Research Associate in Numerical Modelling for Direct Air Capture (DAC) Technologies

Contract: Full time (1FTE), fixed term (12 months)

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.

Detailed description

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.  

Key duties and responsibilities

• 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. 
• Work collaboratively with the team to achieve the project goals. This includes coordination of interdisciplinary teams, supervision of students/junior researchers and maintenance/support of the facilities/equipment.  
• Prepare technical reports, posters and presentations for progress meetings, advisory board meetings and other as required dissemination activities. 
• Project coordination with other partners, work both independently and as part of a team to achieve overall programme milestones to time, liaising with team members, collaborating project partners and sponsors.

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential Criteria

• 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.    
• Experience of applying numerical methods to solve sets of differential equations in a coding language such as: Python, MATLAB etc. 
• Experience of using experimental data to tune and fit model parameters. 
• Experience on process validation.  
• Experience with knowledge sharing and training members of the team. 
• Experience with publication of academic journal papers and reports. 
• Strong organizational skills and project management. 
• Working in an interdisciplinary field, where gaining knowledge of new areas and techniques is a constant requirement. 
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, and ability to communicate complex information clearly. 
• Must be able to work as part of a team on the work at Heriot-Watt University and more widely with the collaborators in the project. 

For all criteria, further details and how to apply:

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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.

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