Professor/Reader Manufacturing Automation with responsibilities across Research, Teaching, Knowledge Exchange, Global Engagement and Citizenship.
Salary: Salary commensurate with experience and standing
FTE: 1.0
Term: Open-ended
Closing Date: 12 September 2024
We are the University of Strathclyde. Our vision is innovative and ground breaking, placing us amongst the world’s leading international technological universities. We are dynamic and passionate about solving the challenges facing society and industry through our cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary research, education and knowledge-exchange with global partners. The University is situated in the heart of Glasgow, with an international community including 22,000 students and more than 3,000 staff from 100 countries. Strathclyde is ‘the place of useful learning’ and is recognised internationally for its close working relationships with businesses and its partnerships with industry, government and industry. The University is focused on recruiting the best academic talent to enhance both research intensity and leadership in areas of strategic importance.
The Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management (DMEM) is an internationally leading department, Delivering Total Engineering for responsible and sustainable futures. We seek to appoint a Professor/Reader in Manufacturing Automation. This post is envisaged to start as soon as possible and is part of a wider talent and thought leader recruitment strategy. DMEM brings together expertise in creative- and engineering design, manufacturing and engineering operations management. Our research centres and groups focus on through-life product- and system development, with core research themes spanning across the scientific disciplines being creativity and innovation, materials exploration, sustainability and technology. We are proud of our substantial and well-established collaborations with academic and industrial partners throughout the world. With more than 150 staff including the technical specialist centres, more than 100 Postgraduate Research (PGR) students both PhD and EngD/Industrial Doctorates, and more than 650 students from over 30 nations, we are a vibrant, international community. Come join, collaborate, innovate, and lead.
Are you passionate about working on global challenge and societal transitions, including manufacturing, space, or agri-food systems, industrial and healthcare logistics, or smart construction as it relates to manufacturing? And are you thriving on theory-driven and empirically-validated research excellence, learning and teaching with and for engineering leaders of the future? We’d love to hear from you with and your research interests, particularly in Net Zero and regeneration of sustainable design and manufacturing/production systems and the industrial ecology more widely. Come join us with your passion for tackling societal challenges and your disciplinary expertise esp. in sustainable futures.
This may include but not limited to Robotics, Autonomous Systems, Manufacturing Automation, and their applications to Smart Manufacturing, e.g., AI/Data-driven Manufacturing Processes and Control, Advanced Metrology and Inspection, Systems/Tools for Quality Control, Robotic Handling and Production Systems, Autonomous Devices/Systems, Human-Machine Interfaces, Highly Resilient and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, as well as IoT and Cloud-based Production Systems, Digital Factory, or Digital Supply Chain Management.
Manufacturing automation with its interfaces to design and engineering management across the supply chain are central within DMEM with a focus on ensuring connectivity between the engineering and product design activity and the manufacturing processes that will ultimately be used to make the products and ultimately be used to re-make and re-manufacture the products, impacting supply-chain configurations, and thereby waste and emissions. Given the global challenge of climate change and the significant impact of products and their manufacturing processes on the environment there is an increasing focus on research, KE and education and skills training within the field. The opportunities are anticipated to increase over the coming years aligned
with the global transition to a net zero economy.
DMEM is currently well positioned in the manufacturing
automation and robotics area and has successfully built a mechatronics systems
lab and robotics and autonomous systems research group with applications in
smart collaborative applications esp. within industrial application areas
including space, health, and agri-food. The
proposed post would complement this activity and would focus on the development
of manufacturing automation strategies and methods, including smart, digital
manufacturing. Furthermore, the
postholder would work with manufacturing teams within the National
Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS Group) to provide sustainable design and
manufacturing expertise for collaborative research and industrial projects and
related High Value Manufacturing Catapult activity. There will also be
additional opportunities through Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID) and
the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) and the
regional deals all of which have a net zero focus.
Over recent years, Strathclyde in general and DMEM in
particular has positioned itself well to deliver across these areas with
collaborative teams across the University incorporating resources and expertise
from Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering
faculties. This capability is exemplified through cross-department and
cross-faculty initiatives such as the EPSRC Centre for Continuous Manufacturing
and Crystallisation (CMAC), the Scottish Institute for Remanufacturing (SIR),
and the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), with significant opportunities
the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), Glasgow City Innovation
District (GCID), the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland
(AMIDS), and wider strategic engagements such as with the Ayrshire Regional
Deal and the Rosyth Innovation Park. The successful candidate is keen to build
on this platform for further new initiatives and research excellence. Major
opportunities also include links with Health & Care Futures / Medicines
Manufacturing Innovation Centre, large infrastructure investments Scotland and
the UK, public-public-private large partnerships for the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
For
the role you will have a good honours degree and PhD (or significant relevant
experience) in a design and manufacturing related discipline. You will have
research experience and interests consistent with the strategic direction of
the Department, Faculty and University and you will have experience of research
leadership, including support of senior researchers in a University or
industrial environment and management of research teams/projects/programmes.
You will support early and mid-career academic staff within the research group,
helping to ensure they reach their full potential. You will have extensive
experience of delivering high quality teaching to undergraduate and
postgraduate students including experience of developing and managing large
teaching programmes and you will have experience of PhD/EngD research project
supervision in Higher Education. You will have an outstanding/sustained track
record of published research in high quality publications demonstrating
standards of excellence, with an international reputation. You will have an
outstanding/substantial track record of securing research funding through
relevant successful collaborative research grant applications and you will have
an established national/international reputation as an expert and leader within
Manufacturing Automation. You will be an excellent educator and mentor and will
show leadership in identifying key research questions and attracting funding
support. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, strong
people skills and an ability to operate as part of a team.
Appointments will be made
at a level appropriate to the successful candidate’s experience and career
stage. In addition to the position described here, the Global Talent Programme
makes clear the University’s commitment to attracting world leading academics
to Scotland. The University is also committed to developing the next generation
of leaders, nurturing talented individuals through the early stages of their
career and providing the opportunities for professional rewards and ‘making a
difference’.
Informal
enquiries about the post can be directed to Professor Anja Maier, Head of Department, (anja.maier@strath.ac.uk). To find out more about the Department
visit our website: https://www.dmem.strath.ac.uk.
Interviews have been scheduled to take place on 04 October 2024.
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