Senior Research Fellow - Solid Mechanics (fixed term)

European Commission; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in the UK seeks a Senior Research Fellow in the Mechanical and Aerospace Systems Research Group. The role involves managing research projects, contributing to funding applications, and advancing the group's research strategy in solid mechanics and stress analysis. Candidates should have expertise in stress analysis, material characterisation, and mechanical testing methods.

Qualifications

• Experience in solid mechanics and stress analysis.
• Skilled in managing research teams and projects.
• Ability to propose new research themes.

Responsibilities

• Manage a growing research team and conduct investigations.
• Contribute to funding applications with industrial partners.
• Direct future group research strategy.

Skills

Stress analysis

Finite Element Method

Material characterisation

Mechanical testing methods

Machine learning

Education

PhD in Engineering or related field

Job description

Organisation/Company University of Nottingham Research Field Engineering » Aerospace engineering Engineering » Materials engineering Engineering » Mechanical engineering Engineering » Other Physics » Thermodynamics Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Country United Kingdom Application Deadline 17 Jun 2025 - 22:59 (UTC) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 36.25 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Location
Jubilee Campus

Salary
£45,413 to £57,422 per annum (pro-rata if applicable) depending on skills and experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.

Reference
ENG150325

The Mechanical and Aerospace Systems Research Group (MAS) requires a Senior Research Fellow who is experienced in the fields of solid mechanics and stress analysis to work across several industry relevant projects and for the development of future group research strategy. MAS has a large intra-disciplinary team of researchers, engineers, technicians, support staff and academics who work together to deliver research from fundamental to high TRL.

The successful candidate will contribute to several projects by managing a growing research team while conducting their own investigations. As a senior research fellow, the successful applicant will also have an opportunity to work with the management team and direct future group research strategy. It is expected that the successful application will contribute to the development of several funding applications with a wide range of industrial partners and will be able to demonstrate a high degree of independence by proposing new research themes and approaches. The nature of the position demands a confident and self-starting individual who is looking to develop a wide academic skillset and who is keen to offer their own ideas.

Applicants who are skilled and knowledgeable in the areas of stress analysis (including the Finite Element Method), material characterisation (particularly flow stress determination and modelling), mechanical testing methods (particularly under extreme conditions), and/or the use of machine learning for solid mechanics/stress analysis problems are encouraged to apply. The job description presented here is deliberately broad due to the advanced level of the position, however it may help applicants to note several existing projects in the group and consider how they may contribute.

The following are active areas of research in MAS for solid mechanics:
- The analysis of friction welding machines and the friction welding process. A major industrial project focuses on the determination of key process variables in production linear and inertia friction welds. Work here includes the characterization of production machines using additional instrumentation, the simulation of the process using several numerical methods, and the development of structural health models.
- The mechanical testing of materials using standard and non-standard test piece geometries for the development of material constitutive models, and the mechanical testing of component representative specimens for the generation of model validation data using full field visualization methods.
- Manufacturing process simulation, particularly for welding and additive manufacturing technologies.
- Failure and degradation process simulation for transmission components and materials, notably wear, fretting, and thermo-mechanical fatigue. Experimental studies to support these modelling activities are also of great interest to the group.
- Multiscale stress analysis and simulation of industry representative structures.

The post is offered on a full time (36.25 hours per week), fixed term contract until 30 June 2026.

The role holder will report to the Prof. Chris Bennett as their line manager. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Hadrian Moran, by email [e-mail] . Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.

It is a condition of this post that satisfactory enhanced disclosure is obtained from the 'Disclosure and Barring Service'.

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