Research Fellow P-FASE

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049, with potential progression once in post to £48,822 

The recruited research associate will be working on the NERC Environmental Challenges grant “P-FASE: Advancing And Integrating Knowledge And Data On PFAS Sources, Fate And Risks For UK Environments.” In the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences research will be complete in the Water Sciences division, working on the fate and transport of Per-(poly)-fluorinated substances (PFAS). 

PFAS are a diverse set of chemicals with different structures and functional groups. There are currently major gaps in our knowledge of how different PFAS occur and behave in the environment.

For example, we do not know all the sources of these chemicals; how their different properties affect how long they persist and transform; there in the environment the various PFAS forms go; and how they accumulate in and affect organisms. Fate and exposure experiments and modelling are essential approaches for predicting and assessing the movement and bioavailability of chemicals in the environment.

The post holder will be expected to conduct laboratory and field analytical research to study the environmental fate and transport of different PFAS at surface water - sediment interfaces. For this, experiences in working with artificial flow simulators (flumes) such as the Birmingham EcoLab ( https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/ecolaboratory) and modelling will be highly desired.

Role Summary

• Operate within area of specialism
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results 
• Contribute to generating funding 
• Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar

Person Specification

• First degree in area of specialism and normally, a higher degree relevant to research area or equivalent qualifications
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively 
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly
• Knowledge of pollutant transport experiments
• Fate and transport modelling and measurements
• Fate processing experiments (flumes, columns)
• Toxicology
• Experience of mesocosm experiments, fate and transport experiments
• Experience of fieldwork to collect samples for pollutant analysis
• Experience of modelling software and methods for pollutant transport
• Experience in working with flumes and artificial rivers

Informal enquires can be made to Liam Kelleher - l.kelleher@bham.ac.uk

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the 'Apply' button above.

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