Position Details

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £44,414 to £52,841 with potential progression once in post to £59,450

Grade 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2028

Closing date: 24th June 2023

 

Role Summary

The School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham is a vibrant and thriving academic community, with over 100 academic and research staff, 20 professional services staff and over 600 students. We provide an inclusive and supportive environment where we strive to support every member of staff in realising their career potential. With a strong focus on our four Research Themes of Energy, Sustainability, Environment and Health, and a number of interdisciplinary Interest Groups serving as testbeds to explore new and emerging areas of interest, we are a dynamic place to work. We have ambitious plans to expand our research activity and are in an exciting period of growth: major investment from the University will deliver a state-of-the-art research building (opening in 2023/24), and new multi-million pound high-performance computing facilities, which will ensure UK-leading compute capability. These investments build on a major recent expansion of our academic staff and investment in our teaching and learning provision, with our Collaborative Teaching Laboratory, which opened September 2018, already revolutionising how we teach undergraduate practical chemistry.

The Scanlon Materials Theory Group (SMTG), led by Professor David O. Scanlon is joining the School of Chemistry in September 2023. We are seeking to recruit a Research Fellow II (Senior Research Fellow, Grade 8) in Computational Materials Chemistry to serve as a Group Leader in the SMTG. The research areas the group is actively researching in are transparent conducting oxides, photovoltaics, batteries, thermoelectrics, photocatalysis and inorganic phosphors. The postholder will provide guidance and mentorship to members of the SMTG, as well as initiate personal independent research. The position is for three years initially, with possibility of extension upon satisfactory performance. 

This post will bring opportunities for career development, enable you to realise your ambitions in research and teaching, and enhance your leadership and management skills.  You will initiate, conduct and disseminate original research, which will have measurable outcomes reflected in your growing national reputation.  Management and administration activities will allow you to make important contributions at School level and to managerial/leadership activities (e.g., working groups) across the wider University.   

We are a collegiate School community.  You will demonstrate academic citizenship, develop and maintain generous, mutually respectful and supportive working relationships with the School, ensuring the way you carry out your role impacts positively on how others carry out theirs. 

• To initiate, undertake and lead original Computational Materials Chemistry research in the group of Professor David O. Scanlon 
• To mentor, support and direct research of others within the group to solve problems and collaborate 
• To provide leadership on broader scientific skills within the group (at all levels) including mentoring/supporting students, leading on administrative/organisational tasks and helping to develop writing and presentation skills 
• To evaluate and provide constructive feedback on regular written and oral reports pertaining to the projects in the group and attend/contribute to regular project meetings 
• To attend national and international conferences giving poster and oral presentations to discuss results of own and others’ research 
• To write papers and publish results of own and others’ research for publication in peer reviewed scientific journals and draft grant proposals. 
• To play an active role in the Scanlon research group, participating in all group meetings and activities. You will (co)supervise research students, be responsible for installation and maintenance of equipment and training of personnel on equipment. 
• Participate in collaborative meetings, both academic and industrial from yours and others’ research, and work with the project collaborators 
• Develop and make substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement by participating in collaborative meetings, both academic and industrial from yours and others’ research, and work with the project collaborators 
• Develop and make substantial contributions to outreach/public engagement activities and teaching (tutorials, lectures, laboratory supervision) or similar activities at Department/School level or further within the University 

Main Duties

To plan and carry out research, using appropriate methodology and techniques.  This may include, where appropriate to the discipline: 

• Devise, perform and supervise research projects and collect data in agreed areas to a high level of competency and quality 
• Lead on collaborative research projects within and outside the group 
• Project manage research activities to develop new ideas, directions, research objectives, techniques and methods in order to advance the group’s research and enhance it’s quality 
• Pursue personal research including developing research ideas and winning support, including financial support by developing proposals for research in collaboration with the Scanlon group. 
• Lead in setting the group culture and introducing new group members to all aspects of their role. 
• Maintain a high level of knowledge of the immediate and surrounding literature for both your own project and those more widely in the group. 
• Plan, publish and/or execute high quality research. 
• Analyse and interpret data generated from all aspects of the group’s work and where required develop novel methodologies and techniques appropriate to the type of research being pursued. 
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding. 
• Draft scientific papers and significantly contribute to the improvement of other scientific papers originating in the group. 
• Disseminate research findings by oral and other presentation in a range of fora from group meetings to research seminars and conferences etc. 
• Demonstrate leadership through constructive criticism and questioning in group meetings and other suitable fora for scientific discussion and to benefit the general wellbeing of the group. 
• Engage in teaching and teaching related activities with the school of chemistry. 
• Undertake management/administration arising from own and group research. 
• Contribute to School research-related activities and research-related administration.

Person Specification

• PhD in Computational Materials Chemistry or a related discipline 
• Experience in python software development 
• Extensive expertise in defect chemistry analysis 
• Experience in cluster expansion calculations 
• Experience in high throughput calculations 
• Experience and achievement reflected in a growing reputation 
• Excellent writing and editing skills and ability to help others to improve writing; record of success in published papers 
• Interest and passion for student mentoring to the benefit of the group’s research and wellbeing 
• Enthusiasm to lead and direct research across the scope of the group. 
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team, both as a leader and team member, on research programmes. 
• Demonstrated success in planning, undertaking and project managing research to deliver high quality results 
• Interest in interdisciplinary research and willingness to learn new techniques. 
• Ability to keep up to date with new developments in the fields relevant to own research projects as well as others. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including the ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary project area of research. 
• Ability to initiate, plan, organise, implement and deliver programmes of research work to tight deadlines 
• Ability to write and give presentations to both national and international audience standard and communicate complex information clearly. 
• Ability to design projects, collaborate and lead on application based studies with the group. 
• Commitment to public engagement and outreach or similar activities.

Please attach to your application the following: 

• CV (including full publication list and research capabilities) 
• Statement on research vision (max 2 pages) to include a discussion of your future research objectives and directions.  
• Highlight your top 3-5 publications with a brief statement as to their significance.   
• Contact details of 3 referees 

For further information, please contact Prof. David Scanlon, Professor of Computational Chemistry, d.o.scanlon@bham.ac.uk 

 

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.