Research Associate

**Position Details**

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £31,396 to £33,966 with potential progression once in post to £38,205

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to July 2025

Closing date: 2nd October 2024

Travel may be required for this role

**Background**

The post is a fixed term (till 18/7/25) research fellow position funded by the Industry sprint (industry partner: EMR) research grant “Critical Materials recovery protocols-graphite” that is provided by the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research and skills development. The Faraday Institution vision is to bring together scientists and industry partners on research projects to reduce battery cost, weight, and volume; to improve performance and reliability (faraday.ac.uk).

The post holder will join the Chemistry groups led by Prof. Peter Slater, Professor Paul Anderson, and Dr. Phoebe Allan,

and will work on the development of recycling strategies for Li ion battery graphite anodes received from our industry partner, EMR. This work will include detailed characterisation of these materials to understand the degradation characteristics of these materials at various stages of the recovery processes, and then develop strategies to repair the graphite to allow use in new cells. A truly interdisciplinary project within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, this post will work closely with other researchers in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy and Materials. Working on the ReLiB project, the postholder will contribute to writing central facilities access bids, operate within areas of specialism including characterisation and recycling of anode materials, analyse and interpret research findings and results.

The appointed person will collaborate with other researchers in the research groups of Prof. Anderson, Prof Slater and Dr Allan, elsewhere within the School and the University, and across the ReLiB consortium.

**Role Summary**
- Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids
- Operate within area of specialism
- Analyse and interpret research findings and results
- Contribute to writing central facilities access bids
- Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar

**Main Duties**

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.
- Develop research objectives and deliverables aligned with the graphite recycling project in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
- Collect research data via experiments carried out on the analysis and recycling of graphite materials
- Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students on the anode recycling
- Provide guidance, as required, to support any students who may be assisting with the research
- Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines
- Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof for project meetings, conferences and seminars
- Disseminate research findings for publication in learned journals and technical reports
- Undertake management/administration arising from research
- Contribute School research-related activities and research-related administration
- Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, under supervision of a project leader

**Person Specification**
- Hold a first degree in Chemistry or Materials.
- Proven research experience in Li (or Na) ion battery materials.
- Proven experience as an experimental scientist
- Proven experience in inorganic materials characterisation.
- Demonstrably high level analytical capability
- Proven ability to communicate research findings clearly via oral presentation or written journal articles
- Demonstrable ability to communicate complex information clearly
- Proven experience of planning and organising a research programme and/or specific research project
- Demonstrable ability to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
- Demonstrable ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
- Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
- Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectivelyKnowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly

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