Faculty or Department: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Based at: Cranfield Campus, Cranfield, Bedfordshire
Hours of work: 37 hours per week, normally worked Monday to Friday. Flexible working will be considered. 
Contract type: Fixed term contract
Fixed Term Period: For 3 years
Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range of £37,337 per annum
Apply by: 09/04/2025

Role Description

We welcome applications from a Research Fellow with a strong passion for and experience in biosensing, microfluidics, and microbiology. The successful candidate will join our Advanced Sensors team and contribute to the 5-year Leverhulme Research Leadership Award project, Sensing Wastewater for Real-time Public Health.

About the Role

The primary responsibility of the Research Fellow is to conduct cutting-edge research on Environmental sensor development for biodiversity monitoring, utilising state-of-the-art facilities in the Advanced Sensors Laboratory at Cranfield University.

Cranfield University has a proud reputation for its research on the science, engineering and management of water, and we have been driving innovation for over 40 years. You will contribute to the delivery of Cranfield University’s research portfolio in the Advanced Sensors Laboratory for Water-Environment-Health led by Professor Zhugen Yang. The group’s pioneering work on wastewater sensing, especially on origami-paper sensors has garnered significant national and international recognition, including features in Science and prominent media outlets such as BBC News and The Washington Post. The origami-paper device is currently featured at the London Science Museum.

About You

You will hold a doctoral degree (or be near completion) in biosensing, environmental science, microbiology or a related discipline. You will have demonstrable experience with experimental skill sets, including sensor development, wastewater surveillance, or reverse inference modelling for source tracking. You will bring laboratory expertise in designing experiments, handling advanced instruments, and troubleshooting. Collaboration and mentoring within interdisciplinary teams are also desirable.

About Us

As a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield’s world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally. Learn more about Cranfield and our unique impact here.

Our Values and Commitments

Our shared, stated values help to define who we are and underpin everything we do: Ambition; Impact; Respect; and Community. Find out more here.       

We aim to create and maintain a culture in which everyone can work and study together and realise their full potential. We are a Disability Confident Employer and proud members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme. We are committed to actively exploring flexible working options for each role and have been ranked in the Top 30 family-friendly employers in the UK by the charity Working Families. Find out more about our key commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Flexible Working here.

Working Arrangements

Collaborating and connecting are integral to so much of what we do. Our Working Arrangements Framework provides many staff with the opportunity to flexibly combine on-site and remote working, where job roles allow, balancing the needs of our community of staff, students, clients and partners.

How to apply                                   

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Professor Zhugen Yang, Professor of Biosensing and Environmental Health, on (T): +44 1234 758310, or (E): zhugen.yang@cranfield.ac.uk

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further details on (E): peoplerecruitment@cranfield.ac.uk. Please quote reference number 5038.

Closing date for receipt of applications: 9 April 2025