Research Associate
Kinetic Studies using Microreactors Platform
University College London - UCL Department of Chemical Engineering

Full Time

The appointment will be on UCL Grade 7. The salary range will be £32,375 - 
£39,132 per annum, inclusive of London Allowance.

The Department of Chemical Engineering is seeking a Post-Doctoral Research 
Associate (PDRA) for an EPSRC funded project on catalytic transformation 
of bio-derived platform molecules. The project is in collaboration with 
Cardiff University and the University of Liverpool - thus providing an 
outstanding environment for interdisciplinary research and team working. 
The diverse expertise of the team members includes catalytic chemistry, 
synthetic organic chemistry, microreactor technology, systems engineering 
and in-situ spectroscopy. The overall aim of this project is the rapid 
development and evaluation of novel catalysts and catalyst processes for 
conversion of biomass to bulk and specialty chemicals. This will be 
underpinned by kinetic studies performed in rapid, iterative fashion by 
combining microreactor experiments with experimental design/optimisation 
modelling.  Techniques of model-based design of experiments, parameter 
estimation, multi-objective optimisation and global optimisation will be 
used to achieve the aims of the project. The PDRA will work closely with 
researchers performing the experiments to implement and test the modelling 
and optimisation results. The post also involves some teaching in the 
undergraduate labs in the UCL chemical engineering department, providing 
the PDRA with a well-rounded experience in a world-leading higher 
education academic environment.

The post is funded for 24 months in the first instance and is available 
immediately. 

The candidate will have a PhD in engineering, mathematics or equivalent 
and a good understanding of mathematical/computational, model-based 
techniques for optimisation. Experience in using computational tools such 
as GAMS, gPROMS and MATLAB, or equivalent modelling and optimisation tools 
is preferred.

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact 
Caroline Lenihan ([log in to unmask] ).

For informal enquiries, please contact Prof Asterios Gavriilidis ( 
[log in to unmask] ) or Dr Vivek Dua ( [log in to unmask] ).

Closing Date: 19 June 2013

UCL Taking Action for Equality

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Dr. Vivek Dua
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Process Systems Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering
University College London
Torrington Place
London WC1E 7JE
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: +44 (0) 20 7679 0002
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7383 2348
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemeng/people/dua
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