Research Fellow in Physical Geography and Environmental Science

About the role

Northumbria University in Newcastle is inviting applications for a Research Fellow position in polar ocean modelling. This position is fully funded for 36 months. Candidates will undertake innovative research in the field of climate change, with a focus on the future ocean-driven melting of the Antarctic ice sheet between the present-day and 2300. We invite candidates with interests and experience in the fields of physical and computational oceanography, numerical glaciology, mathematics, physics, and related disciplines. The aim of this work is to develop new understanding of how the large-scale climate drivers influence the access of warm waters to the ice shelves leading to ice loss in Antarctica. Better understanding the ice-ocean interactions could help to reduce uncertainty in estimates of future Antarctic ice loss. This work will utilise ocean model NEMO in a state-of-the-art fully coupled ocean-ice climate model to simulate changes in climate and the water masses on and around the Antarctic ice sheet. The successful candidate is also encouraged to develop their own research portfolio across a broad range of topics, depending on specialism and interests.

For further information, please see the role description.

About the team

The successful candidate will be part of the NERC-funded project “Rethinking Antarctic Sea level Projections (RASP)”. They will work closely with RASP project leader Dr Ronja Reese and an ice-dynamics focused Research Fellow within the RASP project. The candidate will also collaborate with the other members of RASP at Northumbria University: Dr Christopher Bull and Prof Adrian Jenkins. As well as external project partners: Dr Robin Smith (University of Reading, UK) and Dr Hélène Seroussi (Dartmouth College, USA). The candidate will be based in the Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK, and be part of the Inter-Disciplinary Research Theme Extreme Environments, the Peak of Excellence 'Future of Ice on Earth', and the Cold Environments Research Group. The candidate will have the opportunity to work and interact with other research groups worldwide and be absorbed into a diverse and vibrant research community tackling important questions in climate change.

The Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences is ranked 2nd in the UK for research power in Geography and Environmental Studies, with over 90% of our research outputs, and 100% of our research impact rated as world-leading or internationally excellent (UK Research Excellence Framework, 2021). 

About you

Successful candidates will have a PhD in Physical Oceanography, Physics or Mathematics, or in a related discipline such as Geophysics or Earth Sciences and have demonstrable specialist expert knowledge in numerical modelling. The post will commence in Spring 2024, with 1^st of July being the target start date -- flexibility is possible to support our interest in a diverse and inclusive research environment.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact R. Reese on ronja.reese@northumbria.ac.uk.

We welcome applications from the UK and across the world. Visit our web pages for details about Relocation Assistance.

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