Postdoctoral Fellowship (20) at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

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.

The Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge welcomes applications for the Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, a three-year postdoctoral fellowship open to those working in any field of American history from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. This is an exciting opportunity for a candidate who has or is close to obtaining a PhD in a relevant specialist subject area.

Candidates for this post will be expected to demonstrate that they have undertaken research that is original and innovative and that will, when published, make a substantial contribution to American history. They will also be expected to demonstrate an interest in contributing to the promotion of American history at Cambridge.

The Mellon Research Fellow will be expected to pursue their own research across the full period of the fellowship. The postholder will also be expected to convene the American History Workshop, a weekly seminar in which PhD students present dissertation chapters and advance their professional development. They will also expected to become a regular participant in and contributor to the Cambridge American History Seminar.

A talented and creative postdoctoral researcher is sought to work in the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride (https://www.gan.msm.cam.ac.uk/) performing growth of nitride materials and devices for applications in power electronics and characterising the resulting materials. The Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride is part of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge and also leads the nitride activity within the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility.

This post is available under the Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Hub for a Sustainable Future (funded by EPSRC) in collaboration with the University of Cardiff and other partners. In the context of the development of more sustainable and less resource intensive routes to the manufacturing of nitride semiconductor devices, the successful candidate will contribute to research on the growth of high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on 200 mm silicon substrates and also to the development of routes to the reuse of substrates in the nitride transistor supply chain. The role may also present the opportunity for basic device fabrication in order to facilitate epitaxy characterisation, and hence experience of device fabrication is desirable.

The successful applicant will have extensive experience of nitride crystal growth, preferably using metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and will also be well-versed in a range of techniques for the characterisation of the structure and properties of materials. The candidate will be expected to have extensive experience of two or more of the following techniques: scanning probe microscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Hall probe measurements, or C-V measurements.

Overall responsibilities will include managing research activities, generating high quality data and developing scientific techniques. The successful candidates will be expected to contribute intellectually to the direction of the nitride research within the Centre. It is expected that they will present their data locally at lab meetings and seminars, and more widely at international scientific conferences. They will be expected to draft scientific manuscripts with support from Prof Oliver and to contribute to day-to-day supervision of Masters or PhD students. The successful applicants will hold a PhD (or be expected to complete their PhD within 3 months of starting the role) in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering or a related area. They will be able to demonstrate skills in data presentation, both verbally and in writing. They will be committed to collaborative and interdisciplinary research and be able to demonstrate the ability work both independently and as part of a team.

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.

As a Research Associate, you will develop a practical guide for monitoring the success of landscape restoration activities for improving ecological connectivity. This guide will be applied to ongoing restoration projects across Europe. The project is a growing collaborative effort to provide reliable science for conservation and restoration efforts.

You will work with a highly collaborative team led by Prof Robert Fletcher in the Department of Zoology. You will be based in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s campus in the David Attenborough Building – a global hub which brings together over 500 conservation researchers, practitioners and policy makers from across the University and nine different conservation organisations.

As a Research Associate, you will develop a practical guide for monitoring the success of landscape restoration activities for improving ecological connectivity. This guide will be applied to ongoing restoration projects across Europe. The project is a growing collaborative effort to provide reliable science for conservation and restoration efforts.

You will work with a highly collaborative team led by Prof Robert Fletcher in the Department of Zoology. You will be based in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s campus in the David Attenborough Building – a global hub which brings together over 500 conservation researchers, practitioners and policy makers from across the University and nine different conservation organisations.

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.

This role will deliver a core explanatory component of the wider FORAGER project and will involve collaboration across a large international and interdisciplinary consortium. Beyond this, the position offers scope for the post-holder to develop an independent research programme including work on Bayesian model-proxy comparison, modelling, probabilistic model weighting, or other aspects of climate/paleoclimate dynamics aligned with the broader ongoing research interests of the C3PO group.

Applicants should hold a PhD (or be close to completion) in climate science, Earth system science, applied mathematics, physics, statistics, or a closely aligned discipline, and have strong quantitative and scientific programming skills. Experience with Bayesian statistics, paleoclimate data, climate modelling, and (or) data assimilation is desirable. The candidate must be highly motivated and have excellent time management, organisation, communication, and teamwork skills.

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.

This role is suitable for candidates with either (i) a computational background (e.g. bioinformatics, data science, computational biology) who enjoy working closely with experimental and clinical teams, or (ii) a hybrid profile combining wet-lab expertise (e.g. molecular biology, genomics, epigenetics) with computational skills and an interest in integrating multimodal data.

Depending on background and interests, the role may involve analysis of high-throughput epigenomic and genomic data from tissue and liquid biopsy samples; development of scalable, reproducible workflows using modern workflow managers (e.g. Nextflow, Snakemake) and version control; support for novel wet-lab protocols for DNA methylation analysis and nanopore sequencing; and development of predictive models for early-stage cancer using statistics and/or machine learning (including deep learning where appropriate).

You will join a vibrant and growing research group of 12 scientists (six postdoctoral researchers, two research assistants and four PhD students) embedded within a highly collaborative network across Cambridge and with external academic and industry partners (e.g. AstraZeneca). Your work will be supported by academic and clinical mentors, with substantial scope to drive impactful research, develop leadership skills, and contribute to high-quality publications and presentations.

We are looking for an enthusiastic Research Assistant/Research Associate* with a background in midwifery for an exciting new study developing and testing an artificial intelligence-based (AIMI) chatbot to improve maternal vaccination uptake among ethnically and socio-economically diverse pregnant women. This prestigious study is funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research and involves coordinating and assisting with the development of the chatbot, participant-facing work in antenatal clinics, coordination of study processes, and support with recruitment, follow-up, data collection and documentation.

The ideal candidate will have a Masters or PhD or equivalent qualifications and have relevant research experience. Although you will work within a supportive multidisciplinary team, the role requires initiative, motivation, and the ability to work independently. Excellent communication skills, flexibility, and confident data management are essential. It would be helpful if you have research experience in digital healthcare.

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD (or equivalent experience), including those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD. Where a PhD has yet to be, awarded appointment will initially be made at research assistant and amended to research associate when the PhD is awarded (PhD needs to be awarded within 6 months of the start date). If an individual has not submitted a PhD or is not working towards one they could be appointed as a Research Assistant if they have either a degree (and/or Master’s) in a relevant area or equivalent experience.

The research group has broad interests spanning questions involving the link between planet formation and the composition of exoplanets, with a strong focus on white dwarf planetary systems.

The IoA offers a vibrant research environment for exoplanetary science with groups working in a wide range of areas, including exoplanet detection and characterization, exoplanetary atmospheres and interiors, planet formation and circumstellar environments. The University of Cambridge provides a diverse research community, with many cross-disciplinary interactions, including those linked to the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe.

Applicants are expected to demonstrate strong expertise in astronomical spectroscopy, preferably linked to white dwarfs. Candidates with strong relevant expertise not listed above are encouraged to get in touch and discuss further their relevance to the position with Dr Bonsor ([email protected]).

The successful applicant will pursue independent and collaborative research, develop interactions with the faculty, postdoctoral researchers and research students. They will disseminate research findings via publications & other media, (international workshops/conferences) and are encouraged to participate in teaching and learning, in postgraduate research student supervision and in outreach.

Applicants must have a PhD in Astronomy, Planetary Science or related discipline*. Successful candidates will be expected to complete research in a collegial environment, with strong communication and computing skills.

A successful candidate with a PhD will be appointed at Grade 7 (Research Associate £37,694 to £46,049 per annum). A candidate who has not been awarded their PhD will initially be appointed at Grade 5 (Research Assistant £34,610 to £35,608 per annum) and, upon award of PhD, promoted to Grade 7.

The purpose of this role is to support and maintain the University’s national and international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Contribution to excellence in research will be as a member of a research team carrying out research at a similar level to that undertaken by lecturing staff and will provide substantial scope for academic judgement, originality, interpretation and presentation of results.

The University of Cambridge thrives on the diversity of its staff and students. Applications from underrepresented groups are particularly welcome. We have an active Equality and Diversity Committee which continually works to further the aims of the Athena SWAN charter. The University has a number of family-friendly policies and initiatives, including a returning-career scheme, childcare costs support, university workplace nurseries, university holiday play-schemes, and a shared parental-leave policy. As part of its commitment to providing a family-friendly environment for researchers, the IoA ensures that should parental leave be needed during the course of employment, there is provision for extension to contract to compensate for the parental leave taken.

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.

The skills, qualifications and experience required to perform the role are:

The applicant has obtained or is close to obtaining a PhD; has relevant experience in photonic integrated circuits in a PhD/postdoc/job; has a good publishing track record and has the ability to work in a team and with external industry partners. Experience in photonic device design and testing, clean room, and optical communication link design and testing is an advantage.

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

A position is open for a Research Assistant/Research Associate as part of an ERC awarded project funded by UKRI at the University of Cambridge in the Catalysis and Process Integration group led by Professor Laura Torrente Murciano (www.capi.ceb.cam.ac.uk).

The successful candidate will have a background in engineering with expertise on absorption or adsorption processes. Experience on the development and characterisation of materials would be advantageous.

The aim of the project is the construction of a new experimental set-up to investigate the absorption of ammonia in a range of metal halide materials. This research will contribute to the broader efforts in the group to design novel green ammonia processes.

The ability to work both as part of a team and independently, coupled with excellent communication, organisational and problem-solving skills are required. The duties / responsibilities of this post include developing and driving research objectives, writing up work for presentation and publication, collaborating with academic and industrial partners, assisting in the supervision of student research projects, and delivering seminars and occasional talks as outlined on the Further Particulars document.

A post-doctoral research associate position is available at the University of Cambridge in the Computational Modelling Group under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kraft. The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team developing intelligent data-driven methods for the digital discovery of reticular materials.

To date, the team has mined the literature to create a database of materials, developed data structures to describe their Lego-like nature, designed algorithms that exploit the data structures to predict the existence of new materials, implemented workflows for calculating the properties of materials, and used large language models to extract synthesis knowledge from the literature and infer the steps required to synthesise new materials.

The vision of the team is to automate materials discovery and synthesis by tightly integrating knowledge engineering, computational modelling, various machine learning techniques (e.g. Chemprop, etc.) and artificial intelligence to design materials with properties tuned for specific applications. The work forms part of The World Avatar (TWA) project, a disruptive approach pioneered by Prof. Kraft to leverage knowledge-based technology to share data and create interoperability across different technical and social domains.

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD; those without a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Dr. Riccardo Beltramo, and based at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. The successful candidate will contribute to designing and organising distributed data systems and data analysis pipelines, and will work on a research project funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society.

The postdoctoral researcher will join a supportive and multi-disciplinary research environment, collaborate with computational neuroscientists, and closely interact with experts in the fields of visual processing and spatial navigation.

Applicants should have completed a PhD in Computer Science and have extensive experience in distributed systems and event-driven architectures. We are looking for someone with strong data analysis skills (especially in large-scale graph analytics) and experience in building cloud-scale data platforms.

The research position is available from May 2026 onwards for 6 months in the first instance. For more information about the lab, see: https://www.beltramolab.org/

Click the ‘Apply’ button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

To apply for this post, please submit a single PDF file including your CV and a motivation letter detailing why you want to join our project, and how this post will move your career forward. We also need the contact details for two people who can provide a professional reference.

(18) Postdoctoral Fellowship Position

Postdoc Fellowship Position summary/title: Research Associate – Chemical Biologist x 2 (Fixed Term)

Deadline :26 February 2026

View details & Apply

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.

Candidates should have completed a PhD in cell biology or a similar area and have demonstrated research impact and an interest in infection research. Previous experience in cell biological techniques, including microscopy and molecular biology is essential. We also welcome applications from candidates with a background in microbiology. The ideal candidate will be a great team member who is enthusiastic about contributing to the research culture in a new research group. They should be an excellent communicator and be willing to take a leadership role in supervising research students.

We invite applications for a Research Associate position at the University of Cambridge to join the Cole group in the Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory. The successful candidate will conduct research to deliver on the main forerunner 3 project of the EPSRC AI Hub, AIchemy, under the direction of Professor Cole.

This project forms part of the wider EPSRC AIchemy grant whose founding leadership team manifests collaborative efforts from the Universities of Liverpool, Imperial, Southampton and Cambridge.

The appointee will conduct research on data-driven materials chemistry, using physics-informed AI software developments of novel algorithms and workflows that aid accelerate materials discovery. The appointee will also work with real-world experimental data to help automate materials science.

Successful candidates will be expected to produce research of the highest academic quality, that they will make publication ready, and participate actively in regular project team meetings that constitute an interdisciplinary collaboration in AI for Chemistry.

Salary Ranges: Research Associate: £37,694 -£46,049 (Grade 7). Research Assistant (if PhD has not yet awarded): £34,610 (Grade 5).

Appointment at research associate is dependent on having a PhD including those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD (in which case appointment will initially be made at research assistant and amended to research associate when the PhD is awarded).