UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
RECRUITMENT ROLE PROFILE FORM
Job Title:
Research Associate/Fellow in Urban Modelling and Optimisation – Funded
by the Leverhulme Trust
School/Department:
School of Computer Science
Salary:
£25,013 - £30,728 per annum; depending on skills and experience (£28,132 minimum with relevant PhD)
Job Family and Level:
Research and Teaching Level 4 CTG / Level 4
Contract Status:
This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for four years
Hours of Work:
36.25 hours per week, full-time
Location:
University Park Campus, Nottingham.
Reporting to:
Dr Peer-Olaf Siebers / Prof. Darren Robinson
The Purpose of the Role:
We are seeking to appoint a Research Associate/Fellow to take on a leading role in the Modelling and
Optimisation Theme of the Leverhulme Programme "Sustaining Urban Habitats: An Interdisciplinary
Approach".
Main Responsibilities:
Main Responsibilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Project leadership: Defining research objectives in collaboration with the Theme
Leaders and Programme Director, setting up and managing resources in order to
achieve research outputs, organising and conducting meetings with research
students to clarify objectives, development of modelling and data collection and
analysis strategies, development of team work plans/timetables for research and
support staff, communication of progress to Project Director, implementation of
quality assurance measures.
Research activities: Development of a modelling framework that is sufficiently
comprehensive and usable to enable project stakeholders to understand how to
maximise the sustainability of real or hypothetical transition and growth cities with
a view to informing city development policy. The framework should support the
development and integration of holistic models that combine environmental (city
energy and matter flows) and economic (cost/benefit) modelling with social and
cultural ethnographic work. This will be achieved through: a literature review
(modelling urban resource flows + modelling techniques); development and
testing of prototype models (combining conceptual modelling, agent based
modelling and physical modelling of key resource conversion processes);
calibration of models; scenario testing and uncertainty analysis to inform policy
and governance.
Line management: Contributions towards the supervision of PhD students,
liaison with support staff and associate staff, identification of areas for staff
development/training, dealing with pastoral issues.
Writing of research reports and papers in order to develop a track record of
published research findings in leading peer-reviewed journals. Preparing research
presentations and papers in order to disseminate results, attending and presenting
at internal/external seminars and national/international conferences.
Further research: Collaboration with senior colleagues to prepare grant
applications/proposals to external bodies to fund new research.
Any other duties appropriate to the grade and role
% time
per year
10%
60%
5%
20%
5%
-
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience:
Essential
Desirable
Qualifications
/ Education

PhD or equivalent (or about to
obtain) with a strong scientific
computing component.

Masters Degree, or equivalent, in
Mathematical, Physical or Computational
Science.
Skills/Training

Object-oriented programming
(C++).
Strong organizational skills and
project management.
Excellent communication and
presentation skills.
Demonstrated creativity and
leadership in problem solving.
Significant demonstrated ability
of team work.
Experience of publication of
high quality academic journal
papers and reports.

Thorough understanding of complexity
science and agent-based modelling
Experience in social simulation
Experience in urban/regional modelling
Database design and development


Experience










Leading the development of complex
object-oriented simulation software
Liaising with external partners.
Supervision of PhD students
Willingness to travel
Decision Making
i) Taken independently by the role holder;
 Day-to-day processes and procedures, including quality assurance measures, data storage and
archiving protocol.
 Individual short-term plans for research students and administrative / technical staff
ii) Taken in collaboration with others;
 Working methods (Dr Siebers / Prof Robinson)
 Structure of research reports and papers (Dr Siebers / Prof Robinson)
 Pastoral issues (Dr Siebers)
 Identification of areas for staff development and target source for training (Dr Siebers)
 Identification of areas for future research (group peers)
 Data collection and analysis strategy (group peers)
 Research direction and dissemination – form and content (Dr Siebers / Prof Robinson)
 Scheduling of long-term research plans (Dr Siebers / Prof Robinson)
 Development of proposals for extension of existing or for new projects (Dr Siebers / Prof Robinson)
iii) Referred to the appropriate line manager (Prof. Robinson) by the role holder;
 Disciplinary decisions
 Dissemination strategy
 Research direction
 Staff recruitment
Additional Information
We are looking for candidates with a background in physics, mathematics, computing or engineering
science with an interest in social and economic simulation and strong scientific computing skills. Your
first degree or equivalent will be first class or a high upper second and you will have recently completed
or be about to complete a PhD or equivalent with a strong scientific computing component to it.
Candidates with research experience in complexity science will be particularly welcome.
Applicants will be considered on an equal basis, subject to the relevant permission to work in the
UK as defined by the requirements set out by the UK Border and Immigration Agency. Please visit
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ for more information.