Research Fellow (PSDI) at University of Southampton

Location: Highfield Campus

Part Time Permanent (21 hours a week)

Interview Date: To be confirmed

The Physical Science Data Infrastructure (PSDI) initiative is an EPSRC funded large scale infrastructure project. PSDI aims to enable researchers in physical sciences to handle data more easily by connecting and enhancing the different data infrastructures they use. Through PSDI researchers will be able to:  

•   Find and Access reference quality data from commercial and open sources  
•   Combine data from different sources  
•   Share data, software and models including experimental and simulation data  
•   Deploy close-to-data computation and containerisation of data and software  
•   Use AI to explore data  
•   Make the results of their research open and FAIR  

We are looking for an enthusiastic researcher with a background in working with scientific data and excellent communication skills to join our team and conduct supporting research for PSDI in addition to undertaking scientific communication duties such as social media engagement and the preparation and dissemination of a range of PSDI material.  

Applicants must have a PhD, equivalent professional qualifications or experience, a background in a scientific subject and excellent communication skills. The ability to demonstrate data science skills and a talent for problem solving is a must. You will encounter a wide range of technologies and data in your research and will be given many opportunities to gain new skills. We don’t expect you to be proficient in everything, but it is vital that you enjoy exploring new research areas and are adaptable to learning about the different project areas. You will have opportunities to work on several research areas within the project, including data conversion, process recording and different aspects of digitisation. There will also be opportunities to contribute to the project’s scientific communication, spanning from social media, events and preparing materials for dissemination across PSDI channels.  

You will make a valuable contribution to PSDI’s goals, making contributions from research to user engagement and have the potential to grow your own areas of expertise. There will be opportunities to develop skills to advance your career and build on skills outside of research and scientific communication, such as project management and training.  

This is a permanent position contingent on continued funding, whereby the first instance of funding is guaranteed until January 2026. This is currently a part time position but there may be scope to convert it into a full time position depending on timescales and continued funding. The post is based at the University of Southampton in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.  

Equality, diversity and Inclusion is central to the ethos in Chemistry, having held an Athena SWAN Silver award since 2014. We particularly encourage women, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), LGBT and disabled applicants to apply for this position. Chemistry considers applicants that wish to work flexibly, and due consideration is given to applicants who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy and onsite childcare facilities.  For further information please visit https://www.southampton.ac.uk/chemistry/about/Equality/index.page  

For further information, please contact s.pearman-kanza@soton.ac.uk  

To apply, please click on the ‘Apply’ button above

*Applications will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD qualification. The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon completion of PhD.  Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.