Research Assistant/Associate/Fellow (Fixed-Term)

Area
Mechanical Materials & Manuf Eng

Location
University Park

Salary
£32,080 to £47,389 per annum, pro rata depending on skills and experience (minimum £35608 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.

Closing Date
Sunday 12 April 2026

Reference
ENG459526

The UK chemicals sector underpins national prosperity, industrial resilience, and sovereignty across critical supply chains. However, it faces numerous challenges: intensifying global competition, increasing import dependency in strategically important chemical pathways, and the urgent need to defossilise production to meet the UK’s Net Zero commitments.

Great British Chemicals (GBC) is a major and strategic National Research & Innovation Centre that brings together the UK chemicals industry, academic researchers, and policy makers to advance technology solutions that strengthen UK chemical capability while enabling the transition to low-carbon production.

The successful candidate will focus on developing and deploying open-source and transparent modelling tools to evaluate and develop technology solutions and their application to priority chemical pathways.

The role-holder will work in a cross-institutional, multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and social scientists. The successful applicant must demonstrate experience in:

• Developing creative and rigorous solutions to meet complex technical objectives
• Designing and applying novel approaches for evaluating process technologies, including process simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies
• Strong computational skills, including proven expertise in programming environments (e.g., Python, Matlab, or similar)
• Understanding the challenges and opportunities facing key chemicals-producing and chemicals-consuming sectors
• Building collaborative relationships with industry, policy, and academic partners
• Knowledge exchange through publication of high-quality peer-reviewed outputs and communication routes to diverse audiences

PhD or equivalent (or about to obtain) in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or a relevant discipline or the equivalent in professional qualifications and experience in research area.

We actively support early career researchers through mentoring, collaboration and community support. As part of their career development, the role holder will be actively supported in building towards an independent research career through incubation of new research ideas, guidance on fellowship and grant application., and providing opportunities to present work internationally.

This post, available to start immediately, will be offered on a fixed-term contract until 03/04/2028.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Jon Mckechnie, email: [email protected]. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.