Postdoctoral Research Associate in Materials Recovery and Upcycling from Photovoltaic Waste

About the Role

Join the Green-Loop project, a 1.3M UKRI-EPSRC and DEFRA-funded programme addressing solar panel waste. By 2030, the UK will generate approximately 1 million tons of decommissioned panels annually, yet current recycling methods are economically unviable.

Your research will transform recovered materials into high-value products using flash Joule heating technology enabling rapid, energy-efficient conversion within milliseconds. You will convert recovered silicon into battery anodes, transform polymers into carbon nanomaterials, develop industrial ceramics routes, and create recovery strategies for emerging solar technologies.

Working in state-of-the-art laboratories, you will design experiments, optimize processing conditions, characterize materials, and collaborate with the UK's leading solar panel recycling company. You will contribute to sustainability assessments, publish in high-impact journals, and present at international conferences.

This is an 18-month fixed-term position with potential extension.

About You

We seek a talented researcher with strong materials science foundations, passionate about circular economy and sustainable energy. Essential requirements include a PhD in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or related discipline; materials processing and characterization experience; knowledge of characterization techniques (XRD, SEM, spectroscopy); strong communication skills; and ability to work safely with high-temperature equipment.

Desirable experience includes flash Joule heating or rapid thermal processing, battery/carbon/ceramic materials, peer-reviewed publications, sustainability assessment, and industrial collaboration.

About the School

School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS) is a research-intensive School within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, comprising over 110 academic staff and approximately 2,700 undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, alongside more than 250 PhD researchers.

SEMS is part of Queen Mary University of London, one of the UK's leading research-intensive universities. The School offers a dynamic and interdisciplinary research culture, ranked 7th overall in the UK for research excellence in REF2021, and 2nd nationally for world-leading research outputs.

With more than 35 million invested in recent years, SEMS benefits from extensive state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities, supporting research across engineering and materials science discipline.

About Queen Mary

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

Throughout our history, weve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because its simply the right thing to do but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.

We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.

Benefits

We offer competitive salaries, access to a generous pension scheme, 30 days leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time/fixed-term), a season ticket loan scheme and access to a comprehensive range of personal and professional development opportunities. In addition, we offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, and campus facilities.

Queen Marys commitment to our diverse and inclusive community is embedded in our appointments processes. Reasonable adjustments will be made at each stage of the recruitment process for any candidate with a disability. We are open to considering applications from candidates wishing to work flexibly.