Job Description

Would you like to contribute to a £30m national research programme exploring innovative methods of large-scale greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere? Do you have experience of developing whole systems models of energy, engineering and environmental systems? Are you interested in understanding how biochar can contribute to avoiding dangerous climate change?

You will play a leading role in modelling the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential of a variety of approaches to biochar, as well as evaluating their techno-economic benefits. The position will make you a key researcher within a £4.5m multi-disciplinary and multi-university consortium investigating how the greenhouse gas reduction benefits of biochar can be realised within the UK, and more widely. Your work will contribute to a strategically important £30m UKRI research programme that sets out to identify sustainable routes for large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, allowing the UK to take a major step towards achieving net zero emissions.

You will focus on developing engineering whole systems models of biochar processing routes, aiming to identify those options that maximise net greenhouse gas reductions while also minimising costs. Research will mainly draw on your background in engineering, thermodynamics and/or applied physics to predict how both costs and emissions are related to key biochar processing parameters. You should also be keen improve your understanding of the biological and agricultural aspects of biochar by interacting with consortium colleagues working in these areas to generate data for your model. You should be comfortable with developing user-friendly modelling tools in Matlab or Python and be willing to support consortium colleagues in making use of your tools.

 Further information about the UKRI Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programme can be found at: https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-invests-over-30m-in-large-scale-greenhouse-gas-removal/

 Additional details about the “Biochar Demonstrator Addressing Key Deployment Barriers for Carbon Sequestration” consortium are available on the UKRI website:

https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV011596%2F1

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

Tim Cockerill, Professor of Efficient Energy Utilisation

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 7678

Email: [email protected]

Please note: If you are not a British or Irish citizen, from 1 January 2021 you will require permission to work in the UK. This will normally be in the form of a visa but, if you are an EEA/Swiss citizen and resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, this may be your passport or status under the EU Settlement Scheme.