Mechanical Engineering Sciences

Location: Guildford
Salary: £33,314 to £36,386 per annum
Fixed Term
Post Type: Full Time
Closing Date: 23.59 hours GMT on Monday 31 October 2022
Reference: 065722

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral Research Fellow position in centre for Engineering Materials in School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences at University of Surrey to work on project, “Multifunctional Flooring: Design for Independent Living” funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The aim is to reduce the number of falls and severity of the resulting injuries by developing low-cost sustainable floorings with integrated passive fall prevention, monitoring and protection capabilities. This can have a profound impact on independence and a sense of well-being in daily life by alleviating the fear of falls and increasing mobility, which is a major pillar of healthy ageing. The project involves a multi-disciplinary group of academics in Engineering and Public Health with strong patient and public involvement.

The role holder will be responsible for creating low-cost realistic numerical models for human-floor interaction (validated by experiments) and use it to create large data banks. These data banks will later be used by the role holder for multi-objective optimisation. Manufacturing small scale novel floor modules will also be performed by the role holder. The successful candidate will hold a PhD (or be close to completion/have equivalent experience) in Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, Materials Science, or in another relevant discipline. Good communication and interpersonal skills are essential, and you must be willing to work and collaborate with academics, scientists and industry experts from complementary disciplines. In this project, the role holder is required to work closely with a team including another PDRA, a PhD student, four academics with different disciplines, three industrial partners and members of public as a part of patient and public involvement. Prior experience and knowledge in Finite Element Modelling are essential. Prior experience and knowledge in programming (preferably Python), in using machine learning libraries such as TensorFlow and mechanical characterisation are desirable.

The successful candidate will join a dynamic research group in Engineering Materials in Surrey. For informal discussion, applicants are encouraged to contact Dr Iman Mohagheghian (i.mohagheghian@surrey.ac.uk), Tel:+44(0) 01483 68 2352.

Please upload your CV together with a covering letter.

Further details: Job Description

Please note, it is University Policy to offer a starting salary equivalent to Level 3.6 (£33,314) to successful applicants who have been awarded, but are yet to receive, their PhD certificate. Once the original PhD certificate has been submitted to the local HR Department, the salary will be increased to Level 4.1 (£34,308).