Research Assoc - Multifunctional Metamaterials & Smart Textiles

About us

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at UCL is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in advanced materials and structures, materials processing, and modelling. You will benefit from research training, high-performance computing, and experimental laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment.

We seek to appoint a senior postdoctoral research associate to join the SUBBIMAT project: “Bioinspired And Biomimetic Materials For Sustainable Textiles” (https://subbimatt.eu/). The research project addresses important future needs, such as energy and sustainability.

About the role

The post is funded for 24 months, with a start date as soon as possible and no later than October 2026. The post aims to investigate modelling, design and optimisation of ultralightweight, multifunctional metamaterials and smart textiles for various engineering applications.

The research seeks to develop and apply robust and efficient analytical, computational and data-driven methods to accelerate the discovery and optimisation of multifunctional advanced materials.

The appointment includes the following responsibilities:

• Take part in the activities of the research group and collaborative work.
• Work closely with international academic and industrial collaborators.
• Disseminate the research outputs through publications in international journals.
• Present the research at major international conferences to both academic and non-academic audiences.
• Communicate the results of the project through outreach activities.
• Prepare progress reports and similar documents on research for funding bodies, as required.
• Contribute to the co-supervision of doctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate students.
• Engage with a range of academic and non-academic stakeholders to strengthen and expand our partnership and to identify and progress new funding and research opportunities.

About you

• Doctoral degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, structural engineering, materials science, or related fields.
• Track record of strong and original publications in reputed international journals in solid and structural mechanics.
• Experience in solid and structural mechanics and at least one of the following: material and structural modelling, experimental characterisation, finite element simulations, data-driven design and optimisation, and programming languages.
• Proficient in Python, Matlab or other similar programming languages. Proficient in Finite Element software, such as Abaqus or similar.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including presentation skills.
• Willingness to be flexible and innovative when approaching unexpected problems.
• The ability to plan and manage time effectively with a demonstrated capacity to deliver work to specification and deadlines.
• The ability to work independently and also as part of a team, recognising when advice/input needs to be sought, and maintaining a positive attitude to colleagues, staff and students.

What we offer

For information about our rewards and benefits please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people and LGBTQI+ people.