"Research Assistant - NNZA IMPACTS (Job Number: 25000980)"

Research Assistant - NNZA IMPACTS  (Job Number: 25000980)

Department of Engineering

Grade 6/7: - £30,805 - £40,497 per annum

Fixed Term - Full Time

Contract Duration: 6-7 months

Contracted Hours per Week: 35

Working Arrangements: Monday to Friday

Closing Date: 05-Aug-2025, 6:59:00 AM

Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.

Working at Durham University  

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a warm and friendly place to work, and a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career. The University is located within a beautiful historic city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounded by stunning countryside. Our talented scholars and researchers from around the world are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.  

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world. Being a part of Durham is about more than just the success of the University, it’s also about contributing to the success of the city, county, and community.

Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential. 

Our Purpose and Values

We want our University to be a place where people can be free to be themselves, no matter what their identity or background. Together, we celebrate difference, value one another and are each responsible for creating an inclusive community that is respectful and fair for all.

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Durham area on our Why Durham? information page.  

The Department

The Department of Engineering at Durham University is recognised as being one of the very best in the UK. In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise of 2021, the Department had 95% of publications rated as 3*/4*, and all impact case studies graded 3*/4*.  The Engineering Department demonstrates significant depth of research excellence across a range of disciplines, with activities that are currently concentrated around three Research Challenges (Sustainable Infrastructure, Future Energy Systems and Advanced Materials, Electronics and Communications) and eight Research Nodes which group staff under technical expertise and interest (see https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/engineering/research/).

We are particularly proud of the collaborative interdisciplinary nature of our research, which also includes strong industrial partnerships.  The strategic vision for the Department includes a major growth 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.

We are a scholarly community that is open, supportive, collegiate, representative and diverse: our commitment to this is expressed through the work of the Department’s Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Committee, and our Athena Swan Silver Award.

The Role

We are seeking a highly motivated researcher - either a Grade 7 PhD holder, or a Grade 6 graduate - to join the IMPACTS project, funded by the Northern Net Zero Accelerator. The project addresses the growing energy demands of AI-driven datacentres by developing an intelligent platform for the design and optimisation of resilient, low-carbon microgrids. The role involves applying advanced optimisation techniques and AI-based models to support decision-making in microgrid design and operation.

Working in collaboration with a leading global mission critical firm of engineers, this project offers the opportunity to deliver tangible impact by integrating academic innovation with industrial challenges.

This is an exciting opportunity for a researcher with expertise in power systems, optimisation, or AI applications in energy, to contribute to a high-impact project with strong potential for commercialisation.

Grade 6 Research Assistant key responsibilities:

• To write up results of research work, present information on research progress and outcomes to bodies supervising research in a clear and accurate manner.
• To analyse or undertake basic research by deciding how best to apply existing methodology according to overall context and objectives.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To contribute to the planning of research projects.
• To assist in contributing to support student projects on the use of research methods and equipment. 
• To be actively involved in the research and innovation of next-generation microgrid design and AI-driven optimisation techniques, in order to meet the project’s cost- and carbon-reduction targets.

 Grade 7 Post Doctoral Research Associate key responsibilities:

• To prepare and deliver presentations on research outputs/activities to audiences which may include: research sponsors, academic and non-academic audiences.
• To publish high quality outputs, including papers for submission to peer reviewed journals and papers for presentation at conferences and workshops under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To assist with the development of research objectives and proposals.
• To conduct individual and collaborative research projects under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To work with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify areas for research, develop new research methods and extend the research portfolio.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To plan and manage own research activity, research resources in collaboration with others and contribute to the planning of research projects.
• To deliver training in research techniques/approaches to peers, visitors and students as appropriate.
• To be involved in student supervision, as appropriate, and assist with the assessment of the knowledge of students.
• To conduct research on advanced microgrid modelling and optimisation, including integrating renewable generation, battery-energy-storage systems (BESS) and supercapacitors, to deliver resilient low-carbon power solutions.
• To design and implement a scalable, modular software prototype (MIDAS) that integrates AI-based modules with optimisation engines to support low-carbon, cost-optimal datacentre microgrid design.
• To manage prototyping of the software platform - overseeing build, integration, and iterative testing - and run high-fidelity microgrid simulations to validate functionality, ensuring all performance and timeline milestones are met.
• To collaborate with the industrial partner to gather real-world operational data, co-develop case studies, and drive technology transfer for deploying the MIDAS tool.

Responsibilities common to both roles:

• To understand and convey material of a specialist or highly technical nature to the team or group of people through presentations and discussions that leads to the presentation of research papers in conferences and publications.
• To liaise with research colleagues and make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and understanding to form relationships for future research collaboration.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by participation in the undergraduate or postgraduate teaching programmes or by membership of departmental committees, etc. and by attending relevant training and development courses.

In both cases, the post-holder is employed to work on research/a research project which will be led by another colleague. Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of their own research ideas/adaptation and development of research protocols.

This post is fixed term for 6 months as the project is time and funding limited.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by 1^st September 2025.