Research Fellow in Automation and Flow Reactor Engineering

Are you an experienced and ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities? Are you looking to apply your skills in automation and reactor engineering to the development of new microwave flow platforms for use in materials chemistry?

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted extensive interest from academia and industry owing to their unprecedented porosity and structural and functional diversity. Application of MOFs in catalysis (e.g. CO2 valorisation) and healthcare (e.g. biomarker detection/drug delivery) offer huge potential for addressing key global challenges in energy, mitigation of pollution, and disease diagnostics and treatment.

However, current methods for discovering and optimising MOFs rely on trial-and-error, are poorly reproducible and scale-up takes many years/is not possible as conditions optimised in batch are not readily translatable to scaled up processing. 

This project, funded through a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, will develop (i) AI-guided self-optimising flow microwave reactor platforms equipped with real-time analyses and (ii) deliver new fundamental understanding of crystallisation processes for MOFs. This will accelerate the development of MOFs for targeted applications without wasting time, energy, or chemical resources and overcome considerable issues with reproducibility thus unlocking their commercial exploitation. 

We are seeking a Research Fellow to develop automated flow microwave reactor platforms for reaction screening and process optimisation of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). You will integrate flow and microwave technologies with inline and online analyses to enable rapid collection of process relevant data. This will require development and integration of machine learning protocols for reaction optimisation and mapping chemical reaction space. You will work alongside other members of the team at the University of Leeds in the Institute for Process Research and Development (iPRD) & School of Chemistry to establish these capabilities and apply technologies developed towards MOF production. You will also work with collaborators Diamond Light Source and Mettler Toledo and researchers based at the Flow-Xl facility in Leeds. As this role is funded by Dr Andrea Laybourn’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, you will be provided with opportunities for travel to partner universities and there is financial support to attend national and international conferences and development training.

You will have a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry or a related discipline with experience in reactor automation and flow technology, together with a demonstrable record of the ability to design new technologies and generate process understanding. While experience of MOF chemistry and/or programming and/or microwave technologies would be advantageous, they are not a pre-requisite for the role. This post would be ideal for an ambitious and innovative researcher who is driven, enjoys working in a diverse and interdisciplinary team, is excited to learn new skills, and is keen to support setting up the laboratory facilities and share knowledge, and eager to train others in the group.  

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Dr Andrea Laybourn, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Associate Professor 

Email: A.Laybourn@leeds.ac.uk 

OR

Prof. Richard Bourne, Professor of Digital Manufacturing

Email: R.A.Bourne@leeds.ac.uk

Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information, please visit the Government’s Skilled Worker visa page.

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information, please visit the Government’s page, Apply for the Global Talent visa.

What we offer in return

26 days holiday plus approx.16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – That’s 42 days a year!Generous pension scheme plus life assurance – the University contributes 14.5% of salary. Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team.Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.

And much more!  

Closing Date: 08 Jun 2025

Section: Research

Salary: £39,355 to £46,735 p.a.