Research Assistant/Research Associate (Fixed Term)

The Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology is seeking a Post-Doctoral Research Associate (candidates who are about to submit their PhD thesis may apply) to step into the ongoing project. The project is part of a large collaborative research effort involving Imperial College London, University of Bristol and three other groups at Cambridge. More information about the overarching project can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/bio-sustainable-materials/

VALUED is aiming to demonstrate the development of functional materials derived from bio-renewable resources. Several different applications are being developed in the project. The experimental programme involves development of high-throughput experimental capability (at Imperial College London). The SRE group (Prof Lapkin) is developing ML methods supporting the experimental HT workflows and, so far, focused on intelligent design of experiments based on Bayesian Optimisation. The team at Cambridge has its own high-throughput and robotics facilities. In this period of the project the team will focus on ML-assisted experimentation for developing functional materials based on bio- and natural polymers. Specific knowledge of ML for polymers is essential for this project.

The successful candidate will be supervised by Prof. Alexei Lapkin and will be based at the Innovation Centre in Digital Molecular Technologies (https://idmt.online). iDMT hosts academic researchers and industrial researchers from the centre members. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to activities within iDMT in collaboration with member companies, in the areas overlapping with the expertise involved in the VALUED project. 

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD; those without a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 1 year in the first instance.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button above.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Mr Vito Candela, HR Administrator, at hr@ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Applications closing date 16th of February 2026.

Please quote reference NQ48688 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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