Postdoctoral Research Associate

Licensed sponsor Exeter Posted 4 hours ago

Postdoctoral Research Associate

INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

This Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)-funded, full-time post is available from 01/10/2026 on a fixed-term basis for 12 months.
The starting salary will be from £35,302 on grade E, depending on knowledge, skills and experience.
The Role

Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy

The Faculty wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to support the work of Professor Gabriel Yvon-Durocher on AI4DigiMiC, a collaborative project developing hybrid artificial intelligence models to guide microbiome-driven soil restoration.

Soil microbial communities play a central role in carbon storage and ecosystem recovery. This project will combine experimental measurements of microbial carbon-use efficiency—the proportion of carbon taken up that is retained in biomass—with genomic and environmental data to predict microbiome function and inform future restoration interventions.

The successful applicant will deliver the project’s experimental microbiology programme, working with soil microbiomes and microbial isolates from the UK Crop Microbiome CryoBank. The post will include reviving and culturing microbial communities and isolates; developing and conducting high-throughput measurements of microbial growth, respiration and carbon-use efficiency; and analysing and interpreting the resulting data.

The postholder will contribute specialist expertise to experimental design and method development, maintain reproducible experimental records, and undertake quality control. They will collaborate with project partners to produce datasets suitable for integration with genomic information and predictive models, and contribute to research publications, project meetings and presentations.

About You

Applicants will possess a relevant PhD (or nearing completion) or equivalent qualification or experience in microbial ecology, microbiology or a related field. The successful applicant will possess sufficient specialist knowledge to develop research methodologies and contribute to the project’s research programme.

Applicants will have experience of designing and conducting complex microbial experiments, including microbial cultivation, alongside strong quantitative and data-analysis skills. They will be able to organise experimental workflows, resolve methodological problems and maintain accurate, reproducible records. Experience of microplate-based assays, microbial growth or respiration measurements, and reproducible analysis using R or Python would be advantageous.

The successful applicant will be able to work collaboratively, communicate complex information orally, in writing and electronically, and present research progress and outcomes. They will contribute to proposals and applications to external bodies, manage their work to meet project deadlines, and support the work of colleagues and students as appropriate.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role.

Further information

For further information, please contact Professor Gabriel Yvon-Durocher at [email protected].
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