SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND ADVANCED MATERIALS

Postdoctoral Researchers 
£25,134 - £32,796

Process 2020 Innovation SatNav

A Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position is available in the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Newcastle University, England in the area of knowledge management. The project seeks to develop a framework that is applicable within the process industries that will allow the more rapid and efficient realisation of product opportunities in a multilevel organizational business structure. One of the most common representations for such an approach is a sequential series of activities including: screening ideas, market assessment, business/financial analysis, product design, chemical route selection, process development and manufacture. However this generic and simplifed linear representation of a fairly complex chain has materialised in an 'over-the-wall' mode of operation. This is clearly inefficient as it results in locally convenient solutions that can fail to satisfy the overall design problem in an optimal manner. An alternative and more logical approach to improving the situation is through the sharing of the data-to-decision inputs across all activities. Such an approach encourages interaction between the business drivers, the chemist, the process engineers and production personnel, by providing a sytstematic approach to the integrated, concurrrent, design of products and their related processes, including manufacture and support.  

A two year position is available on an EPSRC supported project. The project is in conjunction with Robinson Brothers Ltd, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson Mathey and the Universities of Manchester, Oxford and York. The Newcastle University component will focus on managing and modelling the extreme complexity in a data lean, information poor environment and in steering data and information management to ehnance innovation. Critical to the success of the project is the need to be able to handle qualitative and quantitative data and incorporate human understanding into the analysis.

The successful candidates will join an RAE Grade 5 research School which is recognised for its world class research and training and it also has an outstanding reputation for research and collaboration with industry (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ceam/). They will also be a member of the SYSMA Research Group (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ceam/research/sysma/ ).

Candidates interested in this position should have a PhD or equivalent experience in any of the following disciplines: Chemical Engineering, Physics, Computing Science or Operational Research. They should be able to demonstrate good communication skills and be willing to work for periods at company sites in the UK.  The salary will be at an appropriate point of F (£25,134 - £32,796) per annum depending on qualifications and experience.  

To apply for the positions, please send a CV and a covering letter, together with a completed Employment Record Form, to Elaine Martin, Professor of Industrial Statistics, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Merz Court, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. 

Further details can be obtained from Professor Elaine Martin. Contact details as follows - Tel: +44 191 222 6231; Fax: +44 191 222 5292; e-mail: [log in to unmask]


Closing date for applications is 22nd February 2008.


Elaine Martin OBE
Professor of Industrial Statistics
School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
Merz Court
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU

Tel. No. +44 (0) 191 222 6231
Fax No. +44 (0) 191 222 5292