Research Associate - Groundwater Geochemistry Advert

Job reference: SAE-027662

Salary: £36,924 - £45,163 per annum, dependent on relevant experience

Faculty/Organisational Unit: Science and Engineering

Location: Oxford Road

Employment type: Fixed Term

Division/Team: Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences

Hours Per Week: Full time (1 FTE)

Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/02/2025

Contract Duration: 36 months

School/Directorate: School of Natural Sciences

Overall Purpose of the Job

The Research Associate will be based at The University of Manchester under the direct supervision of Dr Laura Richards (Department of Earth and Environmental Science, School of Natural Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering) but will also need to closely collaborate and/or liaise with project partners at The University of Manchester, nationally (University of Birmingham, University of Bath, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), and internationally (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Mbarara University of Science & Technology, KTH, University of Melbourne, University of Heidelberg) as necessary.  Other relevant key UK working contacts will include Prof David Polya, Prof Jon Lloyd, Prof Jonny Huck, Prof Rahul Nair (all University of Manchester), Prof Daren Gooddy (UKCEH), Prof Stefan Krause (University of Birmingham) and Dr Jannis Wenk (University of Bath).

The applicant should have, or be working towards, a PhD or equivalent in aqueous geochemistry, groundwater geochemistry, environmental or chemical engineering, water remediation/treatment, low temperature geochemical modelling, or similar.  The candidate should be competent in designing and implementing fieldwork and/or relevant laboratory-based activities (e.g. experimental work, environmental sample analysis).  Competence and practical working experience in geochemical modelling code (e.g. PHREEQC, Geochemist’s Workbench), GIS and/or numerical modelling and programming (e.g. R, C++, Python) would be highly desirable.  Excellent scientific writing, team work, organisational skills and communication skills with a range of stakeholders are essential for this project.  The candidate should be capable of working under their own initiative, effectively working with project partners and collaborators and co-supervising project/research (e.g. MSc, MEng) students.

The Research Associate is responsible to collaborate with AQUAROAD partners to: (i) co-design and implement field campaigns, including water and sediment sampling, to address project research questions; (ii) co-design and implement laboratory-based investigations, including sample preparation and analysis and/or remediation system evaluation, to address project research questions; (iii) analyse and critically interpret data, including with the support of geochemical modelling, to address project research questions; (iv) input into the development of contaminant distribution models and other decision-support tools; and (v) co-develop materials and contribute to knowledge exchange with  relevant stakeholders to underpin the development of potential future impact arising from the project.  The Research Associate will be required to fully and clearly document procedures and methodologies, including of quality assurance/quality control and sensitivity analysis, and to write or substantively contribute to the writing of progress reports, scientific papers and other relevant outputs for publication and dissemination.

Competitive applications must clearly demonstrate how person specifications are met.  Please also see the AQUAROAD website for further project

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Dr Laura Richards (Senior Lecturer, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences)

Email: laura.richards@manchester.ac.uk

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