Postdoctoral Researcher, BBSRC TRT

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.  

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 900 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

Professor Matt Clark (http://tinyurl.com/2k6z5w24) is Merit Researcher and Research Leader in Genomics at the Natural History Museum (NHM). He is an inventor of several genomics technologies. Matt’s multi-disciplinary group specialises in combining molecular biology, genetics, and computational biology. Our approach with a strong focus on new technologies, have allowed us to tackle biological problems that were previously seen as intractable. The museum’s research expertise, its investment in the latest technologies and the interaction with our research partners (Earlham Institute) offer a rare opportunity to develop fundamental academic science and develop it to be applied commercially.

We have recent secured a BBSRC Transformative Research Technology (TRT) grant to develop our new method which combines two disruptive technologies that are revolutionising genetics: CRISPR genome editing and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencing. The largest commercial market for our approach would be improved screening of CRISPR based human therapeutics, reducing development costs and enabling more genetic diseases to have therapeutics - currently there are ~5,000 such untreated diseases with 200 million sufferers.

About you

We seek a PhD level scientist focusing on developing novel molecular biology and lab processes to develop our technology further (wet lab and bioinformatics), and benchmark it to existing methods. The post holder will have the training and applicable skills to also perform most of the lab work to support this project, with additional training provided. This post is expected to develop and reduce to practice novel technology working towards generating a product.

Applying their molecular biology expertise will be the main task of the post holder. The post holder will work closely with the Molecular Biology Research Assistant and sequencing research assistants in the Molecular Biology Labs (Science and Innovation Platforms), with additional expertise in bioinformatics from bioinformaticians in the Clark group and our project partner Earlham Institute.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first-hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events.  We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.

How to apply

If this sounds like you, please apply below by clicking on Apply for job.

Please note that as part of our commitment to anonymised shortlisting, panels do not view CVs during the recruitment process. If you choose to upload your CV, our system will automatically pull information from your CV into our application form. We advise you to double-check your application form data before submitting as the tool may interpret CVs differently.

Closing date: 11 August 2025 at 23:59

Interviews expected: w/c 18 August 2025

Please note that this role does not qualify for Museum sponsorship so the successful postholder will need to have a valid right to work in the UK at the point of offer.