Research Fellow/ Senior Research Fellow in Urban Climate and Environmental Modelling

Set within The Bartlett Faculty, The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER) is comprised of four world-class institutes, providing expert knowledge, collaborative research, and teaching across UCL Energy Institute, UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, and UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. The UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering pursues a deeper understanding of the interactions between the built environment and health, human wellbeing, productivity, energy use and climate change.

This is an exciting role which involves climate and environmental modelling, with a focus on urban areas and the role of urban adaptation measures on reducing overheating risks in cities and neighbourhoods and for at-risk communities. The successful applicant will contribute modelling outputs and carry out analysis as part of recently funded UKRI and Wellcome projects on the themes of climate change, urban adaptation, temperatures and health. The role of the successful candidate will be to carry out environmental and atmospheric modelling, ranging from regional/urban to neighbourhood scales. Regional scale climate modelling (~1km resolution) will be carried out using, e.g. the WRF (Weather Research Forecasting) model with Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classifications. Neighbourhood scale modelling (~10s to 100s of metres) will use models such as ENVImet. Outputs from these models will be used to quantify heat exposure of the population, and to investigate impacts of adaptation measures at building, street or at urban scales, on overheating risk. This post is available immediately and is funded until 31 January 2028 in the first instance; further funding to support the post may become available. UCL welcomes applications from international applicants and has licence to sponsor individuals who require a visa. This is dependent on the post and candidate meeting eligibility requirements for visa sponsorship under UK Visas and Immigration legislation.

The ideal candidate is a highly quantitative and analytical person with a PhD or equivalent experience in physics, climate, environmental, or atmospheric sciences or a related quantitative field, and a keen interest in multi-disciplinary research. They will have experience of running the WRF model (or considerable experience of atmospheric or climate modelling systems; and the ability to become proficient in WRF). They should be keen to contribute to producing high quality publications and presenting their research to scientific audiences and stakeholders. They will have the opportunity to work closely with collaborators from multiple disciplines as part of interdisciplinary research projects aimed at improving health of the population in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits, some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave, 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days' annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality.