Postdoctoral Research Associate, Atmospheric and Inter-farm Aerodynamics

PDRA - Atmospheric and Inter-farm Aerodynamics of Multi-gigawatt Wind Farms

The Role and Department

This role sits at the exciting intersection of the Department of Engineering and the Department of Mathematical Sciences. Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at Durham are both consistently ranked among the UK's top departments in 2026, with Engineering placed 5th in the Complete University Guide and 6th in the Guardian University Guide, and Mathematical Sciences ranked 3rd in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide and 5th in both the Complete University Guide and the Guardian University Guide. This role offers a unique opportunity to work on a highly interdisciplinary project. You will be joining a dynamic and supportive research environment that actively encourages innovation and collaboration, with full support for hybrid and flexible working arrangements.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on a major EPSRC-funded project: Atmospheric and Inter-farm Aerodynamics of Multi-gigawatt Wind Farms. This project is a collaboration between Durham University and Imperial College London, supported by a world-class international advisory board including The Crown Estate, Equinor, DNV, ORE Catapult, DTU, NREL, Addlewshaw Goddard LLP and universities of Oxford, Surrey and Manchester.

As multi-gigawatt offshore wind farms expand globally, their enormous wakes extend for tens of kilometres, triggering unprecedented "wake disputes" between neighbouring wind farms. This challenge is further complicated at the multi-gigawatt scale by a newly emerging phenomenon: the ability of these massive farms to generate atmospheric gravity waves, leading to highly complex, two-way interactions between the wakes and the overlying atmosphere. While the wider project combines both experimental and computational tools, this position at Durham University focuses on the numerical and mathematical modelling of these complex atmospheric phenomena.

This is a multifaceted research role that draws on mathematical modelling, high-fidelity numerical simulation, and close experimental collaboration. Working alongside our partners at Imperial College London, you will integrate your mathematical models and computational results with their complementary experimental wind-tunnel and water-flume data. Leveraging your strong background in high-fidelity simulations and mathematical modelling, you will use these combined datasets to develop a new generation of mathematically rigorous, physics-based reduced-order models. These novel models and parameterisations will ultimately be integrated into meso-scale weather models to aid in the design and performance prediction of future multi-gigawatt offshore wind installations. This is an exciting opportunity for a researcher with strong computational and mathematical expertise to work at the forefront of renewable energy and de-risk the next generation of offshore wind projects.