Research Associate

About the role:

Applications are encouraged to work on a full time, fixed term position for 12 months in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It forms part of the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI) programme, a major five-year investment by the UK Government designed to enhance the UK's resilience to floods, droughts and other hydrological extremes through world-leading environmental monitoring, research and innovation. You will play a key role in developing and evaluating innovative approaches to environmental sensing and telemetry within FDRI.

You will focus on implementing and piloting novel telemetry systems, including LoRaWAN networks and open data pathways, enabling researchers and technology developers to test and deploy innovative sensing technologies across FDRI observatories. This work will contribute to the creation of innovation testbeds that allow next generation environmental monitoring technologies to be demonstrated, evaluated and refined in real-world conditions, helping to ensure that FDRI remains accessible to a wide range of research and industry communities.

What you would be doing:

Your key activities will include implementing, operating and evaluating LoRaWAN infrastructure within selected FDRI catchments; developing open telemetry workflows and experimental platforms that enable researchers and technology developers to trial third-party sensing technologies at FDRI sites; and providing technical expertise for environmental sensor networks. You will support innovation pilots and technology demonstrations, work across FDRI to align activities with observatory deployment, site access and governance requirements, and help define future service models for integrating external technologies. The role offers substantial scope for methodological innovation and conceptual leadership at the interface between hydrology, data science and socio-technical systems.

You will work within a highly interdisciplinary and international environment, collaborating closely with experts in research software engineering, technological innovation, environmental policy, and development studies. You will have strong coordination skills across local and distributed teams in the UK, as well as undertaking the supervision and mentoring of PhD students.

What we are looking for:

• Hold a PhD in hydrology, environmental engineering, or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience
• Practical experience within a research and/or innovation environment, with evidence of delivering high-quality research or technical outputs
• Experience developing, deploying or operating sensor networks, telemetry systems, environmental monitoring platforms or related digital infrastructure
• Knowledge of hydrological data collection, curation, and analysis
• Creative approach to problem-solving
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

What we can offer you:

• The opportunity to continue your career at a world-leading institution and be part of our mission to continue science for humanity.
• Grow your career: gain access to Imperial’s sector-leading dedicated career support for researchers as well as opportunities for promotion and progression.
• Sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 39 days off a year and generous pension schemes).
• Be part of a diverse, inclusive and collaborative work culture with various staff networks and resources to support your personal and professional wellbeing.

Further Information

This is a fixed-term full-time post for 12 months.

Please see the job description for full details and specifications of the post.

If you require any further details about the role, please contact Prof Wouter Buytaert at w.buytaert@imperial.ac.uk.                                                                 

Any queries regarding the application process should be directed to Briony Webb at b.webb@imperial.ac.uk.   

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.