Research Associate in Cementitious Materials

University of Sheffield - School of Chemical, Materials, and Biological Engineering

We have an exciting opportunity in the School of Chemical, Materials, and Biological Engineering for someone with a passion for driving sustainability, environmental remediation, and enabling clean energy. It is ideally suited to someone looking to use their skills in chemical engineering, materials science, chemistry, engineering, or another relevant discipline, to make an impact on long-term management and disposal of contaminated wastes in the UK nuclear sector, to improve the wellbeing of society and the environment.

You will join the School of Chemical, Materials, and Biological Engineering at The University of Sheffield, and become a member of the Sustainable Materials at Sheffield (SMASH) research group, led by Dr. Brant Walkley. You will contribute to the aims of the School by leading a project on development, analysis and validation of cementation technology for the safe treatment and disposal of radioactive wastes arising from decommissioning of the Sellafield site in the UK, in collaboration with Sellafield Ltd. You will lead the laboratory-based assessment of different candidate wasteform cements for the solidification and final disposal of waste past and ongoing cleanup and decontamination the Sellafield site. This will include experimental and modelling work on the application of different types of cements to this problem.

You should have a PhD or be close to completion (or have equivalent experience) in chemical engineering, materials science, chemistry, engineering, or another relevant discipline, a strong experimental focus, and the ability to design and conduct experiments to measure the properties of complex material systems. Excellent communication skills, written and oral, and the ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team, are also essential.

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university. We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more at sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits and join us to become part of something special. We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.