Research Fellow in Heat Transport & Advanced Thermal Management for Radiative Cooling (ERC Adva[...]

European Commission; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

The photonic innovations lab at UCL invites applications for a postdoctoral research position focused on advanced thermal management and radiative cooling. The role involves translating research into impactful solutions, designing devices to optimize thermal management, and contributing to a groundbreaking ERC project aimed at achieving passive refrigeration temperatures.

Benefits

41 Days holiday

Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme

Defined benefit pension scheme (CARE)

Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan

On-site gym

Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay

Employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Proficiency in heat transport phenomena and CFD.
• Hands-on experience with thermal conductivity techniques.
• Experience in building measurement set-ups using LabVIEW or MATLAB.

Responsibilities

• Design, model, and fabricate thermal management solutions.
• Publish high-quality research papers and protect intellectual property.
• Collaborate with an established team and deploy prototypes globally.

Skills

Heat transport phenomena

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Thermal conductivity characterization

Education

PhD in relevant field

Tools

LabVIEW

MATLAB

Job description

Organisation/Company UCL EE Department Electronic and Electrical Engineering Research Field Engineering » Materials engineering Engineering » Electrical engineering Engineering » Electronic engineering Engineering » Chemical engineering Engineering » Thermal engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Recognised Researcher (R2) Established Researcher (R3) Positions Postdoc Positions Country United Kingdom Application Deadline 15 Sep 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/London) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 36.5 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - ERC Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

About us

The photonic innovations lab (pi-lab) at UCL’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering invites applications for one (1) postdoctoral research position in heat transport phenomena and advanced thermal management as part of a recently awarded European Research Council (ERC) Advanced grant in radiative cooling. ERC advanced grants, one of the most competitive and prestigious schemes in Europe, support frontier research with the potential to generate groundbreaking scientific discoveries.

The research project’s main objective is to push radiative cooling systems to their thermodynamic limits, aiming to achieve fully passive refrigeration temperatures. This breakthrough could impact a broad range of applications, including building and vehicle cooling, data centres, biomedical material storage, and cold-chain logistics, offering a major step toward global energy reduction and carbon neutrality. Shielding radiative cooling systems from thermal losses, such as heat conduction and convection, is of paramount importance to achieve this aim and will be the core activity of the successful candidate.

About the role

We are seeking an exceptional postdoctoral researcher who can translate fundamental research into real‑world impact. You will design, model and fabricate advanced thermal management solutions that suppress conductive and convective losses in radiative cooling devices, then scale and deploy the most promising prototypes at multiple field sites around the world via our global collaborator network.

An important part of the work will be publishing high quality research papers in high-profile journals and conferences and pursuing intellectual property (IP) protection. Working alongside our established team of researchers in pi-lab with complementary expertise in materials science, photonics, energy modelling and fabrication, you will accelerate the project toward its ambitious goal of electricity free, deep‑freeze radiative cooling.

The post is available for 24 months in the first instance. Further funding to support the post may be available.

About you

Applicants must have a rigorous foundation in heat transport phenomena, proven proficiency in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for laminar and turbulent flows, and hands‑on expertise with thermal conductivity characterisation techniques such as guarded hot‑plate, laser flash, time or frequency domain thermoreflectance (TDTR/FDTR) or similar. You should also excel at building and automating heat‑flux and temperature measurement set-ups using LabVIEW, MATLAB or equivalent software. Familiarity with ultra‑low‑conductivity materials (e.g. aerogels, nanofoams or vacuum panels) is highly desirable.

If the successful candidate has not yet been awarded their PhD, appointment will be made as a Research Assistant (Grade 6B). Payment at Grade 7 will be backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis including corrections, once the PhD has been awarded. Research Assistant (Grade 6B): point 25-28. Salary range £38,607 to £41,255 (inc. London Allowance of £5,125 pa).

• To apply for the role, click the 'Apply Now' button at the bottom or top of the page
• Applications close on 15th September at 23:59
• A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.

Our department holds an Athena SWAN Bronze award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality.