Research Assistant or Research Associate in Health-driven Design for Cities (HD4) (Fixed Term)

The Cambridge Sustainable Design Group within the Department of Architecture invites applications for a Research Assistant or Research Associate to work on the Health-driven Design for Cities (HD4) programme. The post holder will work closely with Professor Ronita Bardhan and contribute to a high-impact, interdisciplinary research programme focused on advancing evidence-based urban design for population health. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a high profile, a pioneering initiative to develop novel built environment models to inform health outcomes.

HD4 is a major international collaboration between the University of Cambridge, Nanyang Technological University, and the National University of Singapore, funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore. The programme sits at the core of Singapore's research and innovation ecosystem and aims to support the development of a sustainable, climate-resilient, and healthy city through data-driven design and policy-relevant research.

The programme investigates how urban environments influence health by characterising environmental exposures, understanding links between environment, behaviour, and health outcomes, observing the health impacts of environmental change, simulating potential future scenarios, and working with government agencies to co-develop data-rich public health tools. HD4 adopts a systems-based approach, integrating architecture, environmental science, epidemiology, and data science to generate actionable insights for policy and practice.

The post holder will contribute to the development of environmental exposure archetypes with a focus on humid heat stress, air quality, food retail environments, and green and blue infrastructure. A key objective of the role is to develop and apply novel methodologies for high-resolution exposure characterisation across indoor and outdoor environments, and to support the evaluation of real-world environmental interventions in Singapore.

The role holder's key responsibilities include:

• Contribute to the work package on archetype generation and develop data integration pathways
• Contribute to estimating environmental exposures at archetype levels using computational methods like fluid dynamics, AI and ML
• Contribute in indoor environment exposure monitoring and conduct pilot experiments to generate indoor exposures.
• Coordinate with the larger team of HD4 and generate regular progress reports
• Produce impactful peer-review publications

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on holding a PhD. If the candidate is yet to receive their PhD award, they will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

The funds for this post are available until 30 April 2027 in the first instance.

Informal enquiries about the role are welcomed and should be directed to Professor Ronita Bardhan on rb867@cam.ac.uk. Questions on the application process should be directed to the School's HR Team on sahhr@admin.cam.ac.uk.

The closing date for applications is midnight (GMT) on Sunday 15 March 2026. Interviews are expected to take place in w/c 23 March 2026, subject to change.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Please quote reference GC48832 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Apply online

Key information

Department/location

Department of Architecture

Salary

£33,002-£46,049

Reference

GC48832

Category

Research

Date published

16 February 2026

Closing date

15 March 2026

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