle composition is modified during infection. The project will therefore involve applying advanced cell biological techniques to study Salmonella infection biology.

Join us at the world-leading CRUK Cambridge Institute. We’re a unique department of the University of Cambridge, core funded by Cancer Research UK’s charitable activities, and we’re eagerly searching for our new Research Assistant for the Biffi Group.

Our lab (https://www.cruk.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/biffi-group) combines ex vivo human and murine pancreatic tumour organoid/fibroblast co-cultures with murine in vivo models and patient-derived tissues to study and target the interactions between pancreatic cancer cells and the surrounding microenvironment. Generation and analysis of organoid-derived orthotopic transplantation models and genetically engineered mouse models of pancreatic cancer are frequently used.

The role will support a team that uses mouse models to understand and genetically and pharmacologically target cancer/fibroblast interactions in pancreatic cancer. The successful candidate will mainly provide research support to other group members in relation to our mouse work. Therefore, willingness to work with our mouse models is essential, and previous experience will be favourably evaluated. Applicants should be willing to work most of their time in the animal facility and in a support role. Applicants should also be flexible, able to multi-task efficiently, as well as to adapt to rapidly changing, and potentially stressful, situations (e.g. due to sudden deterioration of mouse models with cancer). Depending on the candidate, additional responsibilities (e.g., immunohistochemistry, processing of patient samples, flow cytometry) may be possible. A 2-year commitment to the role is required.

Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) sits at the heart of the University of Cambridge and within one of Europe’s most vibrant entrepreneurship and technology clusters. The School provides a collegian, ambitious environment with strong support for rigorous, original, and impactful research.

The Business School invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the project R&D Incentives Under Subjective Evaluation, under the supervision of the Professor of Innovation and Operations Management. The successful candidate will work at the intersection of theory and practice in innovation-intensive settings, developing game-theoretic models and leading empirical analyses, including controlled experiments and archival or industry data studies, that connect rigorous theory to real-world insights in R&D management. The role is research-focused with no teaching responsibilities and offers the opportunity to co-author high-quality publications.

A position exists, for a Research Assistant/Associate in the Department of Engineering to work on photonic packaging and integration.

The post holder will be located in West Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK.

The key responsibilities and duties are to work closely with collaborators to develop low-cost coupling and packing solutions that fully exploit the space, wavelength, and time domains, offering a powerful route to higher connectivity and throughput, while maintaining determinism. This role also involves developing integrated photonic devices, potentially for data centres. This involves exploring advanced materials to create photonic components that could potentially enhance data transmission and processing capabilities.

We are seeking to recruit an experienced and well organised postdoctoral researcher to carry out research to understand transcriptional and functional changes as CTLs are activated by different stimuli. The research group is part of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The lab works on the molecular mechanisms that control killing by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, important cells of the immune system that kill virally infected and cancer cells. Our research combines cell biology and immunology, using genetic approaches including CRISPR and single cell RNA sequencing of primary lymphocytes, together with high-resolution imaging.

The holder of the post will be experienced in single cell RNA sequencing of primary lymphocytes and the impact of TCR signal strength on signalling pathways in naïve and activated CTLs. Work will include handling primary cells, extracting RNA for experiments as well as coding required for analysis. The candidate must have published work in this area of biology and will need to write up work previously carried out in the laboratory. Additionally, the candidate must be able to work with clinical colleagues in any collaborative projects.

This post will be based across the laboratories of Professor Clemence Blouet (MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge) and Professor Ragnhildur Thora Karadottir (Wellcome MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Director of the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair), on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

The Cambridge Stem Cell Institute is an international centre of excellence for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Scientists in the Institute collaborate to advance our knowledge of various stem cell types and to perform pioneering work in translational research areas, providing the foundation for new medical treatments (https://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/).

The Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) is a multi-disciplinary Institute, within the University of Cambridge Clinical School on the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Site of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The mission of the IMS is to undertake basic and translational research relevant to the understanding, prevention and treatment of diabetes, obesity and other related endocrine and metabolic disorders. The Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) is a multi-disciplinary Institute, within the University of Cambridge Clinical School on the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Site of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

The Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology is seeking a Post-Doctoral Research Associate (candidates who are about to submit their PhD thesis may apply) to step into the ongoing project. The project is part of a large collaborative research effort involving Imperial College London, University of Bristol and three other groups at Cambridge. More information about the overarching project can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/bio-sustainable-materials/

VALUED is aiming to demonstrate the development of functional materials derived from bio-renewable resources. Several different applications are being developed in the project. The experimental programme involves development of high-throughput experimental capability (at Imperial College London). The SRE group (Prof Lapkin) is developing ML methods supporting the experimental HT workflows and, so far, focused on intelligent design of experiments based on Bayesian Optimisation. The team at Cambridge has its own high-throughput and robotics facilities. In this period of the project the team will focus on ML-assisted experimentation for developing functional materials based on bio- and natural polymers. Specific knowledge of ML for polymers is essential for this project.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Astrophysics Group at the University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). The successful candidate will work with Prof. Roman Rafikov on theoretical and computational projects related to the study of disc-planet interactions, protoplanetary discs, discs in binaries, and astrophysical fluid dynamics.

The successful candidates will have, or be about to obtain, a PhD in a relevant area of theoretical astrophysics or fluid dynamics, and have an established track record of original research and experience of working in collaboration. Applicants with expertise in large-scale hydrodynamic simulations of disc-planet or disc-binary interactions and protoplanetary discs are particularly encouraged to apply.

(18) Postdoctoral Fellowship Position

Postdoc Fellowship Position summary/title: Research Associate in Applied Social Cognition: Detecting and Predicting Violence (Fixed Term)

Deadline :15 February 2026

View details & Apply

Applications are invited for a Research Assistant or post-doctoral Research Associate to join Dr Thomas J. Mitchell’s group within the Early Cancer Institute on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The Mitchell group collaborates widely within the UK and internationally with clinical and academic collaborators to advance knowledge of the molecular and cellular drivers of kidney cancer, aiming to discover novel routes to early intervention and prevention.

The project aims to understand how common risk factors and genetic events contribute to the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Through multidimensional modelling, we are assessing the likely consequences of various interventions at different stages of tumour development.

The successful applicant will investigate how targeting modifiable risk or mechanistic factors reduces cellular fitness. They will lead innovative in vivo tissue slice culture and in vitro organoid and cell line systems to evaluate therapeutic response in freshly acquired kidney cancers. It is highly desirable that the successful candidate have some prior experience with in vivo or in vitro models and/or multiomic platforms.

Applications are invited for a Research Associate (RA) position in the group of Professor Henrik Jonsson at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge University, to carry out fundamental research in the field of computational morphodynamics in plants. The work will be within the BBSRC-funded project “Tipping the balance: utilising hormonal crosstalk to control stem cell plasticity”, with the aim of building a virtual shoot meristem using multi-level data and computational modelling to investigate stem cell plasticity.

The main focus of the RA’s part of the project will be on computational modelling of hormonal regulation of gene regulatory networks to predict mechanisms underlying stem cell patterning and plasticity in the shoot stem cell niche. A hybrid modelling approach integrating the dynamics of a core network while utilising a virtual template from experiments for cellular growth and division will be used. In addition, AI methods for generating regulatory hypotheses between genes, hormones and physical properties can be developed.

Applicants must have or be close to obtaining a PhD or MPhil in Computational Biology, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Bioengineering, Systems Biology or a related field. Where a PhD has yet to be awarded the appointment will initially be made at Research Assistant level (Grade 5) and amended to Research Associate (Grade 7) upon the award of PhD.

The Deep Time Ecology lab is dedicated to understanding how ecology impacts evolution through deep time from the origins of animals to the present. The position is part of a five-year project starting in June 2026: Understanding selection in the early animals of the Ediacaran. This project will bring together geochemistry, palaeontology and evolutionary biology to create an innovative framework for understanding early animal evolution – specifically, 1) What the patterns of early animal evolution were; 2) How selection acted upon these early animals; and 3) Why these adaptations occurred.

This position will focus on quantifying fitness throughout the Avalon assemblage of Ediacaran fossils and testing the relationship between fitness and traits to understand selection.

Postdoctoral Research Associate to apply proteomics technologies to an ancient universal bacterial membrane effector system

The post is a key part of an existing major 5-year BBSRC sLoLa award to understand an ancient universal membrane effector system, and tackle outstanding question of how members of the microbial IM30 protein family function to protect biological membranes from different stresses and stop dissipation of electrochemical gradients. Our understanding of this fundamental and ancient system underpins many areas of research including industrial biotechnology, antimicrobial resistance and virulence of human pathogens.

The project is a collaboration involving multidisciplinary teams: Universities of York (Gavin Thomas, Jamie Blaza, Luke Mackinder, Ben Willson), Cambridge (Kathryn Lilley), Nottingham (Boyan Bonev, Vivien Yeh), Newcastle (Henrik Strahl), Mainz, Germany (Susanne Gebhard).

We are seeking to employ a post-doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) based in the laboratory of Prof. Kathryn Lilley, Cambridge Centre for Proteomics (CCP), Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. This PDRA will be involved in characterising the protein interaction partners of IM30 family membranes using proximity labelling, immune precipitation and application of SMALP technology (doi: 10.7554/eLife.74322) and their subcellular spatial distribution (doi: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2025.101047 and doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00897).

A position exists, for a Research Assistant/Associate in the Department of Engineering, to work on compressor aerodynamics.

You would develop key technologies and designs at the Whittle Laboratory to help enable the next generation of axial compressors required by Rolls-Royce UltraFan engines for both wide and narrow body aircraft.

There are two specific challenges:

First, the Rolls-Royce UltraFan has completely changed the architecture of the compression system. This has opened the design space and means that new technologies that can improve performance and reduce fuel burn become viable. You would lead the experimental campaigns on the rapid test facilities that have been built over the last 8 years at the Whittle Laboratory.

Second, engines do not stay pristine for long; real geometric features such as roughness or damage affect the flow in a three-dimensional way that is difficult or impossible to assess with simulation. Rapid experiment is again the solution to determine the key phenomena and how they affect real engines on the wing.

Short Term Position (3 months Full time/part time) in Protein Engineering Applications are invited for a Research Assistant/Research Associate to work to work with Professor Lisa Hall on a project entitled HANDI-NAT: Nucleic acid amplification of microbial load in drinking water supply- a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, designing a self-reporting Bst polymerase for use in Loop Mediated Nucleic Acid Amplification (LAMP). The project will be undertaken together with Professor Alex Routh‿s group in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology

The project seeks to design a field-useable low-cost nucleic acid test for microbial load in community drinking water supplies in low and middle income countries (LMICs). It addresses the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goal identifying water inequality as a priority to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.

The post holder will bring together the final components of an engineered Bst polymerase to test its performance in LAMP reactions and its capacity to give a direct colorimetric signal linked with microbial contamination. Candidates should be expert in engineering of proteins and proficient in nucleic acid testing and molecular biology. They should have a PhD or at least 3 years experience in a relevant area, with a strong underpinning understanding and laboratory expertise in the enabling techniques.

A position exists for a Research Associate in the Department of Engineering to work on the development of a low-complexity optical intersatellite terminal.

The post holder will be located in West Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK.

The key responsibilities and duties are:

• Develop professional technical documents and reports as formal deliverables to the European Space Agency (ESA).

• Prepare research outputs for presentation at conferences and publication in peer-reviewed journals.

• Manage own research and administrative activities, with guidance where required.

• Assist in the preparation of proposals for follow-on phases of the project.

• Communicate research findings and technical material of a specialist or highly technical nature.

• May provide limited supervision and instruction to PhD and Master’s students.

• Build and maintain internal and external contacts and participate in research networks to exchange information and support future collaborations.

• Oversee and monitor progress of project activities.

• Plan the effective use of research resources, laboratories, and workshop facilities as appropriate.

The Department of Radiology is internationally recognised for its combination of scientific excellence and access to state-of-the-art imaging facilities. The Department is developing and translating novel technologies in metabolic imaging using MRI and PET, with extensive access to both preclinical and clinical research tools. As part of an expanding CRUK-funded research programme, we are seeking to appoint a highly motivated Postdoctoral Metabolic Imaging Scientist to join a collaborative and interdisciplinary research team.

In recent years, the group has focused on hyperpolarised carbon-13 and deuterium metabolic imaging. Proof-of-concept studies have been delivered in animal models of disease, healthy volunteers, and patient cohorts across a range of cancer types, with a particular emphasis on urological tumours. This work aims to improve tumour characterisation and develop metabolic imaging biomarkers to support clinical research, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring.

The postholder will play a key role in developing novel metabolic imaging methods to study cancer and in correlating imaging findings with tumour biology. A central focus of the role will be to understand how combined imaging and biological approaches can be used to identify aggressive disease and detect early and successful responses to therapy, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The successful candidate will work independently as a postdoctoral scientist while contributing actively to collaborative research projects. Key responsibilities include planning, prioritising, and managing independent research activity; maintaining experimental records to a high standard; and participating in joint scientific discussions. The postholder will report regularly on experimental design, progress, and outcomes, and will contribute to the planning and delivery of joint research projects led by the Principal Investigator. The role also involves developing new research projects, contributing to ethics applications, planning the use of research resources, and supervising more junior staff where appropriate.

Applications are invited for a post-doctoral research associate to join the groups of Dr Jenny Zhang, collaborating closely with Prof Erwin Reisner at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/zhang & https://www-reisner.ch.cam.ac.uk/).

The overarching aim of the post-doctoral position, in partnership with the Reisner group and with the SOLARSPOON consortium (https://www.solarspoon.eu/), is to develop microbial-based photoelectrochemical anodes and cathodes for alternative modes of food material production, eventuating in the assembly of a full working photoelectrochemical device.

The successful applicant will be able expected to independently develop and characterise electrodes in the context of photoelectrocatalysis. They will be expected to: work well in a highly dynamic, interdisciplinary and collaborative environment; take up opportunities for self-development and embracing new scientific challenges; participate in research exchanges with SOLARSPOON consortium partners; and provide mentorship to junior students.

A position exists, for a Research Associate in the Department of Engineering, to work on Data Science for Construction Productivity. The researcher’s responsibilities will include the development and implementation of machine learning (ML), computer vision (CV), large language models (LLMs), and vision-language models (VLM) to automate data extraction and interpretation for productivity measurement in construction.