Research Fellow in Geosolutions: Sustainability Storytelling and Stakeholder Engagement of the Subsurface

Salary: Grade 7 (£39,105 – £46,485 p.a. depending on experience) 

School of Earth and Environment, Faculty of Environment

Are you an ambitious researcher looking to develop your skills for the challenge? Do you have a background in qualitative research with an interest in sustainability and storytelling? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities and develop research that will enable the energy transition?

This interdisciplinary position offers an exciting opportunity for a PhD level researcher to support the curation of a number of creative outputs (or ‘stories’) on the subsurface and its contribution to the energy transition. You will join a team led by Associate Professor Rory Padfield, building expertise on the role storytelling can play in sustainability transitions. You will work across Geosolutions Leeds, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Culture, and professional storytellers to support the creation of compelling, impactful, and research-informed stories about the subsurface.

The stories created as part of this research will educate audiences about the energy transition, highlight Geosolutions Leeds research and teaching programmes, and inspire the next generation of geoscientists, engineers and social scientists. The project will produce a ‘Storytelling and Stakeholder Engagement Tool’, which geoscientists, engineers and social scientists can use to develop new interdisciplinary subsurface stories in the future. 

The project team is especially interested in a researcher who is open to building on or developing new skills and techniques related to science communication and storytelling. Your new skills will support co-creating one or more of the stories created in the project.   

The role is based in Geosolutions Leeds, an interdisciplinary research centre hosted at the School of Earth and Environment. The centre is an exciting new strategic investment by the University of Leeds as part of its Climate Plan, supporting the refocusing of research. Geosolutions Leeds brings together world-leading expertise in geology, engineering, and social science to deliver an integrated systems approach to energy geoscience that will meet Net Zero goals.

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: www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/global-talent

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!  

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

Associate Professor Rory Padfield, Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds 

Email: r.w.padfield@leeds.ac.uk

Closing Date: 22 Aug 2025

Section: Research

Salary: £39,355 to £46,735 per annum