Salary range: £36,024 - £44,263 per annum
FTE: 1 (35 hours per week)
Term: Fixed (36 months)
Closing date: Friday, 30 August 2024
The NAOME Department has recently secured a major programme grant awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to establish a world leading research partnership on tidal stream energy in collaboration with the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and Sheffield. “Co-design to deliver Scalable Tidal Stream Energy” (CoTide) is an ambitious 5-year programme to develop and demonstrate holistic integrated tools and design processes for tidal stream energy that will help to reduce costs and support innovation to accelerate technology development and deployment for the tidal stream industry.
The NAOME Department seeks to appoint a Research Associate with strong track record in materials, manufacturing and structural integrity to join the CoTide research team at the University of Strathclyde. The successful candidate will be working in a collaborative multi-disciplinary environment to identify engineering challenges associated with Material Degradation, Structural Integrity, Materials & Manufacturing Technologies, and establish engineering solutions to provide reliable, sustainable, scalable and affordable tidal energy. The research associate will particularly focus on understanding of environmental damage effects on material degradation and structural response in corrosion and abrasion environments, development of a tidal stream specific experimental database of material structural integrity properties, and establishment of numerical and experimental models of functionally graded and hybrid additively manufactured materials for fabrication and repair of tidal turbine support structures.
As a Research Associate, under the general guidance of a research leader, you will play a key role in delivery of the research objectives in the CoTide programme, conduct individual and collaborative research related to offshore renewable energy structures, contribute to the development of new research methods, and contribute to the securing of funds for future research. You will write up research work for publication, individually or in collaboration with colleagues, and disseminate the results via peer-reviewed journal publications and presentation at international conferences. You will join external networks to share information and ideas, inform the development of research objectives and to identify potential sources of funding. You will collaborate with colleagues to ensure that research advances inform departmental teaching effort and work on the development of knowledge exchange activities by, for example, participating in initiatives which establish research links with industry and influence public policy and the professions. You will supervise student projects, provide advice to students and contribute to teaching as required. You will contribute in a developing capacity to Department/School, Faculty and/or University administrative and management functions and committees and engage in continuous professional development.
To be considered for the role, you will be educated to a minimum of PhD level in a relevant discipline such as Mechanical/Civil/Materials/Aerospace/Structural Engineering or Naval Architecture, or have significant experience in addition to a relevant degree. You will have sufficient breadth or depth of knowledge in structural integrity, materials science and engineering, advanced manufacturing technologies, offshore renewable energy structures, and a developing ability to conduct individual research work to disseminate results and to prepare research proposals. You will have an ability to plan and organise your own workload effectively and work within a collaborative team environment. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to listen, engage and persuade, and to present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences.
Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Prof. Ali Mehmanparast, Professor of Structural Integrity, at ali.mehmanparast@strath.ac.uk.