Research Fellow (Sustainable Manufacturing) - School of Metallurgy and Materials - Grade 7 - 107118 in Birmingham

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2027

Closing date: 1st April 2026

Background: People are at the heart of what we are and do. We want to attract outstanding, inspirational, and talented people, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. Working at the University of Birmingham gives you access to the best financial and physical resources, a beautiful campus and an intellectually stimulating and diverse community.

The IGNITE Manufacturing Hub is a major collaboration between Swansea University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Warwick, the University of Sheffield and the University of Leicester working alongside industry partners to accelerate the UK's transition to green steel and a fully sustainable manufacturing future. The programme brings together leading expertise to address the technical, economic and societal challenges of transforming steelmaking into a circular, low carbon and high value sector.

IGNITE focuses on three Grand Challenges: developing next generation green-steel products for future manufacturing, enabling a resilient and circular steel supply chain, and advancing Steel as a Service to extend material lifetime and improve long term reuse and recycling. These ambitions are supported by four crosscutting research themes covering sustainable metallurgical design, durability and performance monitoring, servitization enablers, and optimised steel use and reuse.

Role Summary: The role involves leading original, high impact research that advances national and emerging international reputation, while directing a cross-sector assessment of green steel requirements for the EPSRC IGNITE Sustainable Manufacturing Hub. The post holder will design and coordinate research programmes, oversee a 12-month programme of industry engagement, sustainability metrics development, lifecycle assessment and circularity strategy formulation, and publish high quality outputs. They will supervise PhD students, contribute to research strategy, and engage actively in knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement and publication activities across the School, College and University.

Main Duties: The responsibilities may include some, but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Adapt, extend and maintain modelling, data management and cloud-based exchange systems to enable effective collaboration and delivery across the IGNITE Hub
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Collect, analyse, interpret research data through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, research interviews
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars, presenting talks etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/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, often under supervision of a project leader
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research
• Address and resolve challenges that may impact the achievement of research objectives and deadlines
• Promote equality and value diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Person Specification: Hold a Bachelor degree in Science or Engineering discipline relevant to the project or equivalent qualifications. Hold, or be close to completing (post-viva) of a PhD in an area relevant to Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Computational Engineering, or a related field. Experience within sustainable metallurgy, industrial decarbonisation, life‐cycle assessment (LCA), and related sustainability‐focused fields. The role requires strong industrial liaison skills, expertise in sustainability measurement, and the ability to shape high-impact research with national and international relevance. Experience and achievement reflected in a growing reputation. Knowledge of steelmaking or high-temperature industrial processes. Experience in electromagnetics, plasma modelling, or kinetic modelling. Familiarity with optimisation methods or reduced-order modelling. Demonstrably high level of: analytical capability; ability to communicate complex information clearly; work in an interdisciplinary team; ability to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort. Understanding of, and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes. Contribute to the planning and organising of the research programme and/or specific research project. Knowledge 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.

Informal enquiries to Hongbiao Dong, email: h.dong.1@bham.ac.uk

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a "typical" member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.