Research Fellow (109158-0524)

About the Role

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Mark Senn at m.senn@warwick.ac.uk. 

High-pressure science helps us understand the physical interactions between atoms and molecules in the world around us, giving us a window into solid-state structures that exist deep within our own planet or within those in our solar system and beyond. It acts as a powerful tool for probing interaction energies in crystal structures and using these to understand why, and how, particularly dense phases exist. In order to compress materials uniformly, high-pressure crystallography experiments require the inclusion of a pressure-transmitting medium (PTM). This is a somewhat sparse library of compounds that each place specific limitations on the experiment performed.

You will work as part of a Leverhulme Trust-funded team, joint between the University of Warwick and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, on an ambitious project that will discover novel PTMs enabling such interdisciplinary frontier research across chemistry, material science, physics, geology, and planetary science.

Working closely with theoreticians in the Sosso group at University of Warwick, you will experimentally evaluate computationally-informed PTMs and seek to gain an understanding of their performance at an atomic level. This project aims to discover a variety of new PTMs that can be used over a wide range of pressure regimes in crystallographic experiments in combination with different functional materials and molecular crystals.

Leveraging these developments and the state-of-the-art facilities available at the University of Warwick and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, in collaboration with Dr Nick Funnell, you will lead an innovative programme of high-pressure research in the area of functional materials/molecules.

You will work closely with a team of 5 researchers (three PIs, 2 PDRFs and 1 PhD student) to deliver on the broader vision of the project. On a day-to-day basis you will be imbedded within the Senn group in the Chemistry department at the University of Warwick where you will work together with 2 other PDRFs and 4 PhD students. You will undertake regular visits to the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source in Oxfordshire, where you will make use of complementary analytical equipment to assist the pressure measurements.

You will also work closely with the second experimental supervisor, Dr Nick Funnell, who is based at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.  The ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences, based at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. It is owned and operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which forms a part of UK Research and Innovation. As a central facility, ISIS has a strong scientific user programme with extensive national and international links, supporting more than 2000 scientists. Within ISIS, the Crystallography Group operates seven neutron diffraction instruments performing measurements covering a range of academic and industrial research.

Full details of the duties and selection criteria for this role can be found in the vacancy advert on the University of Warwick's jobs pages. You will be routed to this when you click on the Apply button.

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