31 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

As a result of a generous donation from the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU), based at the Department of Social Anthropology, invites applications for an Early-Career Postdoctoral Fellow tenable for four years from 8 October 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The Early-Career Postdoctoral Fellow will be expected to develop and carry through anthropological research in line with the MIASU’s research aims as well as to write future grant applications. The Fellow will also be expected to play a full role in the MIASU’s research activities, including seminars, workshops, and conferences.

Applicants should be completing or have recently completed a doctorate and should have specialist knowledge of one or more of the societies or cultures of the area covered by the MIASU. This includes Mongolia, Inner Asian regions of China [Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang] and Russia [Buryatia, Tuva, Altai, Kalmykia], and parts of the Himalayan region [including Sikkim, parts of Nepal, and Bhutan].

A post-doctoral Research Associate position is available in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics to work in the research group of Professor Hamza Fawzi at the intersection of convex optimization and quantum information.

Many problems in quantum information and quantum many-body theory can be expressed in terms of a mathematical optimization problem. The goal of the project is to investigate approximation methods based on convex relaxations such as semidefinite programming and sums of squares, and to propose new ones with improved guarantees. The candidate will be expected to carry out theoretical analyses of the algorithms under study. The ability to implement proof-of-concept algorithms using numerical software is also essential.

The role holder will be expected to plan and manage their own research and administration, with guidance if required. You must be able to communicate material of a technical nature and be able to build internal and external contacts. You may be asked to assist in the supervision of student projects, the development of student research skills, provide instruction or plan/deliver seminars relating to the research area.

We would like to advertise up to three positions for Post-Doctoral Research Associates to work in information theory, quantum information theory, and statistical inference. These positions will be funded by the EPSRC AI Hub on Information Theory for Distributed Artificial Intelligence (INFORMED-AI). INFORMED-AI is a joint programme run by the University of Bristol, the University of Cambridge, Durham University, and Imperial College London. The successful candidates will based in Cambridge, hosted by Nilanjana Datta (DAMTP), Ioannis Kontoyiannis, and/or Po-Ling Loh (DPMMS), and co-supervised by one of the following collaborators at partner institutions: Ayalvadi Ganesh, Sidharth Jaggi, Oliver Johnson (Bristol), Neil Walton, Thiru Vasantam (Durham), Deniz Gunduz, or Seyed Mohsen Moosavi-Dezfooli (Imperial).

This is an exceptional opportunity to conduct ambitious research at the forefront of mathematics, statistics, (quantum) information theory, and machine learning. There are generous funds available for conference attendance, travel, computer equipment, training, and career development.

The vision and ambition of INFORMED-AI is to develop the theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence, specifically in the area of collective intelligence, addressing aims such as 1) trustworthy collective intelligence, 2) connectivity and resilience, and 3) heterogeneous distributed artificial intelligence.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the KPMG-Cambridge Partnership ‘Future of Work’: Mental Wellbeing Pillar (MWB), led by Professor Gordon Harold with co-leads Professors John Aston (Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics) and Diane Coyle (Department of Politics and International Studies).

Under the supervision of Professors John Aston and Qingyuan Zhao, the post holder will be responsible for supporting the research objectives of the MWB pillar, including development of methodology for associated data questions, with particular emphasis on Causal Modelling and Functional Data. Specifically, the post holder will be expected to substantively contribute to new MWB pillar focused research projects and initiatives; utilise UK and other international longitudinal datasets, working specifically with project aligned data and related resources, implementing advanced statistical methods to examine factors that influence mental health and wellbeing; with a focus on workplace and workforce applications and interventions.

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research associate position in the lab of Dr. Sepiedeh Keshavarzi at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (https://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/), University of Cambridge.

The position involves investigating the organisation and function of neural circuits underlying spatial orientation and self-motion perception, funded by the Wellcome Trust. The project provides the opportunity to integrate behaviour, electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and circuit manipulation across thalamic and cortical networks involved in navigation, using the mouse model. For more information about the lab’s research questions and approaches, please visit https://www.keshavarzilab.com/.

You will be part of a friendly, collaborative team focused on understanding how early life experiences during so-called ‘critical periods’ of development have lasting impacts on nervous system function; for example, by determining nerve cell growth and excitability. This project uses the fruit fly, Drosophila, as a model system. We have discovered that different temperatures experienced during development (e.g. hot vs cold) change how the nervous system develops and functions. For example, when a fly embryo experiences heat stress for just two hours, its nervous system develops sub-optimally, and the resultant larva behaves abnormally and is susceptible to seizures. We have discovered the underlying mechanisms, including metabolic signals and transduction pathways. The project is now at the exciting stage of bringing several discoveries together, for publication.

Your role includes fly husbandry and genetics, dissections, immuno-staining and imaging of larvae; followed by image data analysis. You will be working closely with other members of the team, with opportunity for a high degree of independence. While skills in some of the techniques are advantageous, expertise and training for all aspects are available within the team.

We are seeking a Research Assistant/Associate in Environmental Assessment to join the Centre for Industrial Sustainability within the Department of Engineering, to work on the SEEBEYOND project which aims to motivate food companies to improve environmental performance beyond legal compliance. The project is funded by the Environment Agency and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The position is tailored for a motivated researcher with a strong publication record in environmental assessment, poised to conduct cutting-edge transdisciplinary research. The successful candidate will provide technical expertise to rigorously assess environmental performance of food companies along their supply chains covering various aspects, such as carbon emissions, water, materials and waste throughout product life cycles. Furthermore, this role will involve integration with digital traceability technologies, operations management and AI.

We are looking for an adventurous researcher to explore Monte Carlo methods for radiation transport (as part of the EPSRC grant, MaThRad). The Cambridge Nuclear Energy group is developing a modern, modifiable radiation transport code, SCONE. We are looking for software developers/researchers with experience of implementing physical models who are keen to understand radiation transport and Monte Carlo code development. The ideal candidate will work within a team to improve SCONE whilst also contributing ideas to expand the application of Monte Carlo methods.

Areas of interest include Monte Carlo applied to reactor multi-physics (static and dynamic), radiation shielding and variance reduction, medical physics and charged particle transport, and algorithmic acceleration techniques. Researchers will have significant freedom in deciding their preferred direction.

The key responsibilities and duties are: completing a review of relevant existing literature; continually updating knowledge and understanding of relevant modelling and uncertainty quantification methods; development and validation of suitable reactor – and multi-physics models of a 4-loop Westinghouse PWR; application of suitable uncertainty quantification methodologies to enable the impact of uncertainties on the progression of loss of coolant accidents to be assessed; writing research publications and attending conferences; writing reports and participating in meetings with project partners.

Additional responsibilities include: assisting in the supervision of student projects; assisting in the development of student research skills; planning and delivering seminars relating to research area.

This position is to work with Dr Sofia Villar within the Efficient Study Design (ESD) research theme of the MRC Biostatistics Unit (BSU). The post-holder will work on the development of statistical inferential methods to use after a response-adaptive (randomized or deterministic) allocation of patients in clinical trials, and the development of software to implement and compare their use for a broad range of trial designs and analysis options via simulations. The post-holder will also have an opportunity to support implementation of novel adaptive designs in practice and will have opportunities to work closely with Dr. David Robertson and Prof. Thomas Jaki.

The job will primarily involve the development of statistical methodology for response-adaptive randomised clinical trials under the guidance of the line manager. It is expected that the post-holder will take a lead on the direction of the project after the initial period.

The post-holder will exploit the opportunity offered by the ONS CIS data collection to better understand community infection and transmission. Starting with SARS-CoV-2, the main task is to develop new methods to estimate incidence and transmission, harnessing the rich epidemiological and genomic data available. This will allow quantification of changes in transmission across pandemic waves while disentangling the contribution of different viral lineages. An important constraint in this project is the need for individual-level data to remain within a computationally limited secure research environment, so use of computationally efficient approaches will be key. Outputs will include new estimation tools and inform the design of future population surveys, contributing to pandemic preparedness agenda.

The successful candidate will have a PhD in a strongly quantitative discipline, but applications from candidates close to submitting their PhD are also welcome. Research experience in Bayesian statistics is essential as is experience in statistical programming, an ability to produce high-quality academic writing, good communication skills and an enthusiasm for collaborating with non-statistical scientists. Experience in infectious disease transmission modelling is highly advantageous. MRC-BSU is one of Europe’s leading biostatistics research institutions. Our focus is to develop and apply new analytical and computational strategies for the challenging tasks facing biomedicine and public health. The Unit is situated on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the world’s most vibrant centres of biomedical research, which includes the University of Cambridge’s Clinical School, two major hospitals, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and the world headquarters of Astra Zeneca.

We have a postdoctoral position available to study host-pathogen interactions and innate immune recognition in the group of Prof. Yorgo Modis in the University of Cambridge Department of Medicine. The Modis group is part of the Molecular Immunity Unit within the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB). We benefit from the outstanding scientific environment and infrastructure of the MRC-LMB, and from being part of the virology and immunology communities as members of the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID).

The Modis group employs cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), X-ray crystallography, fluorescence microscopy, biochemical assays, and cell biological approaches to understand host-pathogen interactions. The group’s overall goal is to obtain a mechanistic understanding of the host pathogen interface in atomic level detail. The key focus for this role will be to study key innate immune signaling complexes using state-of-the-art cryo-EM tomography (cryo-ET) image reconstruction approaches.

We seek a highly motivated research scientist with a PhD in the biological, biochemical or biomedical sciences, and relevant research experience in cryo-EM sample preparation, data collection, and image reconstruction. Candidates must have one or more first-author research article(s) published in a peer-reviewed journal or under review with a preprint available. Experience in eukaryotic expression systems, cell-based assays, immunofluorescence microscopy and bioinformatics is desirable.

Applications are invited for a Research Assistant to work with Professor Ziad Mallat, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute. The post-holder will work within a programme focussed on identifying the biological mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis, with a focus on the contribution of adaptive immune T cells.

The successful applicant will possess a PhD in a relevant subject such as biological science, and have extensive “hands-on” experience of the isolation and culture of primary immune cells, preparing and analysing samples using flow cytometry and single-cell genomic techniques, and other standard laboratory techniques, and possess excellent communication (written and verbal), with team-working skills. Experience in in vivo pre-clinical studies and expertise in bioinformatic analysis of single-cell data would be of strongly favoured. Candidates must have a track record of research achievement, including peer-reviewed publications.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Professor Eoin McKinney, Professor of Arthritis at the Cambridge Institute for Immunotherapy and Infectious Disease (CITIID, Jeffrey Cheah Building). The post-holder will work within a programme focussed on identifying and modulating the biological mechanisms underlying immune-mediated diseases, with a focus on Type 1 Diabetes and immune responses in healthy ageing individuals.

The successful applicant will possess a PhD in a relevant subject such as computational biology and have extensive experience of applying computational methods to genomic datasets including single cell and multi-omic sequencing, immune receptor repertoire analysis and data integration with clinical meta-data from human cohorts and experimental medicine studies. In addition, they will possess excellent communication (written and verbal), with team-working skills. Candidates must have a track record of research achievement, including peer-reviewed publications.

(18) Postdoctoral Fellowship Position

Postdoc Fellowship Position summary/title: Research Associate (Fixed Term)

Deadline : 31 March 2024

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This position is based in the Unit’s Behavioural Epidemiology Programme. The successful candidate will work on an ESRC-funded project aiming to develop a person-based digital intervention to encourage and support UK parents to increase their tolerance of risky play behaviours in 5¿11-year-old children. The primary role of this post is to use existing evidence and data and collect new data to study a) the descriptive epidemiology of risky play behaviours in children and parental attitudes to risky play, b) adapt and tailor a digital intervention to reframe parental perceptions on risky play and c) validate a novel measurement instrument of parental tolerance risky play against objectively measured child risky play, and (d) undertake a feasibility study of the new digital intervention. The specific work undertaken will be based on the skills and research interests of the successful candidate and will be determined in consultation following appointment.

Alongside a competitive salary, University staff are eligible for a comprehensive package of benefits and services include discounts on shopping, health care, financial services and public transport. We also offer defined benefits pension schemes and tax-efficient bicycle, car lease and charity-giving schemes.

We are seeking to hire a motivated Post-doctoral Research Associate to join the team. You will play a pivotal role in optimizing multi-omic methodologies for the longitudinal analysis and remote monitoring of pre-leukaemic evolution in blood. Leveraging patient self-collected blood samples, you will have the opportunity to drive ground-breaking research aimed at unravelling the interplay between genomics, proteomics and health/lifestyle factors in driving, or impeding, pre-leukaemic evolution. Your work will not only advance our understanding of how/ why people progress to blood cancer, but will also shape the design of innovative large-scale longitudinal cohort studies and remote patient monitoring initiatives. Through the development of remote monitoring approaches that reduce the need for time- and cost intensive face-to-face research participant study visits, your work will help mitigate the geographical constraints often encountered in longitudinal clinical research studies, thus ensuring more inclusive and impactful research outcomes.

A postdoctoral position is available working on a collaborative project between the group of Professor Clare Bryant (Medicine) and the group of Sir David Klenerman FMedSCi FRS. This is a part of a multidisciplinary project based in the Department of Chemistry.

Dementia is the biggest health challenge of our century. The project aims to explore the molecular mechanisms by which low concentrations of protein aggregates cause increasing inflammation in glial cells over time, via triggering of Toll-like receptors. The applicant will produce and characterize protein aggregates and then apply these aggregates to in vitro macrophage models where the Myddosome or Triffosome has been tagged to directly visualize early signaling events using fluorescence imaging (see https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/92350/figures and https://elifesciences.org/articles/3137

Applicants should have (or be about to obtain) a PhD in a relevent specialist area. Experience of single molecule fluorescence imaging, building and working with home-built instrumentation and it is essential that they have prior experience of cell culture and imaging of cells. Experience of studying cellular neuroinflammation or oxidative stress is also required. Funding is for 2 years in the first instance.

The Research Associate will participate in all project activities, and especially in carrying out fieldwork for sustained periods of time ¿ up to 90 days per year. In order to interrogate the social, economic and political changes associated with the prison consensus, this fieldwork is likely to include formal and informal interviewing of state employees, local stakeholders and politicians, archival inquiry and ethnographic fieldwork in states such as Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Ceará. The Research Associate will work closely with the PI (Graham Denyer Willis) and Co-I (Pedro Mendes Loureiro) to gather this evidence, analyse and examine its scope and to generate compelling co-authored publications, outputs and public engagement.

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD, or an equivalent research doctorate. 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 PhD has been awarded. Candidates who exceptionally do not have a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level.

Salary Ranges: Research Associate: £36,024 – £44,263 (Grade 7). Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant (Grade 5, Point 38 – £32,982) moving to Research Associate (Grade 7) upon confirmation of your PhD award. Candidates who exceptionally do not have a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level (Grade 5).

The Astrophysics Group of the Department of Physics and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate / Senior 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 and Dr Sandro Tacchella 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.

A Research Associate position is available immediately for electrochemistry of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. The project, which is funded by the EPSRC Grant, will involve synthesis of metallic two-dimensional TMDs and measuring their electrochemical properties.

Applicants must have expert knowledge of 2D TMDs synthesis, electrochemical measurements such as CV, EIS, electrochemical surface area, fabrication of electrochemical devices, and materials characterization using spectroscopy. The experimental work to be undertaken will be: chemical exfoliation 2D TMDs, characterization of the materials, integration of the materials in electrochemical devices, and making electrochemical measurements. Responsibilities will include analysing data, publishing papers, and presenting the work.

Applications are invited for a post-doctoral Research Associate to join the group of Dr Alexander Frankell within the new Early Cancer Institute on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Our group is interested in developing novel methods to understand how cancers evolve and to improve clinical diagnostics, for example for early cancer detection using circulating tumour DNA. We focus on cancers of the lung and oesophagus which have particularly poor outcomes. We are seeking to hire a motivated post-doctoral Research Associate to join the team. This is an exciting opportunity to develop novel intellectual property based on unique data or sample sets such as the TRACERx lung cancer study, building on our recently published work (Frankell AM, Dietzen M et al., Nature 2023; Abbosh C, Frankell AM et al., Nature 2023).

The successful candidate will join a pioneering research project involving development of novel assays or informatic pipelines to interrogate clonal evolution. This project will provide opportunities for development of scientific skills from leading researchers as well as extensive domain knowledge in a critical area for the future of healthcare delivery.

The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research invites applications for a fixed-term Research Associate in Historical Archaeology of southern Africa. This is a fixed term appointment for 30 months. The post holder will work as part of the Frontiers Research Grant funded project ENTANGLED: Entangled materialities and new global histories from southern Africa led by Dr Abigail Moffett (University of Cambridge).

ENTANGLED is a five year (2024-2029) interdisciplinary project combining scientific analyses of a range of archaeological materials with historical and ethnographic research to address connections between southern Africa and the Indian Ocean World during the Global Middle Ages (500-1500 CE). The core team (the PI, two post-doctoral researchers, one doctoral student and the project coordinator) will be based at the University of Cambridge. The core team will work closely with a number of collaborators based in the UK and internationally, and the project will have a strong base in Mozambique, where much of the research will be carried out.

We seek a rigorous, creative and collaborative researcher who brings research skills in historical archaeology and interdisciplinary research, is familiar with the archaeology and history of southern and East Africa, thrives as part of a team, and is keen to contribute collectively to broader research agendas.

Applications are invited for three PDRA positions to be part of an interdisciplinary team spanning the Departments of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Chemistry, University of Cambridge. The aim is to create Modular Activator and Silencer Therapeutics (MAST) by developing novel platforms of antibodies, E3 ligase-mediated degraders, and proteases, to advance drug discovery. We are looking for motivated scientists with a strong team spirit to work on achieving the goals of MAST, with mentorship support from the labs of Laura Itzhaki (degraders; PMID 33623657), Paul Miller (ion channel antibodies; PMID 35140402), Florian Holfelder (proteases; PMID 36765057), Mark Howarth (antibodies; PMID 36865256), Catherine Wilson (degraders; PMID 32286286), and Pietro Sormanni (antibody design; PMID 37024501). See the document below for more info on groups.

This project provides opportunities for creative protein engineering, including database mining (to build structural antibody/ligase/protease libraries), machine learning (AI) approaches to antibody design and interpretation of directed evolution trajectories of proteases, phage display, structural biology (X-ray/cryo-EM) of ion channels and ligases to understand antibody modulation, cell biology and advanced degrader/protease kinetic analysis, and directed protein evolution.

We are currently seeking a highly motivated and talented postdoctoral researcher in biomedical data science to join our team at the Cambridge Baker Systems Genomics Initiative (CBSGI) and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit (CEU) at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care (DPHPC). The post would suit a naturally collaborative and self-motivated researcher interested in studying cardiometabolic diseases and their commonly occurring comorbidities by applying their skills to analyse large-scale genomic and phenotypic/health-record data in the CEU’s broad portfolio of genetic and multi-omic data from different cohorts.

The primary role of the post-holder will be to lead projects involving the quantitative analysis and interpretation of genomic and phenotypic data using polygenic scores, GWAS, Mendelian randomisation, and other statistical and machine-learning techniques. The successful candidate will have research interests aligned with those of CBSGI and CEU. They will have the freedom to develop new research ideas, in particular by leading/contributing to new grant or fellowship applications.

With the very generous support of the Krishnan Ang Foundation in association with Trinity College, the Urological Malignancies Virtual Institute (UMVI) within the CRUK Cambridge Centre at the University of Cambridge is pleased to seek applications for a new research group. We are especially interested in scientists focused on the biology and treatment of localised kidney, prostate or bladder cancer. Based in one of the associated laboratories of the UMVI, the junior group leader will be affiliated with Trinity College as a Trinity Research Associate and be a member of the Trinity Postdoctoral Society. The exceptional funding available provides full salary support for the group leader for five years plus funding for a postdoctoral Research Associate, a Research Assistant, a PhD student and consumables.

For this exceptional opportunity, we are seeking an ambitious researcher whose science will complement and synergise with our existing research programmes whilst bringing new approaches to strengthen our focus on (a) early detection of urological cancers and (b) multimodal treatment of high-risk urological cancers. You will be ready to lead your own research group or have already started a group and will be making an impact in your field through published work, innovative projects and a distinctive vision for your research.

With the very generous support of the Krishnan Ang Foundation in association with Trinity College, the Department of Haematology and Haematological Malignancies Virtual Institute within the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, is pleased to seek applications for a new research group with a focus on the early detection and treatment of haematological malignancies. Based in Haematology, the group leader will also have affiliation with Trinity College as a Trinity Research Associate and be a member of the Trinity Postdoctoral Society. Generous funding will provide full salary support for the group leader for five years plus funding for a postdoctoral Research Associate, a Research Assistant, a PhD student and research consumables.

For this exceptional opportunity, we are seeking an ambitious researcher whose science will complement and synergise with our existing research programmes while bringing a clear focus on early detection and treatment of haematological malignancies. You will be ready to lead your own research group or have already started a group and be making an impact in your field through published work, innovative projects and a distinctive vision for your research.

This position would be ideal for a candidate with a minimum of 3-5 years’ post-doctoral experience, distinctive research achievements and a cutting-edge research plan for the next 5 years focussing on early cancer. Interdisciplinary and collaborative research is strongly encouraged.

The project will investigate the (de)lithiation kinetics and mechanisms of a series of materials to include high-nickel and phosphate cathode materials. Different cathode battery chemistries will be examined, focusing on how degradation influences lithium ion intercalation dynamics, working towards linking degradation phenomena with reduced rate capability and energy efficiency. Special attention will be devoted to understanding the role of phase transformations in new cathode materials during cycling. The project will contribute to advanced models capturing the intricate coupling between ion and electron transfer processes.

The successful candidate will be expected to develop electrochemical testing methods based on impedance spectroscopy along with advanced data analysis and modelling to build an accurate description of the intercalation processes. The successful candidate will have a good knowledge of electrochemical methods (potentiometry, amperometry, CV, EIS, GITT) and a good understanding of the theory of electrochemical processes to be able develop the data analysis and interpretation. Further experience with materials characterization techniques, such as NMR, XRD and SEM, and battery research are also beneficial.