Research Associate/Fellow in Modelling of next generation hydrogen storage materials

Engineering

We are seeking to recruit two highly motivated and enthusiastic Research Associates/Fellows at the University of Nottingham to perform computational research and provide support on the planning and management of projects aimed at developing novel metal hydrides and metal complex hydrides for energy storage applications in the frame of a five year Leverhulme International Professorship. As part of this project, we are also recruiting three Research Associates/Fellows to carry out experimental studies on metal (complex) hydrides materials, and associated job advertisement can be found at ENG019523.

Based in the Advanced Materials Research Group within the Faculty of Engineering, the successful candidates will work with Dr Sanliang Ling and Prof Martin Dornheim to perform computational modelling on metal hydrides and metal complex hydrides for energy storage applications. The successful candidates will computationally study metal hydrides and complex hydride based materials in order to understand the structure-property relationship. They will also use the fundamental understanding to design new metal (complex) hydride materials for selected energy storage applications. The successful candidates will become part of a collaborative team with over 20 postdoctoral research fellows and PhD students, who will be working on a range of experimental and computational projects on metal (complex) hydride materials.

Candidates should have a PhD (or near completion) in an appropriate field (e.g. Chemistry, Physics or Materials Science) and have a proven research record in atomistic computational modelling of solid-state materials, Calphad or phase-field modelling. It is desirable that the candidates have experience in using a variety of ab initio density functional theory packages, such as VASP, CP2K, etc. Experience with computational high throughput screening of materials (e.g. using machine learning methods), with Calphad and/or phase-field modelling, and with scripting languages (e.g. Python) and workflow packages (e.g. ASE and Pymatgen) would be desirable.

There are two full-time (36.25 hours per week) posts available from 1 March 2023, however a late start date could be agreed. These posts will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of 2 and 3 years in the first instance, with possibility to extend -  funding for this project is available until 31st August 2027. Job share arrangements may be considered. 

Our University has always been a supportive, inclusive, caring and positive community. We warmly welcome those of different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs – indeed this very diversity is vital to our success, it is fundamental to our values and enriches life on campus. We welcome applications from UK, Europe and from across the globe. For more information on the support we offer our international colleagues, see our Moving to Nottingham pages.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Sanliang Ling (Sanliang.Ling@nottingham.ac.uk) and/or Prof Martin Dornheim (martin.dornheim@nottingham.ac.uk). Please note that applications sent directly to these email addresses will not be accepted.