Academic Associate UAS Mechanochemical Process Development

fr; Freiburg; Hybrid; CHF 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

HEIA-FR in Fribourg, CH invites applications for Academic Associate UAS Mechanochemical Process Development. You will lead the synthetic and process-development core, bridging lab discovery and industrial application in a joint project with Dyno®-mill systems.

Responsibilities include designing and running transformations, running DOE campaigns, scaling up to pilot plant with industrial partner, collecting data for predictive scale-up models, and delivering a reproducible lab-to-industry

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in chemistry or chemical engineering.
• Experience in organic synthesis.
• Excellent English communication; basic French/German a plus.
• Ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D with initiative and problem-solving.

Responsibilities

• Lead the synthetic and process-development core bridging lab discovery and industrial application.
• Design, run and interpret transformations in mechanochemical bead reactors from lab to pilot scale.
• Contribute to predictive modelling and scale-up datasets for industrial transfer.

Skills

English communication

Interdisciplinary research

Lab autonomy

Data documentation

Education

Master's degree in chemistry or chemical engineering

Tools

Dyno mill

Lab safety protocols

Characterization techniques

Job description

Academic Associate UAS Mechanochemical Process Development

Fribourg, CH, Sarine, CH

The School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg (HEIA-FR), a member institution of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), offers bilingual study programs at the BSc and MSc levels.

The project – Mechanochemistry is a leading route to solvent-free sustainable chemical manufacturing. In this joint project, WAB, FHWN, Syngenta and HEIA-FR join forces to develop a new bead-reactor technology based on Dyno®-mill systems and to demonstrate its potential for fine chemicals. Your mission – You will lead the synthetic and process-development core, bridging lab discovery and industrial application. You will design, run and interpret transformations in mechanochemical bead reactors, from lab to pilot scale. In this context, you will establish advanced metrics as decisive benchmarks and generate the datasets needed for predictive scale-up models, delivering validated scaling rules and a reproducible lab-to-industry transfer methodology.

• Benchmark representative mechanochemical transformations and industrially relevant targets
• Run design-of-experiments campaigns on the new Dyno®-mill technology
• Characterize products and map process parameters to critical quality attributes
• Contribute to predictive modelling and identify scale-invariant parameters and transferable operating windows
• Scale up to pilot plant with the industrial partner, verifying robustness and reproducibility
• Consolidate results in a standardized scale-transfer workflow and guidelines for industrial adoption
• Interact with the consortium, present at conferences, and uphold lab safety and good scientific practice
• Master’s degree in chemistry or chemical engineering with experience in organic synthesis
• Strong interest in pursuing interdisciplinary research involving synthesis, process development, characterization, and chemical engineering
• Ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D with initiative, creativity and a problem-solving mindset
• Rigorous, autonomous and well-organized experimental work, with careful data documentation
• Enthusiasm, resourcefulness and teamwork skills; readiness to be on the look-out for improvements and ability to approach and solve problems in a creative way
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills, basic communication skills in French and/or German is a plus

Ludovic Gremaud, Full Professor UAS, T [phone]