Research Fellow in Conjugated Materials for Photocatalysis

Tenure: Fixed term until 30^th June 2029

The University of Liverpool is seeking to recruit a Research Fellow to perform research in materials chemistry in the group of Royal Society Research Professor Andrew Cooper FRS (Academic Director, Materials Innovation Factory). This post will be a pivotal role in a new International Centre-to-Centre collaboration between the AI for Chemistry Hub (AIchemy) and the Acceleration Consortium based in Toronto, Canada. AIchemy is a partnership between the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, and a large consortium of academic and industrial partners, funded to promote the development of novel AI methods and to transform the uptake of AI in the chemistry community.

Working in the Cooper Group on the EPSRC Centre-to-Centre grant ‘International asynchronous AI-led chemical optimisation across chemistry laboratories’, you will sit at the intersection of AI-driven discovery and experimental chemistry, contributing to an international collaboration that uses AI algorithms to recommend and coordinate experiments across distributed laboratories. Your work will focus on the synthesis and characterisation of AI-recommended conjugated materials with targeted optoelectronic properties for applications in photocatalysis, light emission, and lasing, generating high-quality experimental datasets to feed an international multi-fidelity optimisation framework and providing human-in-the-loop validation of AI-generated experiment recommendations. You will make use of our dedicated Autonomous Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) and collaborate closely with computational and robotics partners at Imperial College London (Prof. Kim Jelfs, Prof. Ruth Misener, Dr. Becky Greenaway), the Acceleration Consortium, and Liverpool (Dr. Gabriella Pizzuto).

This post would be ideal for a curious scientist with a PhD in Chemistry or Materials Science and technical expertise in organic synthesis and materials characterisation, ideally with experience in photocatalysis or the synthesis of conjugated functional materials, who enjoys working in a collaborative and internationally connected research environment at the interface of experimental chemistry and AI-driven discovery.

If you are still awaiting your PhD to be awarded you will be appointed at Grade 6, spine point 30. Upon written confirmation that you have been awarded your PhD, your salary will be increased to Grade 7, spine point 31.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to enhancing a workforce as diverse as our community and particularly encourage applicants who are of minoritised genders and ethnic backgrounds, living with a disability, and/or are members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

For full details and to apply online, please visit: recruit.liverpool.ac.uk

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