FAAM Scientific Measurement Support

Are you a highly motivated individual with a background in the physical sciences, engineering or closely related field?

Would you like to design, prepare, maintain and operate airborne research instruments for worldwide deployment?

Are you interested in operating instrument packages in flight both in the UK and globally?

One of the responsibilities of NCAS is to provide the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the academic atmospheric science research communities with the national capability to observe the atmosphere; the NCAS airborne observational capability is provided by FAAM, which is managed through NCAS.

FAAM, based at Cranfield, operates the BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft. The scientific and logistic tasking and core instrument management is run by a FAAM team of 18, whilst a team of contractors from companies Airtask and Avalon run the aeroplane itself.

You will have a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in physical sciences or a suitable engineering discipline, and be willing to work in the laboratory, on the atmospheric research aircraft and in the field, from a base at Cranfield and internationally.

***This post will be employed by the University of Leeds, but will be entirely based on the campus at Cranfield University.***

As a FAAM Scientific Measurement Support, your main duties will include:

• Maintaining, calibrating, documenting and troubleshooting parts of FAAM's core instrument capability, including but not limited to remote sensing instrumentation such as broadband and thermal radiometers and camera systems;
• Liaising with external users of instruments and data, including working groups, to help ensure that FAAM continues to provide and enhance the facilities required by the science community, and deliver products and services to the required standards;
• Operating instruments onboard the BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft, both inflight and on the ground;
• Maintaining data acquisition systems, interpreting the data gathered from instruments and helping FAAM's user community to translate this into/inform research outputs;
• Maintaining a body of published information on selected instrumentation, particularly via the FAAM website and the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA);
• Supporting colleagues as required as part of the FAAM team and in particular FAAM's instrument science team;
• Participating in field projects alongside the aircraft, working in airport locations in conditions that range from desert to arctic. Typically deployments like these might be required for up to 12 weeks a year;
• Contributing to future opportunities for developing the instrumentation and measurement capabilities of the facility;
• Reporting to the FAAM Instrument Manager and working closely with FAAM's primary instrument scientists on a day-to-day basis, and liaising with research groups nationally, learning where necessary the practical and scientific skills to support the research of these groups.
• Contributing to general NCAS activities, such as participating in workshops, seminars, training, public engagement, knowledge transfer activities, etc., as agreed with the line manager;
• Providing input for NCAS/stakeholder reports, e.g., output performance measures, annual reporting, etc.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post

To explore the post further or for any queries, you may have, please contact:

Dr Jamie Trembath, FAAM Instrument Team Manager

Email: jamie.trembath@faam.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 7874 887790