RA Microbial Ecology/Engineering Biology

Salary: £36,636.00 - £37,694.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 29 April 2026

The Role

Do you have skills to bring microbial ecology to bear on engineering biology in the environment?  We seek a full post-doctoral research associate (PDRA) with a background or training in microbial ecology, environmental engineering, or another related academic discipline.  Your job will be to get engineering biology out of the lab and into application using classical and non-classical approaches. Key to this approach will be applying models and theories to both the natural and synthetic engineering biology to find strategies that work at scale. This will require you to calibrate, validate and apply theories and models of the fate of pollutants in engineered biological systems.   Thus, you will need skills and awareness of microbial ecology and environmental engineering, some basic modelling and bioinformatics knowledge or evolutionary biology will also be an advantage.  We will also expect you to see your work in the wider social context.

This is part of a BBSRC Engineering Biology Mission hub funded centre:  “New Environmental Biotechnology Innovation Centre (EBIC)”. As a member of this team you will benefit from the many opportunities EBIC is affording to its ECRs.

Though this is an “in person” job, where we expect you to undertake the bulk of your work on the campus, to be present and interact with your colleagues we will always show flexibility to allow you to support your family or fulfil caring commitments.

The successful candidate must work well with our partners in Newcastle, across the EBIC hub and in industry and to present and publish their research internationally.

If you are considering relocating to join us, should you be successful in your application you can find out about our relocation package options here.

Please contact Prof Tom Curtis (tom.curtis@ncl.ac.uk) for further details

Please apply with a short covering and  your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Key Accountabilities

• To design rigorous experiements to evaluate models and theories relevant to the development of engineering biology for the environment that work at scale.
• To execute those studies in a rigorous and timely manner.
• Liaise with other members of the EBIC team in Newcastle and other partner universities
• Present research findings at project meetings, national and international conferences
• Support the project’s adminstrative and management duties such as organising meetings, workshop planning etc.
• Aid in the supervision of PhD and MEng research students
• Write peer reviewed publications and report
• Analyse and interpret data to obtain new insights
• Assist with the day-to-day running of the lab
• To prepare manuscripts for publication to a very high standard
• To present their research at national and international conferences
• To effectively and courteously interact with team members and other colleagues.
• To contribute to an effective research culture

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

• Experience in applying microbial ecology to engineered microbial systems
• Basic modelling using command line tools.
• Ability to write peer reviewed journals
• Ability to drive research agenda independently
• A high level of technical competency
• A commitment to safe working

Desirable

• Evidence of originality, innovation, creativity and research track record including publications
• Evidence of working in industry
• Evidence of presenting research at national and international conferences.

Attributes and Behaviour

Essential

• Ability to work in a team
• A commitment to maintaining and enhancing our research culture
• A good level of personal organisation
•  The ability to take the initiative in pursuit of agreed objectives
• Willingness to work flexibly (when appropriate) by mutual agreement
• Willingness to supervise Undergraduate, Masters and PhD students
• Willingness to travel and visit project partners

Desirable

• Willingness to work under pressure to achieve agreed deadlines
• Experience in public engagement and disseminating research via professionally and social media

Qualifications

• PhD in microbial ecology and environmental engineering or closely related subject)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 29259