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Early Career Researcher, MSCA ESR 13

Employer
QUEENS UNIVERSITY BELFAST
Location
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Salary
£31,281.02 (with pension) per annum
Closing date
24 Feb 2020

Application closing date 24/02/2020  
Salary £31,281.02 (with pension) per annum (there is also an additional mobility allowance and a family allowance to be determined upon appointment).  
Job category/type Research
Attachments      

Job description

Queen's University Belfast is a driver of innovation based on our talented, multinational workforce. Throughout the University, our academics are collaborating across disciplines to develop new discoveries and insights, working with outside agencies and institutions on projects of international significance. We are connected and networked with strategic partnerships across the world, helping us to expand our impact on wider society locally, nationally and globally. The University is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the best global talent within an environment that enables them to realise their full potential.

We are a leader in gender equality and diversity, and are one of the UK's most successful Universities in the Athena SWAN initiative which promotes gender equality and career progression, with the School of Biological Sciences having been awarded the Athena SWAN Gold Award in recognition of our work to support women in Science.  We are ranked 1st in the UK for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, (Innovate UK) 9th in the UK for University facilities (Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2018) and 14th in the UK for research quality (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019).

The School of Biological Sciences is part of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences.  It is made up of three research disciplines, including Ecosystems Biology & Sustainability, Food Safety & Nutrition, and Microbes & Pathogen Biology.  Many staff within the School are also members of the Institute for Global Food Security GRI: the Institute is ranked No 1 in the UK for research intensity in Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Sciences (REF 2014).  

We are recruiting an Early Stage Researcher (ESR), (PhD Student) who will be an active member of a research team in the MONPLAS "The training of early stage researchers for the development of technologies to MONitor concentrations of micro and nanoPLAStics in water for their presence, uptake and threat to animal and human life"  Innovative Training Network (ITN). The ESR will undertake research and undergo training in the framework of the MONPLAS project. The ESR will be funded for 36 months through the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) ITN EID programme; an initiative by the European Commission to train creative, entrepreneurial, innovative researchers, who are able to face current and future societal challenges, and will convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for the economic and social benefit of Europe.

The successful candidate will work as an early stage career researcher (ESR) to conduct research on the development of a low cost platform exploiting vibrational spectroscopies for rapid and sensitive detection of micro- and nanoplastics at QUB. To allow ultra-sensitive detection, a range of different plasmonic nanostructures fabricated by micro- and nanofabrication techniques will be used as sensing elements, and can be incorporated into microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip components to facilitate sample pre-treatments, separation, and detection. The platforms will be fully validated and assessed against benchmarking techniques such as mass spectroscopy. The project will equip the ESR with skills in materials synthesis and characterization, system integration, assay development and validation.   

The successful candidate must have: 

  • Have or about to obtain a 1st class or 2:1 Honour Degree or equivalent in materials science, micro- and nano-engineering, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, applied physics or related disciplines. 
  • Experience of having carried out research in materials science, micro- and nano-engineering, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering or applied physics.
  • Over the 3-year project, be willing and able to spend 66% of the time in QUB (UK) and 33% of the time in the appropriate industrial/academic partner.
  • Be in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctorate. This 4-year period is measured from the date of obtaining the degree which would formally entitle to embark on a doctorate.
  • Must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their selection for this post.
  • Be willing, eligible and qualified for enrolment in the PhD programme within the Institute for Global Food Security at QUB.

Informal enquiries may be directed to: Mrs Joyce Watterson via email: joyce.watterson@qub.ac.uk 

Candidate Information
About the School
About the Institute
About the Group Leader
Further information for international applicants
Note to EEA applicants on Brexit

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