Research Fellow (ISTEMMiCS Circular economy for Medical Plastics)

The post holder will work as part of the cross-college multidisciplinary ‘Developing a Circular Economy for Medical Testing Plastics’ project team, as part of the Birmingham Plastics Network.  Many of the barriers to implementing sustainable solutions, in plastics and beyond, are economic, social, legal, cultural, and political in nature, and cannot be resolved through scientific and engineering innovations alone. 

The successful candidate will work on a strand of research focused on understanding the social, economic, and regulatory aspects of the project, in order to inform and help to overcome barriers to implementation. Core research activities will include: 

• Sustainability analysis and scenario development
• Sustainable Business Modelling 
• Evaluating Regulatory Landscapes 
• Understanding Public Attitudes and Impact of Potential Incentives 

To achieve this the post holder will undertake mixed-methods multidisciplinary research collaborating with experts in social sciences, law, business, economics and sustainability analysis. The successful candidate will have a background in relevant social science/humanities discipline(s) and experience of or a desire to work within multi-disciplinary teams. 

This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of a team that will take innovative approaches to integrating social science and humanities research into a novel science and engineering project, potentially having greater impact beyond this project through shared methodology or results that can be applied in other plastics recycling projects or beyond. 

The post will be based with the Institute for STEMM in Culture and Society, within the School for Social Policy.

Role Summary

• Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids 
• 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

Main Duties

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods 
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader

Person Specification

• First degree in area of specialism and normally, a higher degree relevant social science research area or equivalent qualifications
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly

Informal enquiries to Prof Fern Elsdon-Baker f.m.elsdon-baker@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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We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working

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