This 5-year Fellowship post will reinforce and extend existing research collaborations between the University of Birmingham (UoB) and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) by recruiting an internationally outstanding BRIDGE Fellow at the interface between water sciences and emerging pollutants (such as engineered nanoparticles, environmental plastics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products). To address issues relating to emerging contaminants, an interdisciplinary approach is vital. We are interested in applicants who can provide expertise that links: pollutant sources, fate and transport of emerging pollutants; technical/non-technical solutions; and education/outreach to potential stakeholders. The Fellow will be expected to develop and lead a collaborative research programme that enhances the partnership between the two universities and builds on their strengths in these areas.
At the end of the Fellowship, the Fellow will be offered an academic appointment at the University of Birmingham, either at the Assistant Professor level or higher, subject to meeting normal expectations for appointment to such a post. We are seeking an interdisciplinary water researcher with skills in areas such as large data analysis, experimental design, numerical model development, method integration and data fusion, risk-impact analysis, natural resources management, and water treatment that complement existing core research strengths at UoB and UIUC. This BRIDGE Fellow will leverage unique expertise, experimental, analytical and modelling capacities at UoB and UIUC, including the EcoLaboratory artificial river facilities (UoB), Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory (UIUC), the EcoHydraulics and EcoMorphodynamics Laboratory (UIUC), the Nanoparticle and Daphnia laboratories (UoB), Illinois Sustainable Technology Center Advanced Analytical Laboratory (UIUC) and supercomputing facilities at both institutions (BlueBear and BlueWaters). UoB and UIUC are committed to excellence in education. Fellows must demonstrate their aptitude to deliver inspiring research-intensive teaching and learning at all levels.
The role will support delivery of undergraduate and masters programmes, including the MSc in River Environments and their Management at UoB, and participation in graduate classes at UIUC, and will include delivery of lectures, workshops, field course teaching, dissertation supervision and tutorials, alongside associated assessment and marking. The 5-year fellowship – with 2 years spent at UIUC – will provide the Fellow with the opportunity to integrate fully with UIUC research, as well as benefitting applicants that have family commitments, which are more fully catered for by a longer period in the USA. In addition, the 2-year Fellowship period in the USA will foster more intensive engagement with UIUC researchers. It is expected that the first year of the fellowship would be located at the University of Birmingham, with 2 years spent at UIUC in either years 2 and 3, or 3 and 4.
Applications for this fellowship are now closed. More information and link to application.
"I’d like to offer my support and congratulations to the University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign on the innovative Birmingham-Illinois BRIDGE fellows scheme. This fellowship scheme is just the latest development in this exemplary US-UK higher education partnership which is already showing impressive results. I have no doubt that the opportunities this scheme provides for outstanding early career researchers to join research groups at two leading global universities will result in the generation of further impactful research."