Research Fellow (CFD Modelling) - School of Metallurgy and Materials

University of Birmingham - School of Metallurgy and Materials, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Placed On: 21st January 2026

Closes: 8th February 2026

Job Ref: 106902

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049, with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract to March 2029

People are at the heart of what we are and do. We want to attract outstanding, inspirational, and talented people, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. Working at the University of Birmingham gives you access to the best financial and physical resources, a beautiful campus and an intellectually stimulating and diverse community.

IGNITE focuses on three Grand Challenges: developing next generation green-steel products for future manufacturing, enabling a resilient and circular steel supply chain, and advancing Steel as a Service to extend material lifetime and improve long term reuse and recycling. These ambitions are supported by four crosscutting research themes covering sustainable metallurgical design, durability and performance monitoring, servitization enablers, and optimised steel use and reuse.

The postholder will develop advanced Multiphysics models of the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) to support sustainable steelmaking, refining modelling methods and generating insights that inform industrial solutions. They will contribute to research projects and funding proposals, analyse modelling and experimental data, and support commercialisation and public-engagement activities. Working with academic and industrial partners, they will help advance innovative modelling approaches, strengthen links with experimental work, and contribute to IGNITE’s wider impact on sustainable UK manufacturing.

Main Duties / Responsibilities

The responsibilities may include some, but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Conduct advanced CFD-based research on Electric Arc Furnace processes, integrating kinetic modelling and supporting model development, validation activities and optimisation studies
• Adapt, extend and maintain modelling, data management and cloud-based exchange systems to enable effective collaboration and delivery across the IGNITE Hub

Person Specification

• Hold a Bachelor degree in Science or Engineering discipline relevant to the project or equivalent qualifications.
• Hold a PhD, or be close to completion (post-viva) in an area relevant to Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Computational Engineering, or a related field.
• Prior knowledge, experience and achievements in multi-physics and CFD modelling of Electric Arc Furnace processes—including reaction kinetics, multiphase flow, heat and mass transfer, slag–metal interactions, and data-driven optimisation—are highly desirable.
• Experience with relevant CFD tools (e.g. ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM, COMSOL).
• Knowledge of steelmaking or high-temperature industrial processes.

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the 'Apply' button above.

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working