Strategic Alliance Postdoctoral Research Fellows (8 posts)
£37,012 - £44,166 pa
Fixed Term Contract for 3 years
Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Warwick are entering an innovative strategic
alliance that includes the collaborative appointment of eight Postdoctoral Research Fellows in four
interdisciplinary fields of activity:
Advances in Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications
Ethnicity and Mental Health in Post-War Britain
Functional Molecular Materials for Energy and Sensor Applications
Renaissance Cultural Networks and Information Technologies, 1300-1800
Four posts will be based at Queen Mary, University of London and four will be based at the University of
Warwick (one Fellow at each university in each of the four themes noted above). The posts will form a
key component of an innovative cross-institutional strategic alliance. The alliance has been designed to
provide a cohesive and flexible framework that will allow two distinctive universities to thrive in a new
research environment.
We are seeking outstanding researchers with promising academic careers who will each develop a
distinctive programme of individual research, within one of the four collaborative research groups that
operate across the two universities. You will be provided with a generous budget with which to develop
collaborative activities (such as workshops and seminars) to help build the four interdisciplinary themes
that form the strategic alliance’s initial areas of research focus.
Although you will be appointed and based at either Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) or at the
University of Warwick, you will also play a key role in building collaborative links between these two
institutions as part of their wider strategic alliance. Your proposed research project should reflect
your research expertise and trajectory as an individual scholar while closely complementing one of the
four interdisciplinary research themes indicated above and described in detail in the further particulars.
You will have been awarded your PhD, or equivalent, in any relevant discipline or alternatively you will
have passed your viva and submitted the final copy of your thesis to be eligible to apply. We would
expect you to be able to demonstrate outstanding published research output and future potential.
The posts will be available from October 2012.
Closing date: 11 May 2012
16 March 2012
JOB DESCRIPTION
POST TITLE:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Functional Molecular Materials
– Experimental Programmes
UNIVERSITY:
Queen Mary University of London
POST RESPONSIBLE TO:
Head of School
SALARY:
£37,012 - £44,166 pa
REFERENCE NUMBER:
QMWU004-032
CLOSING DATE:
11 May 2012
JOB PURPOSE:
To provide career development opportunities for those with promising academic profiles with a proven
record of research; to collaborate with a range of scholars in an interdisciplinary research group as part
of a wider strategic research alliance.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

To advance the development of a new research project in Functional Molecular Materials
(proposed at application stage) and produce articles for publication, conference papers, and
grant proposals.

To actively participate in the academic life of the ‘home’ and collaborating university, and the
sponsoring department or school.

To engage with the activities of a broad range of research centres and departments/schools at
both institutions

To co-organise collaborative research events under a thematic rubric during each academic
year to enhance both the appointee’s individual scholarly profile and the wider, collaborative
research group between the two universities.
The interdisciplinary research group and home academic department/school may wish to offer a limited
amount of teaching.
16 March 2012
PERSON SPECIFICATION
POST TITLE:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Functional Molecular Materials – Experimental
Programmes
UNIVERSITY: Queen Mary University of London
The Person Specification focuses on the knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications required to undertake the role
effectively.
REQUIREMENTS
ESSENTIAL (E)
The post holder must be able to demonstrate: or DESIRABLE
(D)
REQUIREMENTS
MEASURED BY:
a) Application Form
b) Test/Exercise
c) Interview
d) Presentation
PhD, or equivalent, in appropriate Science,
completed (as marked by date of
graduation)
E
a
Developing track record in producing high
quality academic publications
E
a, c
Research expertise in the advertised
thematic topic, appropriate to the
research objective
Experience and ability to develop
experimental programmes from
synthesis to processing
Developing track record of conference
presentations both nationally and
internationally
E
a, c
E
a, c
E
a, c
E
a, c
Ability or potential to generate external
funding (grants, contracts etc) to support
research projects
Engagement in research that
strongly complements
designated interdisciplinary
research theme
Ability to work independently and as part of a
team on relevant research programmes
D
a, c
E
a, c, d
E
c
Advanced communication (oral and written)
skills, presentation and training skills
E
c, d
E
c, d
Commitment to interdisciplinary research
Strong interpersonal skills
NB Your research submission should be suitable for the purpose of the UK Research Excellence
Framework and this will form part of the shortlisting process
16 March 2012
JOB DESCRIPTION
POST TITLE:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Functional Molecular Materials
– Computational Modelling
UNIVERSITY:
University of Warwick
POST RESPONSIBLE TO:
Head of Department
SALARY:
£37,012 - £44,166 pa
REFERENCE NUMBER:
QMWU005-032
CLOSING DATE:
11 May 2012
JOB PURPOSE:
To provide career development opportunities for those who have promising academic profiles with a
proven record of research; to collaborate with a range of scholars in an interdisciplinary research group
as part of a wider strategic research alliance.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

To advance the development of a new research project in Functional Molecular Materials
(proposed at application stage) and produce articles for publication, conference papers, and
grant proposals.

To actively participate in the academic life of the ‘home’ and collaborating university, and the
sponsoring department or school.

To engage with the activities of a broad range of research centres and departments/schools at
both institutions

To co-organise collaborative research events under a thematic rubric during each academic
year to enhance both the appointee’s individual scholarly profile and the wider, collaborative
research group between the two universities.
The interdisciplinary research group and home academic department/school may wish to offer a limited
amount of teaching.
16 March 2012
PERSON SPECIFICATION
POST TITLE:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Functional Molecular Materials – Computational
Modelling
UNIVERSITY: University of Warwick
The Person Specification focuses on the knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications required to undertake the role
effectively.
REQUIREMENTS
ESSENTIAL (E)
The post holder must be able to demonstrate: or DESIRABLE
(D)
REQUIREMENTS
MEASURED BY:
a) Application Form
b) Test/Exercise
c) Interview
d) Presentation
PhD, or equivalent, in appropriate Science,
completed (as marked by date of
graduation)
E
a
Developing track record in producing high
quality academic publications
E
a, c
Research expertise in the advertised
thematic topic, appropriate to the
research
objective
Experience
of ab initio computational
modeling
Ability to develop a simulation based
programme which complements the
experimental programme
Developing track record of conference
presentations both nationally and
internationally
E
a, c
E
a, c
E
a, c
E
a, c
E
a, c
Ability or potential to generate external
funding (grants, contracts etc) to support
research projects
Engagement in research that
strongly complements
designated interdisciplinary
research theme
Ability to work independently and as part of a
team on relevant research programmes
D
a, c
E
a, c, d
E
c
Advanced communication (oral and written)
skills, presentation and training skills
E
c, d
E
c, d
Commitment to interdisciplinary research
Strong interpersonal skills
NB Your research submission should be suitable for the purpose of the UK Research Excellence
Framework and this will form part of the shortlisting process
16 March 2012
Thematic Topic and Research Objectives - Functional Molecular Materials for Energy and Sensor
Applications
New materials are urgently required for next generation coolers, energy saving devices and smart
sensors. Such functional materials must respond strongly and reproducibly to applied fields. Cheap,
small, energy efficient and environmentally friendly devices are possible if functional molecular materials
are used. The potential applications for some of the proposed materials include electrocalorics
(refrigeration/air conditioning), thermoelectrics (e.g. scavenging energy from waste heat) and
sensors (biomedical and electronic). QMUL and Warwick are establishing a group in this emerging area
to forge a chain of knowledge from nanoscale quantum modelling, characterisation, synthesis and
processing, to device production. QMUL and Warwick have strong complementary expertise along this
chain. Two postdoctoral fellows are sought to close gaps and add synergy to enable us to make a
leading impact in this exciting area.
The QMUL-Warwick Functional Molecular Materials Group will focus in three areas where we have
existing expertise and where there is high originality for fundamental research and some potential for
commercial exploitation - ferroelectrics, thermoelectrics and multiferroics. The research on functional
molecular materials will benefit from the excellent resource and expertise in characterisation that
already exists at both universities. One example is our ability to look at structures of materials on a
local scale. At QMUL we have expertise in the use of total scattering, muon spectroscopy and XAFS
techniques based on central radiation facilities (ISIS and Diamond for example), and at Warwick we
have solid state NMR capabilities in the Centre for Magnetic Resonance, and x-ray diffraction. QMUL
and Warwick both have expertise in analytical theory, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo
techniques that can be applied to functional molecular materials. For example there is work directed at
the theory of polymer dynamics and hence microstructure, Monte-Carlo sampling of polymer structural
configurations and molecular simulation of complex interfaces. To be predictive these calculations need
parameters that must be determined from ab initio quantum modelling. The groups in QMUL and
Warwick have complementary capabilities in this regard, giving them the ability to exploit the range of
methodologies required for the study of functional molecular systems because of their novelty and the
complexity of their structures.
There has been much research into and exploitation of functional materials such as ferroelectrics,
dielectrics and varistors. These materials are used as bulk and thin films in devices. The driving force
for the work on thin films has been miniaturisation of electronics and the development of integrated
devices known as MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). This research and development has
predominantly focused on oxide compounds. There is now a considerable interest to develop and
understand the corresponding functional molecular materials. The motivation for this is their novelty,
and the potential to build flexible, inexpensive and environmentally friendly devices. The current major
challenges are to understand these materials and to develop materials with sufficiently useful
properties.
This project will build on a number of initiatives. QMUL and Warwick have an industry-funded joint
project on ferroelectric polymers for electrocaloric applications. They are also partners with
Birmingham and Nottingham Universities in MidPlus, an EPSRC-funded Centre of Excellence for
Computational Science, Engineering and Mathematics which is seeing a large upgrade of the
Universities' high performance computing facilities. Both Universities have significant expertise in
computational materials modelling – including ab initio quantum mechanical modelling of functional
materials – and will find considerable synergy from enhancing their interaction in this area. For
example, EPSRC-funded work is currently developing modelling approaches to transform the routes to
discovery, design and optimisation of advanced magnetic materials suited for solid state magnetic
refrigeration, magnetic shape memory and nanostructured spintronics devices. QMUL has expertise in
the synthesis and processing of functional materials, and excellent industry links in this area. There is a
new Materials Research Institute at QMUL, and recent major investments in materials research and
analytical science at Warwick. You will be expected to be independent researchers who can take
advantage and build on this high-quality research environment.
16 March 2012
The appointment of two fellows will help to expand our current research towards molecular functional
materials for energy and sensor applications and to close gaps in our chain of knowledge.
The fellowship to be held in Warwick will be concerned with the ab initio computational modelling. A
large part of the work will be based on the enormously successful Density Functional Theory (DFT),
which accurately describes ground state (T = 0 K) properties. Work at Warwick has extended this approach
to finite temperatures in a flexible way, and has been shown to describe the properties of magnetic
materials well. These techniques are now being transferred over to describe relaxor ferroelectric
materials. At QMUL an ab initio approach has been developed to generate force fields for organic
systems, which can feed into large-scale molecular dynamics calculations. It is expected that you will
strengthen the interaction between the modelling groups in Warwick and QMUL, and will also develop
closer links with the experimental programme. You will have access to the MidPlus HPC facility and
membership of consortia to provide access to national HPC facilities.
The fellowship to be held in QMUL will develop the experimental programme of the work. This covers
the full chain, from synthesis and processing, through to detailed characterisation and understanding of
the relationship between structure and properties, and working towards developing devices. You will
make use of extensive experimental facilities within a number of departments in QMUL and Warwick,
including NMR, diffraction and electrical/magnetic measurements, together with developing experiments
to be performed at central radiation facilities. It is expected that the experimental work will link closely
with the simulation groups. You will have access to a wide suite of in-house experimental facilities for
sample preparation, characterisation and detailed measurements (including NMR, diffraction, cleanroom, electrical and magnetic measurements), and will be encouraged to submit proposals to centralsite facilities such as ISIS and Diamond.
We are expecting the QMUL fellow to develop a strong experimental programme of research, and
the Warwick fellow to develop a complementary simulation-based programme. Both are expected to
work within the area of molecular functional materials with a focus on ferroelectric, multiferroic and
thermolectric materials.
Informal enquiries: Professor Martin Dove: e-mail martin.dove@qmul.ac.uk or Professor Julie Staunton:
e-mail J.B.Staunton@warwick.ac.uk
16 March 2012
FURTHER PARTICULARS
Queen Mary University of London
For further information about Queen Mary University of London, please visit our website at
http://www.qmul.ac.uk/
University of Warwick
For further information about the University of Warwick, please visit our website at
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/humanresources/jobsintro/furtherparticulars
The Strategic Alliance
The Strategic Alliance Postdoctoral Research Fellowships aim to provide career development
opportunities for scholars who already show potential to develop a record of excellent research
activity and publications. During the tenure of each three-year post, you will be expected to produce
research publications or other forms of scholarly outputs, attend and present your work at
conferences, develop internal and external research networks and be involved in the research
culture of the designated interdisciplinary research group and home department/school as well as
enhancing the development of the cross-institutional research theme.
Each Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be provided with:




Office space
Access to library facilities
An award of £5,000 per year to host collaborative workshops, conferences or other events as
part of their designated research theme’s development
A fund to pay for research expenses
You will be based at the relevant University during your period of tenure and are expected
to be resident in London (QMUL Fellows) or Coventry or Warwickshire (Warwick Fellows)
during term-time, unless undertaking fieldwork or other work away from campus. Requests
for leave of absence from QMUL or Warwick for research purposes for more than 4 weeks
during the appointment should be submitted with detailed information as part of the research
proposal.
16 March 2012
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
1. All applicants are required to complete an application form. When you click on “apply
now” you will be directed to another web page where you will be required to register, if
you have not used this service before. If you have previously registered you can
apply using your existing log-in details.
Functional Molecular Materials – Experimental Programmes - QMUW004-032 –
APPLY NOW
Functional Molecular Materials – Computational Modelling - QMUW005-032 –
APPLY NOW
2. Your application must be submitted by the closing date (11 May 2012) and should
include the following:
(a) Using the “Upload CV” section; a CV of no more than 4 pages in length (11
point font) including specific details of publications (in the public domain and
accepted for publication) and details of any externally funded postdoctoral
research grants on which you have been Principal Investigator.
(b) Using the “Supporting Document” section and combined as one document: (It is
important that items (i) and (ii) are submitted as one document as the system will
only permit you to upload one document.)
(i)
a research proposal of no more than 4 pages in length (11 point font),
providing details of the topic, work that has already been undertaken
and an explanation of how the individual research project will contribute
to the research theme.
(ii)
a summary of up to 1 page in length (11 point font) outlining the
collaborative activities to be completed during the tenure of the PDRFs,
to include:
o proposed research publications
o proposed conference attendance
o details of research workshops or other activities and events that
you might co-organise to support the research themes
(iii)
You are also requested to include a supporting statement using the
“Supporting Statement” section. Please note that if you use this section
you have a maximum limit of 500 words that you can submit. If you wish
to exceed this word limit, your statement should in included as part of your
supporting document.
NB: Both of the uploaded documents should contain
 Your name
 Post number applied for
 Thematic strand
16 March 2012
Recruitment of Ex-Offenders Policy
As an organisation using the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure service to assess
applicants’ suitability for positions of trust, the University of Warwick complies with the CRB
Code of Practice and undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a
Disclosure on the basis of a conviction or other information revealed. More information is
available on the University’s Vacancy pages and applicants may request a copy of the CRB
Code of Practice.
16 March 2012