07 Postdoctoral Fellowship at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

We are seeking a highly motivated Post Doctoral Research Associate with relevant experience and passion for impact-driven environmental and sustainability research specialising in ‘Environmental monitoring and Communication’ with a strong background in field-based natural data and the communication of complex scientific results to different audiences of the public, including local communities and policy, educational media sectors. This multi-faceted strategy combines cross-sector dialogue, identifying best practise local behaviour, stimulating technical innovations, and implementing environmental and forest management solutions based on new natural science data from the field to de-risk mangrove degradation. 

The successful candidate will take leadership in the collection, quality assurance, visualisation and interpretation of natural science data and its translation to civic science, educational programs, and policy recommendations that leads to more effective management and consensus between local communities and stakeholders. The position is based at the Lyell Centre at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and fully integrated with a multidisciplinary team of experts from the UK (Durham University, Edinburgh University, Heriot-Watt University) and the University of Suriname (UoS).

The Research Associate will work on the EPSRC-funded project REVOC – Towards smart manufacturing: Responsive Gas-Solid Vortex Chambers (EP/Y00888X/1) aimed at developing compact, robust, and modular technology to intensify gas-solid processes underpinning industrial decarbonization.

The appointed candidate will work with a computational PDRA, technicians, UGs students and the project lead, Dr Victor Francia, and contribute to the broader research group, xFlow – Complex Flow Technologies, meetings and activities designed to support REVOC. They will play a central role in the project driving the experimental component of the work, and the interaction with industrial partners and the advisory board. The applicant will develop and commission new facilities, liaise with mechanical workshops to prototype vortex chambers, and study the dynamic behaviour of centrifugal gas-solid fluidized beds.

The Research Associate will work within the HAPiWEC team at the Edinburgh campus of Heriot-Watt University. They will be expected to develop and test the control engineering control algorithms in both software and wave tank environments, which will be a key deliverable of the project.  The control algorithms will be made openly available and easily tunable through software, developed by the Research Associate in collaboration with the HAPiWEC software engineer. An essential feature of the project is to allow future control algorithm developers to test their algorithms with the a step-change in speed.  The Research Associate will need to collaborate closely with the rest of the HAPiWEC team to turn the research outputs into usable software code that is sharable with and usable by a diverse range of target audiences. The Research Associate will also need excellent inter-personal skills to lead on communication with the external participants in the HAPiWEC programme. 

The successful applicant will investigate the automation of processes used to optimise Complex Optical Systems using Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligent technologies.

Drawing upon the results and expertise developed within a major three year interdisciplinary UK Government funded project (EPSRC funded EP/V054497/1 “Developing Machine Learning-empowered Responsive Manufacture Of Industrial Laser Systems”) this project aims to create and demonstrating a robust, flexible, industrial system capable of carrying out alignment tasks autonomously. 

Laser systems are typically highly engineered, complex structures, containing precision components that must be positioned to sub-micron accuracy. Currently, the exact positioning and alignment of these optical components is typically a largely manual process carried out by highly skilled engineers using multi-step active alignment processes.

This post is part of a major project that is focused on automating such alignment processes with systems that exploit state-of-the-art robotics (i.e. mechatronic) that combine sensing and machine intelligence to create a step change in the speed and accuracy of the process. 

Heriot-Watt University is seeking to recruit an enthusiastic candidate to help deliver research in the area of Molecular Biology. The successful candidate will be employed for a period of 24 months at 100% FTE, as part of a project entitled “MicroSNARE: Automated Enrichment Of Circulating Tumour DNA For Improved Cancer Treatment”.

This research is funded by EPSRC and aims to develop novel solutions for the enrichment of circulating tumour DNA. The recruited researcher will be responsible for developing and testing methods to enrich specific sequence variants from within cancer patient’s cell free DNA samples. They will also collaborate with Bioengineers in the deployment of a fluid-handling robotic platform, whose performance will be compared to a microfluidic system. In addition, they may contribute to the acquisition and transport of clinical samples to Heriot-Watt campus, and will be responsible for the quality control, and data management throughout the project. 

We are seeking to appoint multiple Research Fellows (Tenure Track) with a passion for computational modelling and aspirations of an academic career. The positions will be aligned with advancing research in the McCabe and Cummings’ research groups at Heriot-Watt University and developing highly competitive candidates through the fellowship for academic careers. This will be done through focused professional and leadership development. Research in the McCabe group focuses on modelling self-assembly in biological systems and molecular theory to develop equations of state for a wide range of industry-inspired applications. In the Cummings group, the primary focus is on modelling capacitive energy storage devices. Jointly McCabe and Cummings conduct research on using machine learning methods to develop new materials for various applications and on software development for molecular modelling (i.e., the MoSDeF open-source software environment for automating molecular simulations: http://www.mosdef.org). 

We are seeking to appoint one outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher with a passion for computational modelling and experimental validation in aerodynamics with aspirations of an academic career. The position will be aligned with advancing research in the new research group of Aerospace Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. The selected candidate will work under the supervision of Professor Bert Blocken. 

Applicants should hold a PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering (specialisation Fluid Mechanics), Civil Engineering (specialisation Fluid Mechanics) or the like. Proven excellent expertise in CFD modelling is a strict requirement, additional expertise in wind tunnel testing is a plus. Expertise in integrating Artificial Intelligence in aerodynamics is also a plus.