The BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, based at the University of Bath, wishes to appoint a Research Assistant (grade 6) or a Post-Doctoral Research Associate (grade 7) on a fixed-term basis (to 30 November 2014), to carry out research to complete the development and optimisation of a lightweight fibre cement for use in environmentally friendly building applications as part of an EU (FP7) funded research project. The level of responsibility, job title and grade will be dependant on the experience of the successful applicant.  The salary ranges for this post will, therefore, be:

either Grade 6 : £24,289 to £29,837; or Grade 7 : £30,728 to £36,661 (pro rata for part year)

 The post is in support of the EU FP7 project FIBCEM: nanotechnology enhanced extruded fibre reinforced foam cement based environmentally friendly sandwich material for building applications. The project is a collaboration between the University of Bath, Cembrit Holding A/S and eight other partners from Spain, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom and Denmark.

The project aims to use a low energy multilayer extrusion process to create a novel high performance fibre cement material suitable for commercial building products.  The University of Bath’s contribution to this research is to develop and optimise the fibre cement skin so that it provides sufficient mechanical resistance and appropriate robustness and resistance to aggressive environments; and to carry out micro-characterisation of the resulting FIBCEM material.

Under the direction of the PI, the post holder will be responsible for carrying out specific research and testing duties including: production of fibre cement skins, testing of the skins for mechanical and permeation properties, and micro-characterisation (SEM, thermal gravimetry, XRD etc) of the fibre cement.

Applicants for the position of Research Assistant should hold a first degree in a relevant area of study (e.g. Civil or Chemical Engineering; Building Sciences; Construction; Architecture; Materials Science or Chemistry) and applicants for the position of Research Associate should additionally have a PhD in a relevant area of research.

The successful applicant will join a strong research group of academics and PhD students investigating innovative construction materials.

For further information please contact Dr Kevin Paine (e: k.paine@bath.ac.uk, t: 01225 386886).