11 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Are you an ambitious geophysicist looking for an innovative research challenge? Would you like to apply seismic expertise to the exploration and development of urban geothermal resources? This could be the research position for you.

Funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), our SmartRes project (Smart assessment, management and optimsation of urban geothermal resources) advances our understanding of geothermal systems and ultimately aims to broaden their uptake for urban energy supply. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary project team, featuring engineers, hydrologists, numerical modellers and policy liaisons, you will contribute your expertise in seismic acquisition and analysis to the understanding of how geothermal systems evolve under realistic production scenarios.

Based in the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment (SEE), and working closely with its School of Civil Engineering, you will use various seismic datasets – including data already recorded with fibre-optic distributed sensing systems and nodal seismometers – to understand two geothermal test sites in the UK. These include a site in Berkshire that considers the properties of a chalk aquifer, and the British Geological Survey’s UKGEOS Cheshire site, a cutting-edge facility that explores the geothermal potential of the Sherwood Sandstone. 

Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have a background in Liquid Crystals? Do you want to further your career in one of the UKs leading research-intensive Universities?

You will join a collaborative programme with Merck Electronics KGa, a world-leading company working in liquid crystals. You will work with a team of scientists from the company along with Dr Mamatha Nagaraj, Prof Helen Gleeson, Prof Gordon Love, and Dr Richard Mandle and at the University of Leeds.

You will have an PhD degree (or have submitted your thesis before taking up the role) and research experience in experimental Physics and/or Engineering, along with significant experience in experimental aspects of liquid crystal optics, liquid crystal physics, electro-optics, active and passive device fabrication and modelling or related areas.

You will focus on a range of liquid crystal-based technologies and work on the optics, design, fabrication, optimisation, modelling and characterisation of liquid crystal devices. In addition to carrying out a series of research projects, you will be an excellent communicator, responsible for day-to-day interactions with the company, writing papers, contributing to patent applications and making presentations. You will travel regularly to the company’s premises in the UK and Germany.

Are you an atmospheric scientist looking to apply your expertise to real-world forecasting challenges in Africa? 

Machine-learning has the potential to revolutionise weather prediction in Africa, and we are seeking a scientist who understands and enjoys challenges in atmospheric and climate dynamics, weather prediction and predictability. You will take a lead on the deployment and evaluation of a new generation of machine learning-based sub-seasonal weather forecasts for African agriculture. 

The Cumulus project is a consortium of UK and African partners funded by the Gates Foundation, which aims to make a breakthrough in the application of machine-learning forecasting methods for West African agriculture. The project is led by the UK’s Alan Turing Institute, with partners in Senegal and Ghana, and all partners will collaborate closely. We will also be part of an over-arching project – Nimbus – linking with US and East African teams and other international specialists.

Machine-learning has the potential to revolutionise weather prediction for and in Africa, and we are seeking a machine-learning specialist ready to embrace challenges in weather prediction, with the aim of creating operational systems benefitting millions of people across Africa. 

The Cumulus project is a consortium of UK and African partners funded by the Gates Foundation, which aims to make a breakthrough in the application of machine-learning forecasting methods for West African agriculture. The project is led by the UK’s Alan Turing Institute, with partners in Senegal and Ghana, and all partners will collaborate closely. We will also be part of an over-arching project – Nimbus – linking with East African teams and other international specialists.

Within Cumulus, you will lead the development of “downscaling” methods for sub-seasonal (2-4 week) forecasts. Our priority will be to implement deep-learning based methods, to turn global sub-seasonal predictions (which are at quite coarse spatial resolution and have systematic biases) into accurate, actionable information for farmers at their “field scale”. The machine-learning methods will include training with data from Africa not normally available for routine forecasting, and we will explore the value of local optimisation or fine-tuning of foundation codes. Handling spatio-temporal statistics of forecast uncertainty will be a key consideration. This kind of downscaling with machine-learning methods is a rapidly advancing field and it is an exciting time to influence the development of the methods. We aim to get the first codes developed rapidly, and to ensure that code can be run, evaluated and improved by our partners in African universities and weather services in Senegal and Ghana. Evaluation and benchmarking of the predictions will be a major priority, working with colleagues across the project and across Africa.

We are seeking an experienced Research Fellow to join the Nutritional Epidemiology Group (NEG) to support an exciting new project: Evaluation of the School Fruit and Veg Scheme. The project will find out whether the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) supports higher intakes of fruits and vegetables in children.   

This project involves a multi-disciplinary team across two Universities: the University of Leeds and Northumbria University. Participants from the Northeast and Yorkshire and Humber will be included. Fieldworkers will visit 40 schools in total across the two regions to observe and record what children eat during the school day. Children in Reception/Year 1/Year 2 will be included. Parents will record intake at home. Children from Year 2 will be followed up in Year 3 when they are no longer eligible for the SFVS to see if things change. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected through interviews and focus groups. A Research Fellow will also be appointed at Northumbria University to focus on data collection in the North East. The two research fellows will work closely together.

The 6G National Research Programme is at the forefront of pioneering research and development in the field of 6G technologies. As part of the Communications Hub for Empowering Distributed Cloud Computing Applications and Research (CHEDDAR), we are focused on advancing the integration of UK expertise in communications and networking to maintain the country’s leadership in 6G technologies. Our research is generously funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technologies (DSIT). By joining our team, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with leading experts nationwide and contribute to groundbreaking projects in the field.

We are seeking a Research Fellow to join our team and lead the research efforts in the domain of Foundation Models for 6G. As part of the CHEDDAR Hub, you will work alongside a diverse group of researchers dedicated to pushing the boundaries of 6G technology. Your primary responsibility will be to spearhead research initiatives aimed at developing foundation models, contributing to the advancement of autonomy in telecommunication networks. 

Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have a background in fluid-rock reaction (diagenesis), rock mechanics and/or structural geology? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities, and conduct fundamental research to accelerate the Energy Transition?

The role is based at Geosolutions Leeds, an exciting new strategic investment by the University of Leeds as part of its Climate Plan, supporting the refocusing of research. Geosolutions Leeds brings together world-leading expertise in geology, engineering and social science to deliver an integrated systems approach to energy geoscience that will meet Net Zero goals.

You will work with Professors Dave Healy and Sandra Piazolo at Leeds, and collaborate with Professor Cathy Hollis (University of Manchester), to couple understanding of the diagenetic evolution of sedimentary rocks with opening-mode fracture development. This project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and this role is one of two PDRA positions funded through the project.

In this role, you will sample fractured limestones and sandstones from the Pennines, UK. You will conduct laboratory experiments to propagate sub-critical fractures in a newly commissioned double torsion apparatus under controlled conditions, and build new models of stress corrosion cracking under diagenetic conditions, quantified by the other team member.

We are seeking to recruit a research fellow in Earth observation of the Polar regions at the University of Leeds, to investigate historical and ongoing changes in the Arctic and Antarctica.

You will join a team of glaciologists at the University of Leeds, using satellite data to improve our understanding of ice sheet-ocean interactions, and the processes driving recent change. This group uses state-of-the-art Earth observation data and advanced computer techniques to study the Polar regions. We specialise in using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and altimetry satellite data to measure important glaciological parameters such as the speed of glacier flow, ice shelf thickness change and the filling and draining of sub-glacial lakes. The group receives research funding on major projects from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the European Space Agency (ESA). We collaborate closely with many international research partners on funded projects, providing a fantastic opportunity to make connections and broaden your network. Professor Anna E. Hogg is co-director of the NERC SENSE Centre for Doctoral Training, in partnership with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), and the University of Edinburgh, providing a network of Earth observation researchers distributed across the UK. 

Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have a background in atmospheric or climate science and an interest in the influence of wildfires on climate dynamics? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities?

You will join the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Leeds led by Prof Amanda Maycock to work on the NERC funded Pushing the Frontiers project entitled The Wide-ranging Impacts of STratospheric smoke Aerosols (TWISTA). Smoke aerosol generated by intense wildfires has recently been detected in the stratosphere posing a new climate change threat. We hypothesise that the sustained presence of wildfire smoke in the atmosphere can influence major modes of atmospheric and climate variability. 

The successful applicant will test this hypothesis by performing new simulations with the UKESM1 model that incorporate improved representation of stratospheric smoke aerosol from wildfires. You will analyse the simulations to identify the influence of smoke aerosols on the climate system, including stratospheric dynamics and tropospheric and surface climate.