ADAM Research Fellow - Computational Systems Chemistry

Help build the computational brain for autonomous, robots-driven materials discovery.

The post is full time fixed time and funded for 4 years due to funding restrictions

You will join an interdisciplinary team led by Professor Graeme Day in the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton on an ambitious project to develop an autonomous approach to materials discovery. The project, ADAM - Autonomous Discovery of Advanced Materials - is funded by a prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council. The project brings together state-of-the-art predictive computational chemistry methods, robotics, machine learning and materials characterisation through a collaboration between research groups at the universities of Southampton, Liverpool and Rostock.

Your role will focus on the development and application of machine learning approaches to accelerate the computational exploration of molecular materials. This will include machine learning models for fast energetic evaluation of crystal structures and approaches for generating new, promising molecules. These methods will be developed to advance the project vision of computationally led materials discovery with initial applications in the areas of porous materials and photocatalysts.

It is essential you have experience in the use of computer simulations applied to materials or chemical systems and experience with machine learing methods. Programming experience is also essential and experience of Python would be highly desirable. You will demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills and and the ability to work as part of an interdisciplinary team.

You will have a PhD* (or within 6 months of achieving) or equivalent professional qualifications and experience in Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics or a related area.

Southampton is one of the best places in the UK for chemistry teaching and research. Chemistry at Southampton has a national and international reputation for excellence. The university provides an excellent environment for computational research and provides access for all researchers to one of the largest high-performance computational facilities in the UK.

Equality, diversity and Inclusion is central to the ethos in Chemistry. We particularly encourage women, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), LGBT and disabled applicants to apply for this position. In recognition of our continued commitment to improving equality for women in science we were awarded an Athena SWAN Silver award in 2014 a and a second Silver award in 2017. Chemistry gives full consideration to applicants that wish to work flexibly including part-time and due consideration will be given to applicants who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy* and onsite childcare facilities. For further information please visit https://www.southampton.ac.uk/chemistry/about/Equality/index.page

The University of Southampton is in the top 1% of world universities and in the top 10 of the UK's research-intensive universities. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and being a globally responsible university and has recently been awarded the Platinum EcoAward. Our vision is to embed the principles of sustainability into all aspects of our individual and collective work, integrating sustainable development into our business planning, policy-making, and professional activities. This commits all of our staff and students to take responsibility for managing their activities to minimise harm to the environment, whether this through switching off non-essential electrical equipment or using the recycling facilities.

* Applications for Research Fellow positions will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD qualification. The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon successful completion of the PhD. Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.

**subject to qualifying criteria

We aim to be an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.