Oxford EARTH Senior Research Associate in Biotechnology for Natural Resource Innovation

University of Oxford - Department of Engineering Science

The Department of Engineering and the department of Earth Sciences is seeking to appoint a Senior Research Associate in Biotechnology for Natural Resource Innovation to join our thriving academic community. The post will commence on 5 January 2026 (or later by mutual agreement) and will be offered for five years.

This post is one of four new Senior Research Associate positions being created as part of Oxford EARTH (Equitable Access to sustainable Resources for a Thriving Habitat), a new strategic research programme. While this role will be based within Engineering and Earth Sciences, the other three posts span across Geography, Law, Economics, Chemistry, and Materials. Oxford EARTH works in close partnership with other major strategic research programmes at Oxford, including Oxford Net Zero, the Zero Institute, and Sustainable Chemistry.

Successful applicants will work at the forefront of innovation in biotechnological applications to resources alongside an interdisciplinary team pushing forward the technologies underpinning this area, ranging from identification of natural resource-accumulating microbes to robotic platforms for engineering and optimisation of their behaviour.

Biotechnologies developed will be scaled and applied to resourcing challenges in collaboration with the wider Oxford EARTH team, capitalising on these innovations and their far-reaching possibilities in the sustainable use of resources on Earth.

We welcome applications from creative researchers working in the broad area of biotechnological approaches to sustainable natural resource identification, accumulation, and recycling/remediation, which may span methods including, but not limited to: resource bio-mining, bio-recycling and bio-recovery, natural bio-prospecting, bio-process engineering, engineering/synthetic biology applications in resources.

The successful candidate will work in partnership with the broader Oxford EARTH team, in particular engagement and collaboration with the social sciences, and may have the opportunity to deliver class teaching and demonstrations on relevant natural resource topics and biotechnology topics.

For an informal discussion about the role and opportunities to join the academic community at Oxford, please contact Professors Harrison Steel or Julie Cosmidis. All enquiries will be treated in strict confidence and will not form part of the selection process.

This post is fixed term for 5 years and offered on a full-time basis.

What We Offer

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ well-being, and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including: An excellent contributory pension scheme, 38 days annual leave, A comprehensive range of childcare services, Family leave schemes, Cycle loan scheme, Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans.

Application Process

You will be required to upload a covering letter with a supporting statement, CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application. In your supporting statement, please explain how you meet each of the selection criteria found in the job description, and why you would like to do this role. See guidance at https://www.jobs.ox.ac.uk/cv-and-supporting-statement.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 noon on Monday 20th October 2025. Only applications submitted by this time will be considered.