Postdoctoral Research Associate in Membrane Fabrication for Sustainable Membrane Manufacture

About us

Queen Mary is one of London and the UK’s leading research-focused universities. With over 20,000 students, it is amongst the largest of the colleges of the University of London. Queen Mary’s 4,000 staff teach and research across a wide range of subjects in Science and Engineering, the Humanities, Social Sciences and Laws, and Medicine and Dentistry.

This post is within the School of Engineering and Materials Science, a large School with approximately 70 academic staff and around 45 postdoctoral research staff. There are around 1000 undergraduate and taught postgraduate students and 220 PhD students. Circa 40 administrative and technical staff support the staff and students. The staff and student body are international in make-up. The School is partway through a refurbishment project that is upgrading research and teaching space. The School holds a departmental-level Bronze Athena SWAN award and is committed to equality of opportunity.

About the role

LivingstonLab is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join a lively multidisciplinary research group under Prof. Andrew Livingston to investigate the fabrication of advanced membranes for highly selective molecular separations in organic liquids, including by nanofiltration.

The successful candidate will seek to develop new sustainable fabrication techniques for membranes based around phase inversion, interfacial polymerisation, and coating. They will seek more sustainable routes to membrane manufacture, and design membranes for end of life. They will characterise membrane morphology, determine membrane performance, and relate the polymer type and membrane morphology to this performance. They will also be expected to work in teams applying these membranes to a diverse ranges of applications including pharmaceutical solvent recovery. It is essential for the candidate to hold a PhD (or equivalent) in chemical engineering or materials science.

The successful candidate will have a background in membrane fabrication, preferably polymer membranes, and possess a thorough knowledge of membrane functional and morphological characterisation. Experience of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is necessaryl. They will have a fluent understanding of chemical analytical techniques. They should also be able to demonstrate excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to exercise initiative and judgement in carrying out research tasks.

About Queen Mary

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.

We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.

Benefits

We offer competitive salaries, access to a generous pension scheme, 30 days’ leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time/fixed-term), a season ticket loan scheme and access to a comprehensive range of personal and professional development opportunities. In addition, we offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, and campus facilities.

Queen Mary’s commitment to our diverse and inclusive community is embedded in our appointments processes. Reasonable adjustments will be made at each stage of the recruitment process for any candidate with a disability. We are open to considering applications from candidates wishing to work flexibly.