Postdoctoral Fellowship (30) at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) is seeking a Research Assistant/Associate to work on the Evidence Exchange (EvEx) initiative.

EvEx is a major UKRI-funded programme that will bring together universities and research organisations from across the UK to develop new ways for public and civil servants to access research and learning opportunities. The project will help make Policy to Research (P2R) offerings more visible, accessible and connected.

The postholder will play a central role in delivering the EvEx programme, combining independent and collaborative research with the design and delivery of policy-facing initiatives. This includes developing training programmes, workshops, and engagement activities, as well as working closely with policymakers and public sector stakeholders to translate research into policy-relevant formats.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated expertise in conducting high-quality research, alongside experience in stakeholder engagement, partnership development, or policy-facing work. They will be comfortable managing their own workload, contributing to collaborative projects, and communicating complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences. Experience of interest in designing or delivering training, workshops, or capacity-building programmes, especially at the local or regional government level, would be advantageous.

A position is available for a Research Assistant/Associate funded jointly by UK Research and Innovation and Rolls-Royce plc as part of the VECTA Prosperity Partnership. VECTA is a collaboration with Rolls-Royce and five universities, including EPCC Edinburgh, University of Cambridge, Warwick University, Surrey University and Queen’s University Belfast. The post holder will contribute to a collaboration focused on large-scale distributed-memory GPU computing for problems governed by partial differential equations with engineering applications.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Post-doctoral Research Associate to join our team at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute.

You will be part of a team led by Dr Tian Zhao, who studies the role of low-dose interleukin-2 (ld-IL-2) in activating and stimulating regulatory T cells (Tregs) in cardiovascular disease. We are a translational group working both in primary cells and human samples, including from clinical trials. This position is part BHF funded international collaboration grant working with both Zhao and (Ziad) Mallat Labs. Through the completion of several clinical trials, we have collected a wealth of clinical and mechanistic data, including scRNA-seq and scTCR-seq data of T cells from blood and atherosclerotic plaque. We are therefore keen to further understand the mechanism of action of ld-IL-2 on Tregs and in particular look to deploy technologies to improve the efficacy of IL-2 on Treg stimulation.

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to work on vapour deposition of high-performance halide perovskite multijunction (tandem and triple-junction) solar cells. The candidate would be working as part of the ERC Consolidator Grant project VAPOURISE working on new deposition tools dedicated to the project. This project seeks to develop epitaxial growth of halide perovskites to enable new devices for energy generation (solar cells), conversion (solar fuels) and use (quantum emission) utilising multimodal characterisation platforms and automated analysis pipelines. This work builds on recent work in our group developing epitaxial growth by vapour deposition (Science 2025) and multimodal understanding of materials (Nature 2020, 2022, Science 2021, Nature Energy 2025).

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate with a PhD in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Engineering, Chemical Engineering or a related area. A proven track record of scientific publication and presentation at international conferences is essential.

We are seeking either one full time or two part time (job share) highly motivated Research Assistant(s) to join our Global Primary and Community Care team in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. The group represents a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT), using global health thinking to address local health inequalities and enable reciprocal learning between global and local contexts.

The successful candidate(s) will be encouraged to contribute to all components of the group’s programme, but will be expected to:

• work collaboratively with a range of primary and community health services across ELFT to contribute to clinically relevant research projects in women’s and children’s health,

• contribute to evidence synthesis on models of care for maternal and child health in low resource settings locally and globally,

• support qualitative work with healthcare professionals and the public to identify key areas for intervention in current healthcare pathways that would impact greater health equity,

• apply for ethical approval to conduct studies in the NHS,

• contribute to grant writing and international collaborations,

• contribute to global health teaching.

Applications are invited for a Research Assistant (pre-doctoral) or Research Associate (post-doctoral) to conduct world-leading research on Leveraging Ontological Knowledge with Argumentative Agentic AI to Accelerate Chemical Development under the direction of Prof Alexei Lapkin.

The project is a collaboration with Prof Francesca Toni from Imperial College London, Dr Antonio Rago from Kings College London and industrial collaborators within the AIChemy Hub (https://aichemy.ac.uk/). The successful candidate will focus on extending the ontological knowledge base of chemical process development and extending the simulation environment of process models, recently developed in the group of Prof. Lapkin based in Cambridge and in Singapore (in Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore).

The successful candidate will contribute to the development of reinforcement learning agents operating with the knowledge base and the simulation environment. The developed knowledge base will provide data for advanced argumentative agentic AI based on reinforcement learning being developed at Imperial College London and Kings College. The project will develop an approach of including ontological knowledge base and expert knowledge within a multi-agentic AI framework.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Jalaal Group at the University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). The successful candidate will be part of an active and interdisciplinary team of physicists and mathematicians, working at the interface of soft matter, robotics, statistical physics, and artificial intelligence.

The project focuses on the development of bio-inspired intelligent synthetic active matter. The postdoc will develop and implement advanced robotic systems, combined with theoretical/computational statistical physics to investigate the emergent dynamics of active matter. The work will combine experimental methods (robotics, machine vision, control, …) with theoretical approaches from non-equilibrium statistical physics, control theory, and where appropriate, machine learning and data-driven techniques.

We are looking to appoint an experienced, enthusiastic and motivated Research Associate or Research Associate (Honorary Resident Doctor/GP) to join the PrimaryBreathe programme team during the final stages of our funding period. Only one position is available.

PrimaryBreathe is a 5-year NIHR funded programme that aims to develop and test a brief primary care intervention for the management of chronic breathlessness. The programme is being conducted across five regions in England and has international links with a team in Melbourne, Australia.

The programme comprises six individual studies within three workstreams; two cross-cutting themes focus on implementation and inclusivity. After completing a series of developmental studies, the programme team are currently commencing a randomised controlled trial recruiting 330 patients from primary care sites across England, with a parallel qualitative process evaluation.

The successful post-holder will have a leading role in the final workstream to co-produce the implementation strategy for programme outputs, integrating implementation relevant data from previous workstreams with strategic insights from key stakeholders. This multi-phase, qualitative study will involve working in partnership with new and existing stakeholders, e.g., managers, commissioners, national professional and patient support organisations, health professionals, patients and carers or those with lived experience.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Jalaal Group at the University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). The successful candidate will be part of an active and interdisciplinary team of physicists and mathematicians and work on experimental and theoretical investigations of intracellular dynamics in photosynthetic organisms including plants and dinoflagellates.

The project focuses on understanding how organelles (e.g, chloroplasts) sense, respond to, and adapt under varying environmental conditions, in particular different light regimes. Building on recent work from the group (Schramma et al. PNAS 2023,2024,2025), the research will combine advanced confocal and fluorescence microscopy, mechano-sensing assays, quantitative image processing and data analysis. The postdoc will also contribute to the theoretical side of the project, developing models grounded in active matter physics, non-equilibrium statistical physics, and the physics of adaptive and learning materials to interpret experimental observations.

We are looking for a talented and motivated postdoctoral scientist to join the lab of Professor Sir Steve Jackson (https://www.stevejacksonlab.org/), based in the internationally renowned Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute https://www.cruk.cam.ac.uk/, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.

Targeted radioligand therapy (TRT) is developing rapidly as a cancer treatment, yet the molecular and cellular mechanisms that shape tumour sensitivity and resistance to alpha and beta emitting TRT agents and how these mechanisms may be leveraged for therapeutic benefit are still not fully defined. This AstraZeneca CRUK collaborative project will investigate the fundamental biological determinants of responses to TRT agents, with the aim of identifying predictive biomarkers and developing rational combination strategies to enhance treatment efficacy.

Applications are invited for a theoretical researcher post, available from September 2026 for 36 months, within the Theory of Condensed Matter (TCM) group at the Cavendish Laboratory. The role holder will drive theoretical advances in first-principles modelling of correlated quantum materials, in which conventional frameworks fail to capture phenomena driven by strong electron-electron interactions. The project focuses on developing computational methods to describe the fundamental physics and response properties of correlated systems; to overcome existing limitations, the role holder will adapt and develop correlated-electron approaches to calculate macroscopic transport, angle-resolved photoemission spectra, and other complex response properties. Central to this effort will be the application of methods able to capture dynamical interactions; consequently, the role holder shall develop the mathematical framework and numerical implementation to extend existing first-principles codes, ultimately providing the scientific community with new computational pathways and open-source tools for predictive materials modelling.

The successful candidate will have a physics PhD with a robust background in theoretical condensed matter physics and first-principles methods. The role holder must be an expert in advanced electronic-structure methods, especially bridging self-consistent electronic-structure methods with many-body perturbation theory. Comprehensive knowledge of theoretical approaches and first-principles simulations of transport phenomena and spectroscopy is a plus.

Cambridge Judge Business School combines academic excellence with real world impact to transform individuals, organisations, and society. Since 1990, it has built a strong reputation for rigorous thinking and genuinely transformative education as part of one of the world’s leading research universities.

For a new transdisciplinary Horizon Europe project, we are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher or an experienced Research Assistant, ideally with experience of EU or similar international projects. The project focuses on transitions to the circular economy in clothing, mobility, electronics, and food packaging, with a particular emphasis on behavioural interventions and the consumer interface.

The candidate will work closely with the PI (the Director of the El-Erian Institute) and the Cambridge team within a multinational consortium of researchers, companies, and societal institutions. They will be responsible for conducting empirical and conceptual research, including co-designing and testing pilot interventions. They will also be tasked with writing up reports and intervention designs and communicating with the other project partners throughout. The position also allows for gaining experience in large project management. There is ample opportunity to publish in high-level journals.

The funds for this post are available for 2 years in the first instance. The Department of Computer Science and Technology is an academic department that encompasses computer science along with many aspects of engineering, technology and mathematics. We have a worldwide reputation for academic research with consistent top research ratings. The Department has an open and collaborative culture, supporting revolutionary fundamental computer science research, strong cross-cutting collaborations internally and externally, and ideas which transform computing outside the University. Please follow the link at: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk to find out more about our department.

We now seek a to carry out research in collaboration with Professor Anuj Dawar on the UKRI-funded (ERC advanced grant replacement) project on “Limits of Symmetric Computation”. The project seeks to investigate lower bounds on symmetric computation in the context of algorithmic problems related to constraint satisfaction and graph isomorphism. It brings to bear significant new mathematical (algebraic and topological) methods to the study of symmetric computation.

We are looking to recruit a part-time, 20 hours a week, Research Assistant/Associate in Sociology as soon as possible for a fixed term for 9 months.

You will be providing research support for a new project run by Professor Manali Desai researching the political economy of gendered violence in North India. You will have a strong interest in gendered inequalities, population, and computational social science research. You will have experience of handling complex survey data at scale.

The role holder will support this research using publicly available government and other data (which include NFHS, DHS, NCRB, SC/ST Atrocities Act, Socio-Economic Survey SECC, IHDS, National Election Dataset NES, Census, Periodic Labour Force PLFS, Socioeconomic High-resolution Rural-Urban Geographic Platform for India (SHRUG), and others) to map multidimensional violence and multidimensional poverty and gender.

(18) Postdoctoral Fellowship Position

Postdoc Fellowship Position summary/title: Research Assistant/Associate in Optical Wireless Communication and Signal Processing x 3 (Fixed Term)

Deadline : 28 April 2026

View details & Apply

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in DNA nanotechnology for the targeted delivery of fibrinolytics to activated platelets, in the groups of Dr Ioanna Mela (https://www.ioannamela.com/) and Prof. Matthew Harper (https://www.phar.cam.ac.uk/research/harper).

The successful candidate will conduct research on the design, synthesis and functionalisation of DNA nanostructures, to carry both targeting molecules and active payloads to activated platelets. The aim of the project is to i) develop new DNA nanostructures for optimal interaction with activated platelets ii) characterise and quantify the effects of targeted fibrinolytic delivery to thrombi through a variety of biophysical methods.

The laboratory of Dr Jeanne Salje at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research is seeking two talented and highly motivated postdoctoral researchers to join an interdisciplinary research programme at the interface of microbiology, cell biology, and synthetic biology.

These positions will contribute to a collaborative project developing novel intracellular biological systems. The roles will focus on complementary areas: one on bacterial genetic engineering, and the other on engineered mammalian cell systems. Candidates with expertise in either area are encouraged to apply.

A Research Assistant/Associate is sought to work on the development of efficient and highly resilient solar cells for space applications within the Department of Physics under the supervision of Prof. Louise Hirst.

In this role the successful candidate will develop new process methodologies to fabricate ultra-thin III-V photovoltaic devices in the state-of-the-art Cavendish Nanofabrication facility at the Ray Dolby Centre, the new home for Physics in Cambridge. This will include designing new process flows for the fabrication of high performance, larger area devices, resilient to the hostile conditions found in space environments, with a focus on uniformity and reproducibility.

They will use semiconductor device simulation tools including drift-diffusion and optical simulation tools including transfer-matrix method and rigorous coupled-wave analysis to understand device behaviour and improve design.

A Research Assistant/Associate is sought to work on the development of InGaAs/InP Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) funded by the UKRI Quantum Hub on Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing Hub (QEPNT), working under the supervision of Prof. Louise Hirst and Dr. Dave Ellis.

In this role you will design novel SPAD architectures in III-V epitaxial materials using electrical and photonic simulation methods to target key performance parameters needed for position, navigation and timing (PNT) applications including detectors for imaging LiDAR.

You will develop new process methodologies and fabricate SPADs in the state-of-the-art Cavendish Nanofabrication facility at the Ray Dolby Centre, the new home for Physics in Cambridge.

You will develop and maintain optical, spectroscopic and electrical characterisation set-ups for SPADs, characterise devices and analyse performance.

A Research Assistant/Associate is sought to work on the development and testing of InGaAs/InP Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) funded by the UK Space Agency and UKRI Quantum Hub on Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing Hub (QEPNT), working under the supervision of Prof. Louise Hirst.

In this role you will design novel SPAD archtectures in III-V epitaxial materials using electrical and photonic simulation methods to target critical performance parameters for satellite quantum key distribution and imaging LiDAR applications.

You will develop new process methodologies and fabricate SPADs in the state-of-the-art Cavendish Nanofabrication facility at the Ray Dolby Centre, the new home for Physics in Cambridge.

You will develop and maintain optical, spectroscopic and electrical characterisation set-ups for SPADs, characterise devices and analyse performance.

We are recruiting for an exceptional Doctoral (PhD) Candidate to join the new MSCA Doctoral Network FairCFD (https://www.imft.fr/faircfd/project-presentation/). The candidate will enrol for a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Prof. Andy Sederman.

FairCFD offers a unique opportunity to engage in experimental research linked to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and more broadly engaging with scientific computing. The postholder will benefit from a unique breadth of experiences including:

• Contribute to technological innovation in health/food industries by developing advanced and efficient data measurement strategies.
• Join a vibrant network of 15 doctoral candidates, across 9 European countries, with access to network events, high-level training to technical and transverse skills, and secondments in both academic and industrial environments.
• Take part in a network-wide interdisciplinary effort to define and promote numerical sustainability in scientific research.

The Optoelectronics Group at the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, invites applications for a Research Associate to work on a research grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council investigating vibrationally enhanced transport in organic semiconductors. Recent work has demonstrated exceptionally efficient exciton transport in aggregates of conjugated block copolymers formed by directed self-assembly. The current project will investigate these materials assembled in devices including photodetectors.

Appointment as a Research Associate is dependent on having been awarded (or being close to being awarded) a PhD degree in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or related disciplines. The roleholder will be expected to participate actively in collaborations with other researchers and PhD students working on related projects, as well as national and international partners. Candidates will have a strong background in semiconductor physics. Experience with metal halide perovskite semiconductors is desirable, but not essential.

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Machine Learning for Audio to join the AURORA project (AUdio models for RespiratOry and cArdiac diagnostics and clinical tRAining), funded by the ERC Proof of Concept programme.

The project aims to develop machine learning models and software tools for analysing human health sounds, such as respiratory and cardiac audio, to support clinical diagnostics and medical training. Building on results from the ERC Advanced Grant EAR, the project will advance foundation models for health audio, integrate large language models for clinician interaction, and explore the use of synthetic audio generation for clinical education and evaluation.

The successful candidate will contribute to the development of robust machine learning models for cardio-respiratory sound analysis, as well as to the creation of tools that can be evaluated with clinicians and medical students.

The Astrophysics Group of the Department of Physics and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work in support of activities related to the group’s programme on the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes.

The Astrophysics Group of the Department of Physics and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work in support of activities related to the group’s programme on the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes. The Astrophysics Group and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology conduct a broad programme of astrophysics research involving instrumentation, observation, theory and modelling. Most relevant to this post, the team led by Prof Roberto Maiolino exploits a variety of multi-band data on nearby and distant galaxies, obtained from various observing facilities and surveys, including ALMA, ESO-VLT, JWST NIRSpec and NIRCam GTO and GO programmes, and, soon, with MOONS@VLT. The group also uses extensive cosmological simulations and theoretical models for comparison with observational data.

The successful applicant is expected to work in collaboration with the team led by Prof. Roberto Maiolino on the analysis and interpretation of observational data, with focus on spectroscopic data from some of the facilities discussed above, with the ultimate goal to investigate the physical processes driving galaxy evolution, also through comparison with cosmological simulations.

The ALBORADA Drug Discovery Institute (ADDI), part of the University of Cambridge Department of Clinical Neuroscience (http://cambridge-ddi.alzheimersresearchuk.org/), is seeking a postdoctoral Research Associate with a strong background in mechanistic biology to join its established team. The ADDI is part of a network of world-class Drug Discovery Institutes, funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, forming the Alzheimer’s Research UK Drug Discovery Alliance. The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience in the mechanistic validation and analysis of biological targets and pathways. Working with putative therapeutic targets in the central nervous system, you will be responsible for designing, conducting, and interpreting validation experiments in cell-based models using a range of molecular biology techniques. You will be expected to optimise and troubleshoot new cellular and biochemical assays for testing developed bioactive compounds and take an active role in running in vivo drug studies and processing tissues for qRT-PCR, Western blot and histology experiments.

This is a highly collaborative role; whilst reporting to the Cell and Molecular Biology team leader, you will also work alongside colleagues in the Screening and In Vivo teams and with medicinal and computational chemists to progress projects from target identification to in vivo proof of concept. The successful candidate will have an enthusiastic and proactive mindset, taking a lead role in applying rigorous science and creative, cutting-edge approaches to problem-solving and project advancement. In addition to potentially supervising and supporting junior staff, you will be intellectually involved in the research programme, keeping updated on state-of-the-art techniques and developing external contacts to form relationships for future collaboration