Postdoctoral Researcher: AI-Driven Plastics Bioprocesses

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY; Sydney; On-site; AUD 118,000 - 126,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Sydney's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to advance fungal process systems engineering for plastics biodegradation and circular bioprocesses. The role blends mechanistic modelling with AI, including autonomous lab workflows, under Professor Ali Abbas.

The appointee will coordinate daily group operations, plan research activities, and support students while collaborating on publications and datasets within

Qualifications

• Completed PhD in chemical engineering, biotechnology, computational science, or a related discipline.
• Experience in mechanistic modelling, numerical simulation or optimisation of biological or process systems.
• Experience applying AI or machine learning to scientific problems, with proficiency in Python or equivalent tools.
• Experience in experimental design and validating computational predictions against lab data.
• Research outputs appropriate to career stage and opportunity.
• Desirable background in fungal biology, plastics biodegradation, lab automation, or autonomous experimentation.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating research activities or laboratory workflows.

Responsibilities

• Develop and validate mechanistic and hybrid AI models of fungal growth, polymer degradation and bioreactor performance.
• Apply machine learning and optimisation to guide experiments and improve process performance.
• Design and undertake laboratory experiments with collaborators to validate predictions.
• Develop automated workflows connecting experimental design, execution, data analysis and model updating.
• Contribute to publications, reproducible code and datasets, and project reporting.
• Coordinate day-to-day research group activities, including work plans and milestone tracking.
• Coordinate laboratory access, equipment readiness, and scheduling with technical staff.
• Support researchers and mentoring of students and junior researchers.
• Assist with project reporting, funding applications and partner engagement within the scope.
• Undertake teaching and education activities per workload policy for research-focused staff.

Skills

Mechanistic modelling

Numerical simulation

AI/ML applications

Python programming

Experimental design

Education

PhD in chemical engineering

PhD in biotechnology

PhD in computational science

Job description

University of Sydney's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to advance fungal process systems engineering for plastics biodegradation and circular bioprocesses. The role blends mechanistic modelling with AI, including autonomous lab workflows, under Professor Ali Abbas.

The appointee will coordinate daily group operations, plan research activities, and support students while collaborating on publications and datasets within