Research Associate

This post is full time, and has funding for up to 2 years

The University of Glasgow is seeking to appoint a Research Associate within the School of James Watt School of Engineering to make a leading contribution to modelling flow dynamics of granular materials, working with Professor Jin Sun and relevant research collaborators in a wide range of disciplines. Granular materials are encountered ubiquitously in industry, found in products ranging from cement to paints, foods and slurries for battery and solar panel manufacturing; and in nature, such as mud flows, submarine landslides. Understanding the rheology and predicting the flow dynamics of such materials represent grand challenges in fundamental sciences and cutting-edge engineering, contributing to far-from-equilibrium physics and multiscale mechanics. The reliable and efficient processing and manufacture of these diverse products also presents ‘grand challenges’ to technological innovation because their flow and product behaviour can become unstable and unpredictable subject to minor changes in particle properties or processing conditions.

The vision for this project is to make step changes in our predictability of dense granular flows in complex geometries and/or loading conditions, and ultimately leading to rational design of granular materials with novel or desired properties through an interdisciplinary approach leveraging recent advances made in multiscale mechanics and machine learning.

The candidates should have a PhD, or have equivalent experience, in Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, Material Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or other relevant fields. The candidates must have excellent understanding in rheology, fluid mechanics, and soft matter physics, proven experience in computational or experimental study of complex fluids or granular matter. Furthermore, excellent communication and organizational skills are required. Experience in simulation using molecular dynamics, discrete element method and/or coupled fluid dynamics at multiple scales; or in experimentation using rheometers, confocal microscopy and/or atomic force microscopy is advantageous.

The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the formulation and submission of research publications and research proposals as well as help manage and direct tasks associated with establishing a research programme in Granular Materials Rheology and Design.

For more information on the University of Glasgow’s, Schools James Watt School of Engineering, please visit https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/engineering/   

Informal inquiries are welcome and shall be directed to Principal Investigator, Professor Jin Sun ( jin.sun@glasgow.ac.uk)

Closing date: 30 May 2024

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/. 

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University. 

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