22 Postdoc Positions at University of Manchester, England

We are seeking to recruit a Research Associate to support a qualitative research project investigating how diversity management programmes, particularly employee resource groups (ERGs), enhance the workplace voice of underrepresented employees, how these efforts are experienced and perceived within organisations, and how digitalisation is shaping these processes. The Research Associate will support the qualitative data collection, management and analysis. They will also contribute to the dissemination of the research findings to policy/practitioner and academic audiences.

Working within Manchester Institute of Biotechnology under the supervision of Professor Neil Dixon, the post is funded by the BBSRC strategic Longer and Larger grant “Rules of life in CO2-driven microbial communities: Microbiome engineering for a Net Zero future”. In this project we will deploy state of the art metagenomic engineering tools to permit in situ genetic augmentation to modify microbiome function. The long-term global is that these engineered microbiomes will support the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy and carbon-negative production of chemicals.

You will be responsible for conducting research under the supervision of Profs Dixon and Nixon to engineer the microbial communities from hot springs that successfully grow on CO2 and H2. You will be responsible for the design and deployment of CRISPR-based microbiome engineering tools, to both isolate individual community members for analysis and to augment the entire microbiome community with modified functions. These isolates and augmented communities will phenotyped and further adapted under batch cultivation experiments and continuous cultivation studies using flow through bioreactors. You will work closely with other postdocs and PhD students in this project, who will be applying complimentary approaches to the same systems (including metabarcoding, metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing approaches, as well as multi-species metabolic modelling). You will also be supported by senior technical specialists.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the Birket Lab, an ambitious team pioneering research in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) biology to understand heart development and disease. This role offers the opportunity to lead transformative investigations into the molecular biology of Fabry disease, a rare and poorly understood lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) that affects the heart and kidneys.

Funded through an MRC project grant titled “Multi-tissue modelling of a lysosomal storage disorder using patient-derived iPSCs – a pathway to Precision Medicine”, this research builds on the lab’s previous work on cardiac iPSC models of Fabry disease (Stem Cell Reports, 2019), cardiac organoids (The EMBO Journal, 2025) and their recent generation of five patient-derived iPSC lines (unpublished) in partnership with clinicians at Salford Royal Hospital.

Our vision is to uncover the mechanisms driving Fabry disease progression in the heart and kidney, with a focus on patient variability and the role of the immune system in fibrosis and organ failure. These investigations aim to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to support precision medicine for Fabry disease and other LSDs. To achieve these goals, cardiac and kidney organoids, with immune integration, will be used for multiparametric analyses including confocal imaging, single cell RNA-seq and proteomics. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of the lysosomal protein LIMP-2 in disease progression.

The successful candidate will lead this project – planning and performing experiments, maintaining and differentiating iPSCs, and characterising cells using flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. They will analyse large-scale datasets, integrate findings with the literature, and contribute to manuscripts, presentations, and collaborations. The project will be supported by a dedicated technician. In addition to leading this work, they will support PhD students, help organise the lab, and play an active role in shaping future research directions.

This is a research project taken in the Digital Manufacturing Lab led by Prof. Charlie Wang. The project aims to a computational kernel to effectively generate optimised structure and toolpaths for robot-assisted additive manufacturing with dynamically changed material accumulation directions. This research will be conducted in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester, and is funded by the University of Manchester and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The role of the post-doctoral research associate is to engage in developing new computational algorithm and formulation for generating optimised structure and toolpaths while incorporating the manufacturing constraints. Candidate should have a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering and strong research record in computational geometry, digital manufacturing, intelligent mechatronics, or robotics. Excellent skills in C++ programming and mathematics formulation are expected.

The focus of this role is the composition, organisation and turnover of matrix proteins within normal and diseased tissues. Working with research groups across the Platform and the Biological Mass Spectrometry facility you will develop proteomic and degradomic approaches to understand the matrix changes that occur within tissues across circadian time and through progression of disease, including fibrosis and cancer. The project will involve a range of mass spectrometry based proteomic techniques, including label based (SILAC) and label free quantitative proteomics, proximity labelling (BioID) and degradomic technologies.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the Birket Lab, an ambitious team pioneering research in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) biology and heart development. This role offers the chance to lead transformative investigations into the molecular biology of human cardiac progenitors and the determinants of cardiac cell fate, with direct impact on regenerative medicine and the understanding of congenital heart disease (CHD).

Funded through a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to Dr Matthew Birket (“Understanding Cardiac Progenitors to Deliver Regenerative Medicine and Disease Modelling”), the project builds on our recent breakthrough findings (The EMBO Journal, 2025) revealing a pivotal role for the transcription factor HAND1 in mesodermal lineage decisions. The next phase will resolve the molecular mechanisms of early cardiac development, uncover regulatory networks, and harness new approaches to direct differentiation for both academic discovery and clinical application.

The successful candidate will take responsibility for planning and performing experiments, maintaining and differentiating hPSCs, and characterising cells using imaging, flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. They will analyse large-scale datasets, integrate findings with the literature, and contribute to manuscripts, presentations and collaborations. Alongside leading their own projects, they will support PhD students, help organise the lab, and play an active role in shaping research directions. The post combines hands‑on experimental biology with bioinformatics and analytical leadership, offering the opportunity to work with cutting‑edge technologies including single‑cell genomics, multi‑omics, CRISPR‑Cas9 editing and screening, centred on advanced cardiac differentiation models.

The purpose of the role is to lead experimental and analytical research that resolves the fundamental mechanisms controlling natural hydrogen generation, migration and storage in the subsurface. The postholder will design and carry out high-pressure, high-temperature fluid–rock interaction experiments on representative rock samples, apply advanced multi-scale characterisation techniques (XRD, transmitted light petrography, SEM/EDS, X-ray tomography, FIB-SEM/TEM, petrophysical measurements, gas chromatography and fluid chemistry analysis), and integrate these datasets. Working closely with the academic investigators and industrial partners, the postholder will be responsible for delivering the project’s research objectives and milestones, coordinating correspondence with sponsors, contributing to reports and publications, and helping to translate the findings into workflows that can be used to assess and screen high-potential natural hydrogen sites.

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral research associate to develop the next-generation electrochemical technologies for direct ocean capture of CO2.

Developing methods for CO2 removal is important to promote global environment sustainability. Electrochemical decarbonisation is a promising and eco-friendly way that can reduce CO2 emissions and help tackle climate change. This process can be achieved using an electrochemical system. The successful candidate would be expected to perform experiments independently. Daily experimental duties will include: (i) preparing electrodes used in the electrochemical system, (ii) testing their ability to remove CO2, (iii) understanding the CO2 removal mechanism. The successful candidate would also be expected to work alongside the Principal Investigator (Dr Zhen Xu) to conceptualise studies, design experiments, supervise students, and publish findings in appropriate journals.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented post-doctoral scientist to join our team for 12 months working full-time on a research project funded by the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research investigating anti-inflammatory responses in Tregs.

The overarching aim of the project is to address the role of the circadian clock protein REV-ERBa in the function of Tregs. REV-ERBa expression will be manipulated using novel tools and the impact on functional activity of Tregs assessed.

The successful candidate will have a PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant subject and strong background knowledge in circadian biology, immunology and/or inflammatory disease. Successful candidates may be subject to pre-employment screening carried out on our behalf by a third party. The offer of employment will be dependent on the successful candidate passing that screening. Whilst you will be required to provide express consent at a later stage, by continuing with your application now you acknowledge that you are aware that such screening will take place, and agree to take part in the process.

We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic Early Career Researcher 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 receive training in big data handling, genomics, statistical analysis and the interpretation of outputs generated. They will also 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 (PDRA) 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 Prof. Katherine Joy and Dr. Joshua Snape. You will join a leading research group of planetary scientists and isotope geochemists with expertise in the analysis and interpretation of 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 Consolidated Grant and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship awarded to The University of Manchester.

We seek candidates with an enthusiasm for investigating the petrological and chronological evolution of rocks on the Moon. In the project you will use a range of petrological lab approaches, including electron beam and ICP-MS, and petrological modelling codes to study the crystallisation pathways and emplacement histories of a suite of lunar ancient evolved magmatic rocks, as well as experimental petrology techniques (e.g. internally-heated pressure vessel and gas-mixing furnace) to investigate the early magmatic evolution of the Moon.

This is an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral research associate to join the Tumour Microenvironment and Metastasis group in the Manchester Breast Centre and University of Manchester. The researcher will use in vivo ageing and syngeneic breast cancer models, tumour immune profiling approaches and in vitro functional studies with isolated immune cells to unpick how the aged microenvironment impacts anti-tumour immunity and response to immunotherapy. The overall aim is to identify novel immunotherapy approaches that target the primary and metastatic disease in aged breast cancer models, uncovering immunotherapy strategies that are tailored to the older patient population.

We are recruiting a Research Associate for a research project based in the UK and Romania, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, ‘Interpreting the Governance of Human Trafficking: explaining policy practice. The post-holder will be based at The University of Manchester in the Politics Department. This is an excellent opportunity for a specialist in human trafficking and forced labour studies. We encourage applicants with the following skills: 1) practical experience working or volunteering in trafficking organisations, especially with Romania experience; 2) Romanian language fluency; 3) a postgraduate degree in a social science relevant to the project. The position requires participation in a large-scale research project on policy analysis and interpretation in the fields of criminology and public policy. The project is an innovative, interpretive study of public policy and practice regarding human trafficking. It compares public policy and implementation practices across the United Kingdom, Belgium and Romania. The project objectives are to:

• Discover the interplay between governance structures, interpretation and practitioner discretion.
• Explain how policy workers govern the trafficking problem by interpreting and responding to policy, and what this means for people with lived experience of trafficking.
• Uncover the network and political dynamics operating in trafficking governance, between policy workers and their organisations, and people with lived experience of trafficking.

Fellowships are open to outstanding researchers who are near the beginning of promising academic careers (i.e. who have been awarded a PhD by the closing date for applications, and not more than three years prior to the closing date for applications), and who do not already hold, nor have held, a permanent university academic post. Applicants will have already demonstrated a potential for research and the appointing committee will take into consideration the contribution that the Fellow would make to the research programme of the department or school to which he or she would be assigned.

This 2-year post-doctoral research associate position forms part of the BBSRC Mission Hub on Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology. The overarching research programme aims to address the sustainability of plastics using engineering biology tools to both deconstruct commodity plastics and design new monomers for future circular economies. The project is a collaborative effort, with post-docs and PhD students collaborating across sectors and universities in an interdisciplinary environment to build actionable solutions to address the social, economic and environmental sustainability of plastics using engineering biology.

We are recruiting an enthusiastic and collaborative post-doctoral research associate with expertise in polymer processing and/or polymer synthesis, with a strong focus on recycling processes and sustainable materials. The successful candidate will collaboratively support several work packages by providing polymer processing expertise across the consortium while designing and creating plastic formulations that will challenge enzymatic depolymerisation and upcycling strategies. The project will create standardise formulations compounded with additives and contaminants in different form factors (pellets, tapes, blown films). The post-holder will also work closely across academic partners to help scale up promising monomer targets, developing routes to synthesise and characterise more sustainable polymers using batch reactors.

We are seeking a Research Associate with expertise in machine learning and causal inference to join the University of Manchester spoke of “CHAI hub: Causality in Healthcare and AI”. The CHAI hub; led by University of Edinburgh and involving University College London (UCL), Imperial College, Kings College London, and University of Exeter; is a £12M investment in the development of new theory and methods for causality as applied to healthcare.

At University of Manchester, our focus in the hub is on how we can develop and apply causal inference for decision support. Therefore, we are interested in methods to calculate individualised treatment effects, and to allow for predicting future outcomes under a range of interventions. We are also interested in how the incorporation of causal inference in clinical prediction models can improve generalisability and transportability and ensure fairness.

A Postdoctoral Research Associate appointment in numerical modelling of volcanic conduit flow is available from November 2025 for 42 months in the framework of the newly funded NERC Large Grant project ‘Expecting the Unexpected: Understanding “Dangerous” Volcanic Transitions (Ex‑X)’.

The PDRA will be based in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, working under the joint supervision of Prof Mike Burton and Dr Chris Johnson at Manchester and Dr Giuseppe La Spina (INGV Catania, Italy) The PDRA will collaborate with the wider Ex-X project team, led by Prof Jenni Barclay, on coupled conduit-plume modelling with Prof Jeremy Philipps and Dr Mark Woodhouse (University of Bristol), integration with geophysics with Dr Jessica Johnson and Dr Richard Herd (University of East Anglia), integration with petrology with Prof Pyle on petrology (University of Oxford) and ground-truthing with volcanological deposits with Prof Paul Cole (University of Plymouth). Ex-X will work closely with Volcano Observatory partners in the Caribbean

SPRITE+ Deep Dive: Extended Reality Convergence with other Emerging Technologies and the implications for Trust, Identity, Privacy, Safety, and Security (XRCET-TIPSS)

We are recruiting a Research Associate/Fellow to work on this one year deep dive project on the future evolution of Extended Reality (XR) technologies and what this means for TIPSS risks and risk mitigation, in particular focusing on the ways in which the convergence of XR with other emerging technologies (e.g., AI, neurotech) will transform and disrupt issues of TIPSS in the next 5-15 years.