Postdoctoral Fellowship (17) at University of Manchester, England

The Research Associate will contribute to the development of mathematical and computational tools for characterising the geometric properties of higher-order quantum operations. This includes constructing methods to sample random higher-order quantum operations using techniques from random matrix theory, and analysing the typicality of causal indefiniteness, as well as violations of causal inequalities.

The postholder will work closely with the project investigators, Philip Taranto and Harry Miller, and will play a central role in advancing the project’s theoretical programme.

A 36-months Research and Innovation Associate (RIA) position is available for a planetary scientist to undertake research into lunar samples. The position is in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, under the direction of Dr. Romain Tartese. You will join a leading research group of planetary scientists and isotope geochemists with expertise in the analysis and interpretation of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial materials. You can find out more about the research group at https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/planetary-science/. The post is funded by an STFC Small Award awarded to The University of Manchester.

We seek candidates with expertise in using state-of-the-art petro-geochemistry labs for investigating the petrological, geochemical, and geochronological evolution of rocks from the Moon and/or other planetary bodies. In the project, you will use a range of laboratory approaches, including electron beam techniques, ICP-MS, SIMS, TIMS, and noble gas mass spectrometry to decipher the formation age of rocks from the primordial lunar crust (anorthosites) and the halogen inventory of basalts derived from the lunar interior. Integrating these two complementary datasets will be crucial to better constrained when the Moon formed.

A Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position is available for an isotope geochemist to undertake research into mantle volatile fluxes into groundwater. The position is in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Tyne and Dr. Michael Broadley. You will join a leading research group of isotope geochemists with expertise in the analysis and interpretation of geological materials. The post is funded by a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant.

We seek candidates with an enthusiasm for understanding subsurface fluids using isotope geochemistry. The project will investigate the source and migration of mantle volatiles in volcanically quiescent area using noble gas isotopes in groundwater. Passive degassing of mantle volatiles is difficult to detect and quantify so its overall extent has remained poorly constrained. In this project you will collect groundwater samples within the field and analyse them for their noble gas composition and couple this with groundwater age constraints to better understand the role of quiescent magmatic diffusive degassing regionally and globally.

A postdoctoral Research Associate position is available for an outstanding researcher with a proven track record in polymer membranes and molecular transport to undertake research in the group of Dr Ashok Keerthi at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester.

Keerthi’s research group focuses on synthetic engineering of molecular architectures such as 1D graphene nanoribbons, 2D framework materials and polymers of intrinsic porosity through bottom-up synthesis. Team works on new types of molecular architectures to tailor the function and properties. For further information about the research group, see webpage http://ashokkeerthi.weebly.com/

The successful applicant should have, or be working towards a PhD in materials chemistry, membranes, polymer science and engineering related areas. The applicant should be capable of working under their own initiative and should be familiar with common laboratory techniques, general analytical tools and handling of ultrathin membranes or nanofabrication methods. High level of English communication, both oral and written, is required.

A 36-month Research and Innovation Associate (RIA) position is available for a planetary scientist to undertake research on cometary and other primitive Solar System materials. The position is based in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr. Michael Broadley, Dr Romain Tartèse and Professor Jamie Gilmour. You will join a leading research group of planetary scientists and isotope geochemists with expertise in the analysis and interpretation of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial materials. Further information about the research group can be found at https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/planetary-science/. The post is funded by an STFC Small Award awarded to The University of Manchester.

We seek candidates with experience using state-of-the-art geo- and cosmochemistry analytical techniques to investigate volatile elements in primitive Solar System materials. In this project, you will develop and apply coupled in situ SIMS and laser ablation noble gas mass spectrometry to characterise volatile signatures preserved in grains trapped in primitive carbonaceous chondrites that potentially formed in the cometary reservoir or formed through solid-ice interactions in the outer solar system. The results will provide new constraints on volatile-rich material present in the early Solar System and support the development of analytical capabilities required for future sample-return missions.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a Postdoctoral Research Associate, with a background in biomaterials, to work within the Peptides BioNanomaterials Group (PBNG) and Experimental Oncology Group under the joint supervision of Dr Mohamed Elsawy and Dr Katie Finegan. The post holder will be part of both groups, which are based at Stopford Building.

The candidate will support the aims of our interdisciplinary project for the engineering of bioinspired soft robots for localised drug delivery, which is funded by the UK Research and Innovation Cross Research Council Responsive Mode fund. This innovative project is part of a cross-Faculty collaboration with colleagues from the Faculty of Science and Engineering and will focus on the rational design of peptide-polymer based responsive hydrogels as soft actuators for the development of bioinspired soft robots for regiospecific drug delivery to colorectal cancer.

This position offers an ideal opportunity for an enthusiastic, well-motivated individual to work as part of a sociable interdisciplinary team consisting of Biomaterial Scientists and Cancer Biologists. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication, teamworking and organisational skills, and will be able to work with minimal supervision. Experience of nanomaterials development and characterisation (molecular, nanoscopic, mechanical and in vitro biological) is essential for the position.

This 3-year post-doctoral research associate (PDRA) position will form part of an interdisciplinary EPSRC-funded research project to advance the UKs capabilities to recycle currently hard to recycle products. The Recovering Molecular Value from Unrecycled Multi-materials (REMOVE-UM) project addresses the challenge of recovering value from complex multi-material products for which limited viable recycling methods currently exist, and which are often incinerated for energy recovery or consigned to landfill. The research program integrates economic, environmental, and societal measures to inform decision-making throughout. It encompasses the analysis of end-of-life material flows, the chemical valorisation of materials using a range of techniques and the development of advanced separation technologies to efficiently recover value. Due to the inherent complexity of this challenge an interdisciplinary team of researchers is being assembled to collaborate on developing sustainable, economically viable solutions for multi-material, plastic-containing waste.

We are recruiting an enthusiastic and collaborative post-doctoral research associate with expertise in life cycle thinking, economic and environmental sustainability assessment including techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), to join our multidisciplinary research team and become part of Dr. Cuéllar-Franca’s sustainability research group. The post-holder will play a key role in assessing opportunities for the valorisation of waste streams and assessing valorisation strategies being developed throughout the project to maximize economic potential and minimize environmental impact. In addition to research responsibilities, the post-holder will support the day-to-day running of the group, offering technical guidance, mentorship, and supervision to PhD and undergraduate students when required. This includes assisting with research activities, fostering collaboration within the group, and contributing to a dynamic and productive research environment.

This 3-year post-doctoral research associate (PDRA) position will form part of an interdisciplinary EPSRC-funded research project to advance the UKs capabilities to recycle currently hard to recycle products. The Recovering MOlecular ValuE from Unrecycled Multi-materials (REMOVE-UM) project addresses the challenge of recovering value from complex multi-material products for which limited viable recycling methods currently exist, and which are often incinerated for energy recovery or consigned to landfill. The research program integrates economic, environmental, and societal measures to inform decision-making throughout. It encompasses the analysis of end-of-life material flows, the chemical valorisation of materials using a range of techniques and the development of advanced separation technologies to efficiently recover value. Due to the inherent complexity of this challenge an interdisciplinary team of researchers is being assembled to collaborate on developing sustainable, economically viable solutions for multi-material, plastic-containing waste.

We are recruiting an enthusiastic and collaborative post-doctoral research associate with experience in one or more of catalysis, reaction development and complex mixture analysis to join our interdisciplinary research team. The post-holder will play a key role in designing, developing and scaling valorisation strategies for the catalytic deconstruction of multi-material waste streams and collaborating with the other team members to maximize economic potential and minimize environmental impact of developed approaches. In addition to research responsibilities, the post-holder will support the day-to-day running of the group, offering technical guidance, mentorship, and supervision to PhD and undergraduate students when required. This includes assisting with research activities, fostering collaboration within the group, and contributing to a dynamic and productive research environment.

We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic Research Associate with an interest in big data and genomics to join a pioneering project embedded within the Our Future Health initiative – the UK’s largest health research programme. This post creates a unique opportunity to work with the Our Future Health dataset, which includes genotypic, clinical and questionnaire data from over two million UK participants. The project will focus initially on investigating the genetic determinants of inflammatory conditions including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The successful candidate will play an important role in developing an operational pathway to access and analyse the Our Future Health data resource and assess the dataset’s potential for large-scale genetic research, such as genome-wide association studies. Excellent programming skills are essential, along with a passion for collaborative, data-driven research that contributes to improving people’s health.

A Postdoctoral Research Associate position with Chris Hardacre (University of Manchester) and Sofia Diaz-Moreno (Diamond Light Source) is available for 36 months (in the first instance) to develop a new suite of X‑ray techniques hosted at Diamond Light Source for the examination of a range of gas‑phase heterogeneously catalysed reactions.

The postholder will work as part of a team including academics from the University of Manchester (Ines Lezcano Gonzalez, Sihai Yang, Martin Schröder) and University College London (Andy Beale, Richard Catlow). Both X‑emission and X‑ray absorption techniques will be developed, including the design and build of in situ environments and the application of transient methodologies to identify intermediate species. These techniques will be exemplified for the conversion of CH₄/CO₂ to hydrocarbons and for NH₃ production, and used in conjunction with infrared spectroscopy to probe reaction mechanisms. This project is part of the UK Catalysis Hub funded by the EPSRC.

The successful candidate will be based in the Nancy Rothwell Building, University of Manchester, but will also spend time at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire at the UK Catalysis Hub and Diamond Light Source. You should hold (or be nearing completion of) a PhD in Chemistry, Materials, Chemical Engineering or a related subject, with specific experience in gas‑phase heterogeneous catalysis and the characterisation of catalytic materials using synchrotron radiation. You must possess excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.

We are looking for one Research Associate to work on the development, implementation and testing of predictive control algorithms for the optimal coordination of available multi-energy resources and network infrastructure and thus support and improve the operation of the energy networks and the performance and the sustainability of the urban energy system. Learning-based techniques (e.g., deep neural networks) will be used to automatically learn the system dynamics and the modelling errors, as well as to obtain an automatic tuning of the cost parameters/constraints or approximators of the control law. This will alleviate the modelling complexities and the online computational requirements of the control algorithms and provide them with learning, self-regulating and adaptive capabilities.

The appointed Research Associate will collaborate with researchers from other UK universities working around multi-energy networks and multi-energy technologies, focusing on their modelling, optimisation and control, within the EPSRC-funded project Supergen Energy Network Hub. This research will contribute to provide leadership, research and networking for the energy networks and systems community to grow and come together to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnected and interdependent energy network infrastructure, e.g. electricity, heat, gas, hydrogen, as well as of the urban energy systems.

The role holder is expected to synthesise and characterise a series of rare earth complexes and their precursors to a standard suitable for publication and to supervise other researchers in the laboratory. Candidates should have or expect to obtain a PhD or equivalent qualification in synthetic inorganic chemistry or a closely related field. They should have experience of handling highly air-sensitive compounds, with an excellent knowledge of Schlenk line and glove box techniques. Experience of rare earth chemistry, characterisation of paramagnetic complexes, and being adept at a variety of characterisation techniques and calculations, are all highly desirable. The successful candidate will be a highly capable, motivated and independent researcher who is able to manage a group of PhD and undergraduate students working on a variety of synthetic inorganic chemistry projects. You will be part of a larger research team working in synthesis, measurements and calculations to determine the electronic structures of predominantly paramagnetic complexes. You will be expected to take a leading role in the research group including laboratory management, organising group meetings and presenting findings at international conferences.

The Department of Chemistry is strongly committed to promoting equality and diversity, including the Athena SWAN Charter for gender equality in higher education. The School of Natural Sciences holds a Silver Award, which recognises their good practice in relation to gender; including flexible working arrangements, family-friendly policies, and support to allow staff to achieve a good work-life balance. We particularly welcome applications from women for this post, who are currently under-represented at this grade. Appointment will always be made on merit.

The University of Manchester is seeking to appoint an experienced Senior Research Fellow to provide strategic direction and scientific leadership for research programmes at the Colgate-Palmolive Dental Health Unit (www.dentalhealthunit.com).

We are looking for an academic with a strong track record in applied health research and the ability to develop and lead innovative, internationally-recognised research. The postholder will be responsible for shaping the Unit’s research agenda, securing significant external funding, and driving the translation of research findings into policy and practice. The successful candidate will lead and mentor a team of researchers, fostering a vibrant and collaborative research environment.