Research Associate in Microbial Evolution

Job reference: BMH-029405
Salary: £37,694 to £41,064 per annum, depending on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Biology, Medicine Health
Location: Oxford Road
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: Division of Evolution, Infection & Genomics
Hours Per Week: 1 FTE
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/08/2025
Contract Duration: 48 Months
School/Directorate: School of Biological Sciences

The Brockhurst Lab group within the Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics wishes to appoint a Research Associate to an exciting project exploring the role of mobile genetic elements in the dynamics and function of carbon-fixing microbial communities inhabiting Icelandic volcanic hot-springs.

This research project is part of a large consortium supported by a 5-year sLoLa project awarded by the BBSRC including environmental microbiologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists, computational modellers, and synthetic biologists.

During this position, the post-holder will lead bioinformatic analyses and lab experiments exploring the role of phages and plasmids in these communities. The postholder will join a dynamic lab group with access to state-of-the-art lab and computational facilities and be a member of the MERMan research cluster of more than 100 researchers working in microbial ecology and evolution.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme
• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays
• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period
• Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.

Please be aware that due to the number of applications we are unfortunately not able to provide individual feedback on your application.

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to People.Recruitment@manchester.ac.uk.

Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Prof Michael Brockhurst

Email: michael.brockhurst@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Further particulars including job description and person specification are available on the University of Manchester website - click on the 'Apply' button above to find out more.

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