MOL Professor of Maritime Energy Systems (ENGI_07)

The Department of Engineering at Durham University is currently undergoing a period of strategic growth and now seeks to appoint a talented individual to the role of MOL Professor in Maritime Energy Systems. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of maritime energy systems. We are particularly eager to hear from candidates with a strong record of interdisciplinary research in the emerging fields of sustainable marine fuels and their safe use, low-carbon- power and propulsion systems for shipping, decarbonised port operations and infrastructure, or improved maritime operations and vessel efficiency. The successful candidate will also be involved in research-led teaching in engineering.

Durham University has been successful in securing funding to lead the UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub (UK-MaRes Hub) and is seeking to appoint the MOL Professor in Maritime Energy Systems to work in partnership with MOL (Europe Africa) Ltd, on a co-created programme of research. The UK-MaRes Hub is funded by EPSRC and the Department for Transport, and is a consortium of 13 universities led by Durham, and includes researchers from Aston, Birmingham, Brighton, City, Cranfield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Solent, St Andrews and Ulster universities.

The Hub will carry out innovative research into sustainable marine fuels and their safe use, low-carbon power and propulsion systems for shipping, decarbonised port operations and infrastructure, improved maritime operations and vessel efficiency.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an expanding, unified Engineering Department which is recognised as one of the very best in the UK, with a reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our graduates. In the REF2021 exercise, 95% of our Engineering outputs were graded 3* or 4* and the Department is committed to an ethos of research-led education at all levels of our taught programmes. Engineering at Durham University was ranked 5th in The Guardian University Guide 2024, 7th in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 and 5th in The Complete University Guide 2024. We were ranked 2nd in Engineering behind only Cambridge in a recent Institute for Fiscal Studies report on the difference in graduate earnings by UK university choice. We are a scholarly community that is open, representative and diverse: our commitment to this is expressed through work of the Department’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group, and our Athena Swan Silve r award.

The Department of Engineering demonstrates significant depth of research excellence across a range of disciplines, with activities that are currently concentrated around three Research Challenge areas: Sustainable Infrastructure, Future Energy Systems and Advanced Materials, Electronics and Communications. Thematically, our research is split into eight Research Nodes which group together our day-to-day activities and expertise, with this role nominally falling into the Thermal Energy node. We are particularly proud of the collaborative interdisciplinary nature of our research, which also includes strong industrial partnerships.

We are keen to hear from candidates who have already achieved Chartered Engineer status. As a minimum, if not already professionally qualified, candidates will be expected to demonstrate the ability and desire to become Chartered.

Start Date: Ideally 1 September or 1 October 2024