Postdoc - Concrete Road Pavement Tech & Predictive Cracking

UTS; Broadway; On-site; AUD 98,000 - 119,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work practices

Generous parental leave

Salary packaging opportunities

Job summary

UTS is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to support a Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) and ARC NetZero Hub co-funded program on concrete road pavement technologies.

The successful candidate will help develop a practical predictive framework to estimate early-age cracking risks in rigid pavements, informing control-joint timing and reducing maintenance costs. A PhD in a related field is required, with strong modelling and lab experience.

Qualifications

• PhD (or near completion with evidence of submission date) in Civil Engineering, Pavement Engineering, or a closely related field
• Familiarity with Australian standards/specifications relevant to concrete and pavements, and/or experience working with road agencies (e.g., TfNSW or equivalents)
• Demonstrated research outputs consistent with Level A, including publications in refereed journals and/or equivalent scholarly outputs relevant to concrete materials, pavements, early-age behaviour, and modelling
• Ability to develop and apply quantitative models (mechanistic, statistical, or hybrid) and to conduct validation, uncertainty assessment, and sensitivity analyses
• Experience designing and running laboratory programs (e.g., shrinkage, restrained ring, temperature rise, maturity, strength/creep/elastic properties) and interpreting results for model calibration
• Prior experience of running projects autonomously as a Project Manager is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to development of a practical predictive framework for estimating early-age cracking risks in rigid concrete pavements.
• Inform control-joint cutting timing and mitigating premature cracking, spalling, and associated maintenance costs.
• Plan and deliver research tasks to deadlines, including reporting, documentation, and stakeholder-facing deliverables.
• Collaborate with TfNSW and ARC NetZero Hub partners on the co-funded research program.
• Develop and apply quantitative models and validate them with experimental data.

Skills

Quantitative modeling

Project management

Laboratory program design

Stakeholder communication

Education

PhD in Civil Engineering, Pavement Engineering, or closely related field

Job description

UTS is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to support a Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) and ARC NetZero Hub co-funded program on concrete road pavement technologies.

The successful candidate will help develop a practical predictive framework to estimate early-age cracking risks in rigid pavements, informing control-joint timing and reducing maintenance costs. A PhD in a related field is required, with strong modelling and lab experience.