Location : Oxford Road, Manchester
Closing Date : 19/02/2019
Salary : £32,236 Per Annum
Employment Type : Fixed Term
Faculty / Organisational Unit : Science & Engineering
Division : Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Hours Per week : Full Time
Contract Duration : 1 March 2019 until 25 May 2020

We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher as part of the EPSRC funded project “Passively Powered Non-invasive Human Body Sensing on Bio-Degradable Conformal Substrates” which aims to create new bio-sensor devices which can operate for many days at a time and then naturally bio-degrade to minimize electronic waste. Unlike current wearables, which are based on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), our new devices will mount the electronics on highly flexible ‘temporary tattoos’ which are conformal with the skin, following all of its contours to get a better signal and longer lasting connection to the body. Interconnect tracks will be made using screen/inkjet printed Graphene, giving a highly novel manufacturing process which for the electronics presents new design rules, constraints and opportunities compared to conventional PCB level circuit design. The project is highly multidisciplinary and involves working with Chemists at the University of Manchester on printed Graphene manufacturing, antenna designers at the University of Kent, experts on manufacturing scale-up at the Centre for Process Innovation (https://www.uk-cpi.com/), and the widely recognised Rogers group on epidermal electronics at Northwestern University (http://rogersgroup.northwestern.edu/). Funding is included for exchange trips with the group at Northwestern University.

The current role focuses on testing the new instrumentation which has been created in the project to date. This will involve recruiting healthy human participants, collecting data by using our new devices and reference ones, and applying filtering and similar signal processing for the display and initial analysis of the collected signals. The successful candidate will require experience with electronic design to aid in the debugging of the instrumentation, and experience with discrete component circuit design in Altium (or similar) to allow PCB creation of new reference devices. Signal analysis experience in Matlab/Python would be beneficial, as would knowledge of accelerometer and ECG (electrocardiography) waveforms, but are not essential. This position will ideally suit applicants with an interest in creating and testing wearable devices.

If appointed at Research Associate level you must possess a PhD (or equivalent), or be close to achieving the degree, in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Medical Physics, Computing or a closely related field. Excellent oral and written communication skills will also be a requirement for the post.

The School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering is committed to promoting equality and diversity, including the Athena SWAN charter for promoting women’s careers in STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) in higher education. We particularly welcome applications from women for this post. Appointment will always be made on merit. For further information, please visit http://www.manchester.ac.uk/connect/jobs/equality-diversity/awards/athen....

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies

Enquiries about vacancy shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Dr Alex Casson

Email: alex.casson@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: hrservices@manchester.ac.uk

Tel: 0161 275 4499

Technical support:

Email: universityofmanchester@helpmeapply.co.uk

Tel: 0161 850 2004

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date

Further Particulars