Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Energy Demand Observation

We are seeking a full-time or part-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Energy Demand Observation to join the Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory (EDOL) at the Department of Engineering Science in central Oxford.  The post is funded by EPSRC Grant EP/X00967X/1 and is fixed-term for two years.

EDOL will establish a world-class Observatory of 2,000 representative GB homes with high resolution, longitudinal, technical and social data with the aim to better understand energy use.

The programme is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the School of Geography and the Environment (Oxford), the Department of Engineering Science (Oxford) and University College London.

The instrumentation for the Observatory is developed in dedicated Laboratories of 100- 200 homes. Novel and innovative instruments will be rigorously tried and tested. Only solutions that satisfy requirements of reliability, value for money, data quality and privacy will be deployed at scale in the Observatory.

Your role is to develop such solutions. This can involve IoT connected devices, physical sensors or other instruments, including non-intrusive methods and inferences from a variety of data sources.

You should have some experience with experimental work involving sensor hardware or un-intrusive methods and be comfortable with handling large amounts of personal and sensitive data. The role requires you to collaborate across disciplines and to work with suppliers of soft- and hardware solutions. You will manage laboratory projects and support end-users of EDOL data.

We are looking for a creative problem solver to develop solutions for an important long-term national energy observatory.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Phil Grünewald  (email: philipp.grunewald@eng.ox.ac.uk)

For more information about working at the Department, see www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/work-with-us/

Only online applications received before midday on 2 June 2025 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, including a brief statement of research interests (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position), CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, highlighting its commitment to promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

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