Research Fellow or Research Associate in Synchrotron X-ray Computed Tomography

Job reference: SAE-029726
Salary: £37,694 to £58,225 per annum, dependent on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Science and Engineering
Location: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: Department of Materials
Hours Per Week: Full Time (1 FTE)
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 22/09/2025
Contract Duration: Fixed term until 31st March 2027
School/Directorate: School of Natural Sciences

Applications are invited for experts in synchrotron X-ray tomographic (CT) techniques to join ‘Manufacturing by Design’ (MbD), a 5-year, EPSRC-funded International Centre to Centre (IC2C) collaboration project which brings together the EPSRC-funded National Research Facility for Lab X-ray CT (NXCT) with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and several partners in academia and industry. Our aim is to shine new light on manufacturing processes and products through developing best-in class 3D imaging. Specifically we will exploit and further develop new and upgraded beamlines at the ESRF (BM18, ID15A and ID19) to achieve a step change in the 3D imaging resolution in real components, and the changes in their micro- and macro- structure with time both during their manufacture and in service.

We invite applications for a Research Fellow (Grade 7) or Research Associate (Grade 6) to join the team dependent on experience. The post will be located within the Structure of Materials group at the ESRF, France and is available as soon as possible, for 19 months to 31/03/2027, although it is anticipated that we will be able to extend this for a further 6 months. According to experience the post holder will focus on leading/assisting in world-leading X-ray imaging experiments within the manufacturing area (in particular in batteries, additive manufacturing or composites). As well as taking part in experiments the role could also include developing the instrumentation, integrating in situ environmental rigs for time lapse experiments. The appointed candidate will have expertise in handling, analysing and visualising the very large 3D datasets that BM18 (large 3D volumes), ID15A (multimodal) and ID19 (time lapse sequences) will provide.

The post holder will develop their own core research themes, and collaboratively facilitate experiments performed by visiting research teams. The Research Fellow will also coordinate the Manufacturing by Design activities at the ESRF and across the collaborating institutions.

We are looking for someone to take up this post as soon as possible, ideally with a start date within a month of appointment.

For international candidates, your start date would ideally be within a month of your Visa being processed (if this was applicable)

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Professor Philip Withers

Email: p.j.withers@manchester.ac.uk

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