Research Fellow (Clean Cold) - Chemical Engineering - 98887 - Grade 7

RESEARCH FELLOW (CLEAN COLD) – 98887

Position details

School of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Location:  University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK 
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £31,406 to £40,927, with potential progression once in post to £43,434
Grade 7
Full time
Fixed-term for up to 2 years
Closing Date: 31 August 2022

Background

The role is an opportunity to join a major global research team at the Centre for Sustainable Cooling, working in the UK and internationally and leading the development of the new multi-million pound Centres of Excellence being established in Africa and India.
 
Temperature controlled cooling for supply chains are central to many aspects of a modern society and underpin socio-economic growth and well-being as well as a population’s health, food systems and access to nutritional food and prevention of food loss and waste within the supply chains; protection and increase of farmer/rural incomes. Traditional cold-chains are energy intensive and currently reliant on diesel for transport, weak grid and off-grid applications, in many cases coal and/or natural gas based power grids.
 
This role is an opportunity to collaborate with other UK Universities with world-class expertise in clean cooling and cold-chain. Multi-million pound funding has been secured to work across a series of significant research projects to transform the cold-chain sectors in developing and developed markets into a more efficient and sustainable, resilient and equitable systems’ from ‘ vaccine manufacturer to arm’ and ‘farm to fork’.
 
We are looking to recruit further Research Fellows to work in the global Centre for Sustainable Cooling at University of Birmingham, contributing to work packages of the African and India Centres for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain and UK Sustainable Food Cold-chain research programmes.  This includes specifically the challenge of adaptation and delivering new cooling and cold-chain strategies and solutions in a fast-warming world.
 
This is initially a three year appointment (with the potential to be extended) focused on sustainable, resilient and equitable food/health cold-chain, including defining needs driven and fit for market solutions across technology, skills, business models and policy at a systems level.
 
Research

Develop fit for market and purpose strategies and solutions for cooling and cold-chain across technology, skills, business models and policy in both the developing and developed world including identifying and evidencing 

Identify, analyse and forecast socio-economic and environmental impacts of cooling and cold-chain access.
 
Socio-economic and technical assessment of cooling and cold-chain solutions in terms sustainability (social, economic and environmental) and resilience to support decision making.
 
Identify and create strategies to address in-country barriers for uptake and scale-up such as affordability, skills and capacity, regulations etc.
 
Outputs

•    Organise and deliver impact and dissemination activities with a wide range of stakeholders including policy-makers, inter-Governmental Development Agencies and Non-governmental organisations.
•    Collaborate with partners and universities in data collection and analysis, workshop organisation, writing reports and academic publications.
•    Contribute to writing bids and generating funding.
•    Developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement activities, widening participation or similar activities within the University and through the Centre for Sustainable Cooling (a multi-University collaboration).

Summary of Role

Research

•    Techno-socio-economic analysis of cooling and cold-chain technologies and systems
•    Novel strategies and solutions for cooling in high temperature climates 
•    Equitable business models
•    Identify and create strategies to address in-country capacity gaps
•    Develop capacity building and teaching modules

Outputs

•    Organise and deliver impact and dissemination activities with a wide range of stakeholders including policy-makers, inter-Governmental Development Agencies and NGOs 
•    Teaching and training modules
•    Collaborate with partners and universities in data collection and analysis, workshop organisation, writing reports and academic publications
•    Contribute to writing bids and generating funding 
•    Developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement activities, widening participation or similar activities within the University and through the Centre for Sustainable Cooling (a multi-University collaboration)

Main Duties/Responsibilities

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

•    Collect research data, both quantitative and qualitative; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as literature reviews, research interviews and workshops.
•    Robust socio-economic and technical analysis of data, following ethical guidelines for data collection and analysis.
•    Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods.
•    Contribute to developing teaching and training modules.
•    Write up research output into high-quality reports and academic papers for publication.
•    Present findings in high-quality conferences, workshops and meetings both in the UK and overseas.
•    Contribute to the administration/management of activities associated with the project.
•    Contribute to writing bids for research funding.
•     Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may 
•    be assisting with the research including in collaboration with partners in country.
•    Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines.
•    Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research related administration.
•    Promote equality and value diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Person Specification

•    A higher degree relevant to the research area, in particular engineering, economics, social sciences or relevant interdisciplinary field, (usually PhD) or equivalent qualifications.
•    Research interest/expertise in sustainable and resilient food/health cold chain and wider food systems along with directly linked global challenges such as food and nutrition security, access to clean energy, rural development, poverty alleviation and access to health services.

You will be comfortable with:

•    Interdisciplinary research and understanding of complex social, economic and technical challenges within whole systems of system models.
•    Public engagement and workshop organisation with high-level policymakers and stakeholders.

You will be able to demonstrate:

•    Ability to work as part of a team but also independently.
•    Ability to communicate (oral and written) complex information clearly across disciplines and diverse stakeholders.
•    Ability to work in an international and multicultural environment
•    Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively.

Click here to download the full further particulars for this position

Informal enquiries to Prof Toby Peters, [email protected] 

 
Valuing excellence, sustaining investment 
We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.