Research Fellow - Rice straw to Biogas

Water & Environmental Engineering Group

Location: Highfield Campus

Salary:  £29,301 to £31,076 per annum

Full Time Fixed Term (for 30 months)

Closing Date:  Sunday 19 March 2017

Interview Date:  To be confirmed

Reference: 840517AT

You will work on the Rice Straw to Biogas (R2B) project in the Water and Environmental Engineering Group at the University of Southampton. The project is led by Next Generation Ltd and funded by the Innovate UK / EPSRC Energy Catalyst programme, and aims to develop a route to clean affordable energy production from the anaerobic digestion of rice straw. The work at Southampton will focus on development and testing of innovative pre-treatment systems to maximise biogas yields, with a focus on low-cost mechanical processing. The project will involve brief periods working with partners in the UK and in the Philippines overseeing installation and data collection from pilot-scale systems.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated understanding of process technology and monitoring of biological systems and ideally will have a knowledge of anaerobic digestion and/or biomass pre-treatment methods, and an interest in developing research on optimisation of anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic materials. You should be able to i) construct or modify and set up experimental equipment including appropriate monitoring systems; ii) operate and monitor equipment and experimental trials; iii) carry out relevant analyses of experimental results. A hands-on approach and excellent practical skills are required, along with a keen interest in seeing environmental biotechnology concepts develop from laboratory to full-scale implementation.

The appointment is for a 30-month period.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Sonia Heaven sh7@soton.ac.uk.

Application procedure:

You should submit your completed online application form at www.jobs.soton.ac.uk. The application deadline will be midnight on the closing date stated above. If you need any assistance, please call Georgie Warren (Recruitment Team) on +44 (0) 23 8059 7749. Please quote reference 840517AT on all correspondence.