Research Fellow in Sensing Wastewater in Bedford

We welcome applications from a Research Fellow with a strong passion for and experience in biosensing, microfluidics and microbiology. The successful candidate will join our Advanced Sensors team and contribute to the 5-year Leverhulme Research Leadership Award project, Sensing Wastewater for Real-time Public Health.

The postholder’s primary responsibility is to conduct cutting-edge research on a new class of biochemical sensor development for wastewater, especially on the single-cell and single molecule detection, utilising state-of-the-art facilities in the Advanced Sensors Laboratory at Cranfield University.

Cranfield University has a proud reputation for its research on the science, engineering and management of water, and we have been driving innovation for over 40 years. You will contribute to the delivery of Cranfield University’s research portfolio in the Advanced Sensors Laboratory for Water-Environment-Health. The group’s pioneering work on wastewater sensing, especially on origami-paper microfluidics sensors, has garnered significant national and international recognition, including features in Science and prominent media outlets such as BBC.

You will hold a doctoral degree (or close to completion) in biosensing, microfluidics, environmental science, microbiology, or a related discipline. You will have demonstrable experience with experimental skillsets, including sensor development, wastewater surveillance, or reverse inference modelling for source tracking. You will bring laboratory expertise in designing experiments, handling advanced instruments, and troubleshooting. Collaboration and mentoring within interdisciplinary teams are also desirable.

As a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield’s world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally.

Our shared, stated values help to define who we are and underpin everything we do: Ambition; Impact; Respect; and Community. We aim to create and maintain a culture in which everyone can work and study together and realise their full potential. We are a Disability Confident Employer and proud members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme. We are committed to actively exploring flexible working options for each role and have been ranked in the Top 30 family friendly employers in the UK.

Collaborating and connecting are integral to so much of what we do. Our Working Arrangements Framework provides many staff with the opportunity to flexibly combine on-site and remote working, where job roles allow, balancing the needs of our community of staff, students, clients and partners.