PDRA in Polymer Chemistry for Structural Power

The Role and Department

The Department of Engineering is consistently one of the very best UK engineering departments with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our students. The Department is ranked 6th in the Guardian University Guide and 7th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 in the UK for General Engineering. Ranked in the top six in the UK for overall profile in REF 2021 (with 95% of publications rated as 4* and 3*), this dynamic Department is an excellent place to work. The strategic vision for the Department includes a growth plan of over 50% over the next five years, with a significant enhancement of the research challenge portfolio and a drive to enrich our undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research provision. It is an exciting time to join this expanding Department and make your mark.

The Department holds an Athena SWAN Silver Award, recognising our commitment to diversity in STEM academic and reflecting the supportive and positive environment within the Department.

The Role

Applications are invited for a post-doctoral Research Associate to work in the Materials Research Group of the Department of Engineering at Durham University in close collaboration with the Department of Chemistry. The successful candidate will join a dynamic, multidisciplinary research group committed to excellence, working on an EPSRC funded “Electrical Composites” (EleComp), a five-year EPSRC Programme Grant involving eleven academics from Imperial College London, University of Bristol and Durham University.

The successful applicant will work within a multidisciplinary team of electrochemists, material scientists, composite engineers, anthropologists and sustainability experts on structural power composites (SPCs). These transformative materials can do two things at once: store electrical energy whilst carrying mechanical loads. SPCs have been heralded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025, which recognised their potential to fundamentally reshape how infrastructure, aerospace, automotive, and electronic products are designed and manufactured. By simultaneously delivering lightweight and efficient energy storage, these materials will provide huge weight and volume savings. They will offer tremendous design freedoms, delivering products that just can’t be achieved with conventional batteries.

The EleComp team will meet the overarching scientific, engineering and societal goals required to realise Electric Composites. Pursuit of these goals will be directed by new Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) tools that include an anthropological perspective; a unique approach to responsible and inclusive engineering and material science. As well as working directly with the pioneers and international leaders in SPCs, you will closely interact with a broad international academic, policy and industrial network. EleComp will provide you with an inspirational and supportive research environment to cross-fertilise ideas and develop new multidisciplinary skills. With SPCs having garnered considerable public, academic and industrial interest, this is an opportunity for you to contribute to unveiling an Electric Composites future that will impact future generations and profoundly affect everybody’s lives. 

Closing Date: 09-Sep-2026, 11:59:00 PM

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