Postdoctoral Research Associate in Modelling of Polymers

About the Role

The position is funded for a maximum of 15 months until 31st August 2027 through Dr Carolan’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and offers an opportunity to contribute to the fundamental understanding of polymer behaviour.

You will use and develop molecular simulation tools to study curing reactions, network formation, and structure–property relationships in industrially relevant epoxy‑amine systems. You’ll then help bridge the gap between atomistic insight and macroscale behaviour, collaborating closely with experimental researchers to validate and refine your models.

This role offers significant scope for scientific creativity. You will have opportunities to publish in high‑impact journals, develop new modelling methodologies, work with high‑performance computing resources, and contribute to a broader computational strategy for next‑generation polymer design.

About You

You will have, or be close to completing, a PhD in materials science, engineering, physics, chemistry, or a related area, with strong experience in computational modelling. Expertise in molecular modelling is desirable, but a solid grounding in simulation, coding, and high‑performance computing is essential.

We’re looking for someone who enjoys tackling complex scientific challenges, is comfortable developing new tools and workflows, and is keen to collaborate across disciplines.

About the School

The School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS) is a large, research-intensive School within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, comprising over 100 academic staff, approximately 1,700 undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, alongside more than 150 PhD researchers.

SEMS is part of Queen Mary University of London, one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities, recognised for delivering world-class education and impactful research. The School offers a dynamic and interdisciplinary research culture, ranked 7th overall in the UK for research excellence in REF2021, and 2nd nationally for world-leading research outputs.

With more than £35 million invested in recent years, SEMS benefits from extensive state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities, supporting research and teaching across a broad range of engineering and materials science disciplines.

About Queen Mary

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.

We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.

Benefits

We offer competitive salaries, access to a generous pension scheme, 30 days’ leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time/fixed-term), a season ticket loan scheme and access to a comprehensive range of personal and professional development opportunities. In addition, we offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, and campus facilities.

Queen Mary’s commitment to our diverse and inclusive community is embedded in our appointments processes. Reasonable adjustments will be made at each stage of the recruitment process for any candidate with a disability. We are open to considering applications from candidates wishing to work flexibly.