All current vacancies and studentships

We are seeking to recruit an exceptional Doctoral (PhD) Candidate to join the new MSCA Doctoral Network ComeInCell (https://www.comeincell.org/). The candidate will enrol for a PhD in Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Prof. Lorenzo Di Michele.

ComeInCell offers a unique opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research in the field of Synthetic Biology, working at the intersection of biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. The project will explore how membranes and condensates together regulate protein function and drive cellular processes, towards development of innovative biomimetic platforms. These platforms will provide a deeper understanding of essential cellular processes like membrane trafficking and pathologies like neurodegenerative diseases and will open new avenues for drug discovery and therapeutic interventions. Successful candidates will benefit from a diverse and interdisciplinary training program, including secondments in leading labs and collaborations with industry partners. Our network fosters a rich environment for innovation and skill development, equipping students to lead in both academic and industrial sectors.

We have recently developed technologies to produce synthetic RNA condensates with prescribed number, size, shape, composition, material properties and the ability to selectively recruit protein clients. These condensates form co-transcriptionally in synthetic cells. With this project, we aim to engineer interactions between the synthetic RNA condensates and synthetic cell membranes to induce controlled membrane deformation, patterning, and division-like behaviours. Condensate/membrane affinity can be programmed using electrostatics or specifically with either amphiphilic nucleic acid linkers or aptamers targeting membrane proteins. Specific objectives include: 1) Build synthetic cells that can express RNA condensates with controlled affinity for the membrane; 2) Exploit processes such as condensate growth, degradation and internal phase separation to deform and manipulate the membranes (e.g. stabilizing non-spherical morphologies; controlling lipid domain formation, size and distribution; inducing membrane rupture or membrane fission).

The project involves secondments at the Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry (Munich, Germany) in the group of Prof. Petra Schwille and at Imperial College London in the group of Dr Claudia Contini.

Please see full information about the programme at https://www.comeincell.org/.

The successful candidate would be employed as a Research Assistant and they must apply for admission as a PhD student with the University and be able to meet our criteria for admission. For further information please visit: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/egcepdcng?gl=1e6nc7rgaNjM2MTY3Nzk3LjE2NjcyOTg0MTc.gaP8Q1QT5W4K*MTY2ODE2MzI4Ny44LjEuMTY2ODE2MzI5MC4wLjAuMA

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact Prof. Lorenzo Di Michele at ld389@cam.ac.uk. If you have questions on the application process, please email Mrs Alessandra Uomo, HR Administrator, at hr@ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is 6th January 2025.

Interviews are likely to be held soon after the closing date.

Please quote reference NQ44098 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Applications are invited for 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB), University of Cambridge and with a placement at an AstraZeneca UK site. The student will be working on a collaborative project jointly supervised by Prof Laura Torrente Murciano in CEB and Dr Sophie Janbon at AstraZeneca. The project, entitled Accelerating Big Data in material crystallization, will focus on the fundamental understanding of the mechanism and kinetics of co-precipitation and crystallization, underpinning many drug manufacturing processes despite being poorly understood.

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual capable of thinking and working independently. Applicants should have or shortly expect to obtain a first or high second-class degree from a UK university, or an equivalent standard from an overseas university, in all previous degrees and in a relevant subject such as chemical engineering, process engineering or chemistry. Information on overseas equivalencies is available at https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international/international-qualifications Full details of the University's entrance requirements and scholarships are specified on the following link: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/

The position is open to UK citizens or overseas students who meet the UK residency requirements for the Home Fee rate. Students will not be allowed to supplement fees via self-funding.

Full funding covering Maintenance fees at £21,500 per annum and the University Composition Fee at the Home rate is provided for the studentship, with effect from 1 October 2025. Students will also be encouraged to attend and present at the annual AstraZeneca students symposium.

To apply for this studentship, you will need to submit an application for our PhD in Chemical Engineering via https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/. You must note Prof Laura Torrente as your prospective supervisor and note vacancy reference number NQ43837 in your research proposal. We are unable to consider incomplete or late applications.

Please quote reference NQ43837 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society. We place major emphasis on the importance of team work and an enjoyable work environment as a foundation for performing internationally leading research. This will allow the student to acquire cutting edge research methodologies in a supportive environment, where they can focus on making the best possible scientific progress.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

A post-doctoral research assistant/associate position is available at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, in the Computational Modelling Group under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kraft.

The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team developing methods for the digital discovery of reticular materials. To date, the team has mined the literature to create a database of materials, developed data structures to describe the Lego-like nature of the materials, developed algorithms that exploit the data structures to predict the existence of new materials, calculated the properties of known and predicted materials, and used large language models to extract information from the literature about synthesis processes, and predict the process steps required to synthesise new materials. The vision of the team is to automate the discovery and synthesis of materials with properties that are tuned for specific applications.

The work forms part of The World Avatar (TWA) project, a disruptive approach pioneered by Prof. Kraft to leverage knowledge-based technology to share data and create interoperability across different technical and social domains. Further information is available at https://como.ceb.cam.ac.uk/research/twa/

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD; those without a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

Applicants must have:

• A Master's or PhD degree or equivalent experience in a relevant science or engineering discipline (essential).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills (essential).
• An interdisciplinary and collaborative research approach (essential).
• The ability to work as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team (essential).
• A developing bibliography of publications in a relevant research area (desirable).
• Experience in quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics or other aspects of computational chemistry (desirable).
• Experience in other areas of science relevant to the vision described above (desirable).
• Experience in software engineering using Java, JavaScript, Python or other languages (desirable).

Further information about the Computational Modelling Group can be found at https://como.ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 9 months in the first instance.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Mrs Alessandra Uomo, HR Administrator, at hr@ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is 30th November 2024.

Please quote reference NQ43819 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

A position is available at the University of Cambridge in the Computational Modelling Group under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kraft. The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team to develop and test modelling and digital twinning approaches to enable the planning of distributed energy systems. In collaboration with researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the successful candidate will assess the performance of existing modelling solutions for different components of the overall problem and develop and will work with the team to implement a digital twinning approach that combines them to enable data-driven energy system planning and scenario analysis.

The digital twinning aspects of the project will leverage knowledge-based technology known as The World Avatar (TWA) pioneered by Prof. Kraft to enable the holistic integration of data and computational models, leveraging increasingly digitalised descriptions of the built environment alongside the ability to investigate the consequences of complex what-if questions. The vision is to move beyond one-time workflows that process fixed sets of data, and beyond approaches that make assumptions to address a lack of data. Rather, the envisaged approach would enable the comprehensive dynamic evaluation of urban energy systems, adapting to new data as it becomes available and supporting the planning of future energy systems. Further information is available at https://como.ceb.cam.ac.uk/research/twa/

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD; those without a PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded.

Applicants must have:

• A Master's or PhD degree or equivalent experience in a relevant science or engineering discipline (essential).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills (essential).
• An interdisciplinary and collaborative research approach (essential).
• The ability to work as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team (essential).
• A developing bibliography of publications in a relevant research area (desirable).
• Experience with energy system modelling (desirable).
• Experience working with data describing the built environment (desirable).
• Experience in software engineering using Java, Python or other programming languages (desirable).

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 9 months in the first instance.

Further information about the Computational Modelling Group can be found at https://como.ceb.cam.ac.uk.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Mrs Alessandra Uomo, HR Administrator, at hr@ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is 30th November 2024.

Please quote reference NQ43821 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Applications are invited for a 3.5-year PhD studentship at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kraft as part of the Computational Modelling Group. We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual who can think independently and collaborate effectively as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team.

The ability to design and predict the existence of materials with properties tailored for specific applications is an important technology with many applications in the energy transition and health care. The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team developing methods for the digital discovery of reticular materials. This is a class of materials with highly structured frameworks formed by linking molecular building blocks into networks with customisable properties. To date, the team has mined the literature to create a database of materials, developed data structures to describe the Lego-like nature of their assembly, developed algorithms that exploit the data structures to predict the existence of new materials, calculated the properties of known and predicted materials, and used large language models to extract information from the literature about synthesis processes, and predict the process steps required to synthesise new materials. The vision is to automate the discovery and synthesis of materials with properties that are tuned for specific applications.

The work performed in the project would contribute to The World Avatar (TWA) project, a disruptive approach pioneered by Prof. Kraft to leverage knowledge graph-based technology to share data and create interoperability across different technical and social domains. As part of their application, the successful candidate should submit a research proposal with a suggestion of how they would harness and develop the ideas underlying The World Avatar to work towards the vision of the automated discovery and synthesis of materials. Some of the recent open access preprints on our group webpage may be a good source of inspiration. The quality of the research proposal will be assessed as part of the application process.

The studentship starts in October 2025 and is part-funded by Cambridge CARES-- the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore. The student would be required to spend years two and three of the PhD at Cambridge CARES in Singapore, with the remainder of the time based in Cambridge, UK.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all students are eligible to live and study in the UK and, for this studentship, also in Singapore.

Applicants should have or shortly expect to obtain a first or high second-class degree from a UK university, or an equivalent standard from an overseas university in a relevant science or engineering discipline. Applicants should have excellent oral and written communication skills. Applicants would be expected to demonstrate a track record that shows some evidence of exposure and significant interest in programming and scientific computing. Exposure to and an interest in one or more of quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics or other aspects of computational chemistry, ontologies and knowledge graphs is desirable.

The studentship is open to UK citizens and overseas students. Applications for a PhD in Chemical Engineering should be submitted via https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk. You must specify Prof Markus Kraft as your prospective supervisor and note vacancy reference number NQ43765/ "CARES studentship" in your application. The successful candidate would need to secure funding for the UK part of the studentship, for example by winning a scholarship. Full details of scholarships, the university's entrance requirements and equivalent international qualifications are available online. The deadline for scholarship applications on 03 Dec 2024. We are unable to consider incomplete or late applications.

Please quote reference NQ43765 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

A fully funded PhD studentship is available under the supervision of Dr Ewa Marek, with a start date of 1 October 2025. Funding will cover the student's stipend and tuition fees at the UK rate. Non-UK applicants will be considered only if they can fund the overseas fees differential or if they are awarded a suitable scholarship

Background: The EU has set a highly ambitious goal to increase the share of SAFs in the aviation industry from 2% in 2025 to 64% by 2050. Microalgae can play a critical role in meeting this fuel target, but the commercialisation of biofuels from microalgae has been hampered by systemic and technological limitations. This PhD will address the current problems in the hydrogenation of algal lipids. The work will be embedded and supported by the EU/UKRI-funded project SusAlgaeFuel. Besides producing SAFs, SusAlgaeFuel aims to develop a range of innovative approaches based on waste treatment, digital sensors, cascading biorefinery, and multifunctional catalysts to enable a more sustainable and cost-competitive production of microalgae aviation fuels. Thus, this PhD is a perfect opportunity to participate in a multifaceted research project, collaborating with 8 project partners.

Objectives: The conversion pathways for algae lipids to HEFA-SPK will be investigated experimentally, developing a novel, algae-specific bifunctional catalyst for hydrogenation reactions. The overarching ambition of this project is to characterise the algae lipid-to-HEFA conversion process and understand the catalytic mechanisms that promote the production of SPK-desired C9-C15 alkanes from algal feedstocks. This will be achieved by analysing high-granularity experimental data obtained for varied feedstock composition/catalyst/support combinations in a single- and two-step process approach. The innovative nature of this research promises to make a significant impact in the field of sustainable aviation fuels.

The experimental work will require building new experimental facilities and modernising our existing bench-top micro-reactors (Autoclave Engineers BTRS and Carberry Spinning Basket), followed by extensive experimental campaigns. The composition of the collected SPK samples will be assessed with GC and LC/MS, with results assessed using Machine Learning- algorithms for future predictions and process optimisations. Results from small-scale experiments will identify the best process parameters and catalysts for HEFA-SPK from the algal feedstock. The final part of this work will focus on scaling up the catalytic process to a lab pilot, producing 1 kg of HEFA-SAF.

Requirements: Applicants should have a First Class (or high Upper Second Class) mark in all previous degrees in a relevant discipline such as chemical engineering, chemical technology, mechanical engineering, chemistry, or a related subject. Those whose qualifications were completed outside the UK should check if they qualify before applying: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international/international-qualifications Applicants with relevant research experience, gained through Master's study or while working, are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply: Interested applicants must submit a formal application for admission with the supporting documents, indicating Dr Ewa Marek as the prospective supervisor and note the vacancy reference number, NQ43672, in the research proposal field. For further information about the full entry requirements, application process, and a link to the on-line application please see: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/egcepdcng

We are unable to consider late or incomplete applications for this studentship, so applicants should ensure that they apply in good time for references to be provided.

Informal enquiries can be addressed to Dr Ewa Marek, ejm94@cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference NQ43672 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

The Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology is seeking a person interested in obtaining a PhD in the area of novel methods of chemical processes development based on machine learning and high throughput flow synthesis technology. The successful candidate will be supervised by Prof. Alexei Lapkin and take part in the "Synthesis of new active materials for flow batteries" project, which is part of the European Doctoral Network "PREDICTOR": High-throughput screening, synthesis and characterization of active materials for flow batteries.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks are joint research and training projects funded by the European Union. Funding is provided for doctoral candidates from both inside and outside Europe to carry out individual project work in a European country other than their own. The training network "PREDICTOR" is made up of 22 partners, coordinated by Fraunhofer ICT in Germany. The network will recruit a total of 17 doctoral candidates for project work lasting for 36 months.

PREDICTOR aims to establish a rapid, high-throughput method to identify and develop materials for electrochemical energy storage. It will enable the rapid identification, synthesis and characterization of materials within a coherent development chain, replacing conventional trial-and-error developments. To validate the PREDICTOR system, the case study will be active materials and electrolytes for redox-flow batteries. Within the project, three demonstrator battery cells (TRL3-4) will be assembled and tested with the newly developed materials.

As part of the project, the post holder might take on short secondments in PREDICTOR academic and industrial partners.

MSCA-recruiting rules are also applied:

The salary and benefit will follow the principles of the Marie Curie Doctoral Network Scheme as underwritten by the UKRI. Living allowance, mobility allowance and, if appropriate, family allowance, will be paid in GBP at a fixed exchange rate of 1.148787.

The successful candidate would be employed as a Research Assistant and they must apply for admission as a PhD student with the University and be able to meet our criteria for admission. For further information please visit: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/egcepdcng?gl=1e6nc7rgaNjM2MTY3Nzk3LjE2NjcyOTg0MTc.gaP8Q1QT5W4K*MTY2ODE2MzI4Ny44LjEuMTY2ODE2MzI5MC4wLjAuMA

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Mrs Alessandra Uomo, HR Administrator, at hr@ceb.cam.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is 30th November 2024.

Please quote reference NQ43593 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.