Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Environmental Impact of Digital Services

Salary: 

Grade I £37,999 - £43,873;

Grade J £42,632 - £47,874 per annum.

The role

This is an exciting opportunity to join the recently awarded UK-funded CANDISE project (Change-Oriented Assessments for Net-Zero Digital Services). Together with our globally leading industrial (including Akamai, BT, Meta, Netflix, and Sony) and academic partners from the US and the EU you will study how we can better understand and plan the net zero transition for the digital sector.

The engineering community currently approaches the carbon footprint of computer hardware and software with narrow view of stocks of devices and efficiency of classes of devices (e.g. network efficiency). This perspective prioritises direct control and discards the effect of influence. For example, this view considers the (admittedly tremendous) efficiency improvements of hardware and software but tends to omit the role that digital innovations have on device purchases. When complementing an understanding of (direct) control with a view on the longer-term effects of influences, suddenly new types of strategies to reduce the sector's footprint come into view; for example, sustainable design of product systems in support of changing patterns of media consumption.

We thus include in our study not only the engineered systems but also the socio-technical system that surrounds it. You will work closely within our multidisciplinary team with a strong record of research and real-world impact.

You will support the project with a combination of critical thinking in systems, and your relevant disciplinary background, for example from HCI, industrial ecology, digital economy or an engineering discipline. You will augment existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches to more deeply consider how changes in the engineering space, the surrounding socio-technical system, and regulation shape the future impact along the whole life cycle  of digital devices and services.

This is an open-ended appointment with fixed funding for initially 2 years, with the possibility to extend. 

You will be part of a highly inclusive and supportive team. We provide training to support your needs, and time is allocated for professional development. 

What will you be doing?

You will conduct original research of high-bandwidth digital services, including video streaming, gaming & virtual reality. You will model system or lead or participate in interviews or design workshops between engineers, designers & business managers from organisations across the supply chain.

You will lead or co-author high-impact publications and collaborate with other researchers in the team.

You should apply if

You have a PhD or working towards an equivalent expertise in a relevant, related field and a track record of leading high-impact academic publications. Demonstrable experience in qualitative or quantitative data analysis and excellent communication skills are an essential for this role. 

Additional information

For informal queries please contact:

Daniel Schien - daniel.schien@bristol.ac.uk

To find out more about what it's like to work in the Faculty of Engineering, and how the Faculty supports people to achieve their potential, please see our staff blog:

https://engineeringincludesme.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/

Contract type: Open ended with fixed funding until 11/2/2027

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on 17th February 2025.

Interviews are expected to take place on 6th March 2025.

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