Senior Research Assistant

Overview

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About the Role

Joining a dynamic, multidisciplinary research team, you will play a central role in developing design-led prototypes that translate advances in engineering biology into tangible, application-ready outcomes. This one-year position forms part of the BBSRC Engineering Biology Mission Award (EBMA) project \”Sustainable Style for Clean Growth: Innovating Textile Production through Engineering Biology\”, including its Extend and Expand phase, delivered by Northumbria University in close collaboration with Imperial College London and industry partners.

The primary focus of the role is the hands-on development of prototypes using bacterial cellulose (BC) based leather alternatives generated by the project. Working closely with scientists in the Living Construction group at Northumbria University, the Ellis Group at Imperial College London, and industrial partners including Modern Synthesis and Colorifix, you will transform laboratory-developed materials into demonstrators suitable for exhibitions, trade shows, and stakeholder engagement.

A second, equally important element of the role is to design, organise, and deliver a project-funded open design competition. This competition will invite a broad community of biodesigners and creative practitioners to engage with the project\’s materials and contribute prototype concepts. You will coordinate the call, support participating designers, and oversee the realisation of selected concepts, ensuring alignment with the project\’s material capabilities and research goals.

Through prototype development, co-creation activities, and public-facing outputs, you will help ensure that the project\’s scientific advances are communicated effectively and translated into compelling use-cases across fashion, interiors, furniture, and related sectors.

About the Project

This project uses engineering biology to advance bacterial cellulose (BC) as a sustainable alternative to bovine leather, with the aim of compressing production into minimal processing steps while dramatically reducing environmental impact. Since the project began, teams at Northumbria University and Imperial College London have been engineering and co-culturing microbes to enable in situ dyeing, biobased material enhancement, and production of BC from industrial waste streams, working closely with industry partners including Modern Synthesis, Colorifix, and Brewlabs.

The Extend phase of the project builds on established successes in the first year of the project, focusing on optimisation and scale-relevant challenges identified through close collaboration with industry. This includes refining BC growth from abundant UK waste streams (such as apple and brewery waste), developing controllable and patterned microbial dyeing strategies, enhancing mechanical performance through biopolymer integration and lamination, and advancing circular end-of-life approaches.

The Expand phase introduces new cross-cutting activities to accelerate translation and impact. These include the development of enzyme platforms to support substrate conversion, dyeing, crosslinking, and degradation and the integration of dedicated biodesign expertise to translate laboratory advances into real-world demonstrators.

Through close collaboration between scientists across Northumbria University and the Ellis Group at Imperial College London, designers, and industrial stakeholders including Modern Synthesis and Colorifix, the project aims to deliver prototype ready, patterned, and durable BC-based leather alternatives, supported by public exhibitions, stakeholder engagement, and prototype-led exploration of future applications.

About the Team

This research project will be delivered within the Living Construction research group in Northumbria University and also will work very closely with the synthetic biology research group led by Prof Tom Ellis and Future Materials Group led by Prof Koon-yang Lee in Imperial College London. The Living Construction group brings together expertise in engineering biology, microbiology, materials science, and sustainable construction and fashion, with a strong focus on the development of engineered living materials (ELMs) and biologically fabricated alternatives to conventional materials.

The Biodesign Research Assistant will work closely with the design research team led by Prof Martyn Dade-Robertson, who specialises in biodesign, speculative and participatory design, and the translation of emerging biotechnologies into meaningful material, cultural, and industrial contexts. This collaboration ensures that prototype development is informed not only by material performance, but also by design thinking, user experience, and societal relevance.

The RAs will be based in the HBBE labs in the School of Geography and Natural Sciences at Northumbria University (https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departments/applied-scie…).

About You

Applicants should hold a degree in Biodesign, Design, Product Design, Biofabrication, Material Design, or a closely related discipline. A PhD (or equivalent professional or research experience) is desirable but not essential, particularly where candidates can demonstrate strong design-led research or practice experience.

You will have a strong portfolio of design work that demonstrates your ability to develop prototypes, material-led artefacts, or experimental design outcomes. This portfolio should evidence hands-on making, material exploration, and the translation of concepts into tangible prototypes, ideally within sustainability-, biology-, or materials-informed contexts.

You should be comfortable working within a multidisciplinary research environment, collaborating with scientists, engineers, and industry partners, and adapting your design practice to emerging material capabilities and constraints. Experience or interest in biodesign, biofabrication, sustainable materials, or circular design is highly desirable.

You will be proactive, organised, and creative, with the ability to manage multiple activities in parallel, including prototype development, workshops, and collaborative projects. Strong communication skills are essential, as the role involves working with external designers, presenting work at exhibitions and conferences, and contributing to publications and public-facing outputs.

Experience in organising or contributing to design competitions, exhibitions, workshops, or public engagement activities will be an advantage, as will an interest in using design as a tool to translate complex scientific research into accessible and compelling real-world applications.

Further information about the requirements of the role is available in the person specification.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Prof Meng Zhang.

To apply for this vacancy please click \’Apply Now\’. Your application should include a covering letter, a CV and a design portfolio.

How to Apply

About Us

Join Northumbria University, a research-intensive institution unlocking potential and changing lives locally and globally. Named Times Higher Education\’s University of the Year in 2022 and Modern University of the Year in 2025, we rank top 25 in the UK for research power. Discover more about us.

With over 37,000 students from 140+ countries, we offer world-leading research, award-winning partnerships, and an outstanding student experience. We empower our exceptional staff, promoting a positive work-life balance and offering great benefits, including excellent pension schemes, flexible working, generous holiday entitlement and more.

Our Northumbria Values, co-created by our team, define who we are: Academic Excellence, Innovation, Inclusivity, Collaboration, and Ambition. Our Behaviours shape our work culture: We listen and learn, support one another, respect everyone, trust each other, and are bold.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne and London, we are an on-campus organisation and offer flexible hours and location where the role allows. We pride ourselves on diversity and inclusivity, holding numerous awards for gender and race equality, disability confidence, and research excellence. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers. The University has implemented a range of flexible working arrangements, and we are happy to explore candidate requirements as part of the recruitment process.

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About Us (repeat)

Join Northumbria University, a research-intensive institution unlocking potential and changing lives locally and globally. Named Times Higher Education\’s University of the Year in 2022 and Modern University of the Year in 2025, we rank top 25 in the UK for research power. Discover more about us.

With over 37,000 students from over 140 countries, we offer world-leading research, award-winning partnerships, and an outstanding student experience. We empower our exceptional staff, promoting a positive work-life balance and offering great benefits, including excellent pension schemes, flexible working, generous holiday entitlement and more.

Our Northumbria Values, co-created by our team, define who we are: Academic Excellence, Innovation, Inclusivity, Collaboration, and Ambition. Our Behaviours shape our work culture: We listen and learn, support one another, respect everyone, trust each other, and are bold.