Research Associate in Numerical Modelling for Sorbent-based Carbon Capture Applications

Closing date: Midnight on 3^rd January 2023

Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and leading-edge, relevant research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for innovation, business and industry.

The School of Engineering & Physical Sciences has an international research reputation and close connection with the professional and industrial world of science, engineering and technology.

Job Summary

We are seeking a creative and motivated post-doctoral researcher to work as part of our international and multidisciplinary USorb-DAC (“Unlocking the scalable potential of sorbent-based DAC technologies”) team and with expertise to support our research activities in the project. The project’s aim is to discover adsorbents that can drastically reduce DAC’s energy intensity and cost so that DAC can scale rapidly and contribute to fighting climate change. By coupling basic science with engineering and environmental aspects, the team will develop an in-depth understanding of materials structure-property-performance relationships across different time scales and under relevant and realistic DAC operation conditions.

To achieve this goal, USorb-DAC unites the efforts of world-leading research teams from Heriot-Watt University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich in Switzerland, University of California Berkeley in the USA, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France.

The successful candidate will be mainly contributing to the following Tasks in the project: 1) to develop process models and cycle designs that can be integrated into our screening techno-economic platform; 2) to identify the optimal targets for materials development for selected combinations of CO2 sources and sinks obtained after the process system analysis; and 3) to help developing data-driven approaches for speeding up the screening of materials and the evaluation of the performance of carbon capture processes.

The successful applicant must hold a PhD (or about to obtain) in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics or related discipline (e.g. mathematics or other engineering) with background and demonstrable expertise in numerical modelling. The post is available from 1st February 2023 for 12 months in the first instance and could be extended further.

Key duties and responsibilities

The post holder is required to:

• Conduct collaborative interdisciplinary research on numerical modelling of sorbent-based capture plants and developing other as-required modelling work to support the activities of the team.
• Have strong experience in numerical modelling, preferable with Python.
• Have a strong collaboration with the team and project partners to integrate process models with materials science, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle analysis.

For all criteria, further details and how to apply:

enzj.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX/job/2640/?utm_medium=jobshare

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers disc.hw.ac.uk.

Advert information