Research Fellow in Chemical Imaging of Additive Manufacturing

University College London (UCL) is a multi-disciplinary university with a population of over 13,000 staff and 42,000 students from 150 different countries. Degree programmes are provided in Arts and Humanities, Built Environment, Brain Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Education, Laws, Life Sciences, Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Medical Sciences, Population Health Sciences and Social and Historical Sciences. For more information, please visit UCL About Page.

UCL Mechanical Engineering has been pioneering the development of engineering education, having taught the core discipline for over 165 years. UCL was home to the UK's first-ever Professor of the Mechanical Principles of Engineering, Eaton Hodgkinson, in 1847. It was also where Sir Alexander Blackie William Kennedy introduced organized laboratory practicals in university education training; a world-leading educational innovation at the time.

Your opportunity to work in a dynamic, world-leading team in correlative in situ imaging of advanced manufacturing processes, with strong links to synchrotron facilities and industrial collaborators. Your role will be developing a chemical imaging instrument for additive manufacturing (AM) machines that is capable of imaging and analysing the plume composition. This will enable users to dynamically control and minimise the plume and defect generation during laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). You will verify your findings using correlative X-ray and chemical imaging coupled with machine-learning models. Your work will inform, validate and progress an open-source high-fidelity AM simulation that predicts multiphase interactions and the formation of imperfections during LPBF. This post is for 12 months with a possible extension.

If you wish to discuss the post informally, please contact Chu Lun Alex Leung (alex.leung@ucl.ac.uk), or for application process queries Ruikang Xue (ruikang.xue@ucl.ac.uk).

The post holder will have a PhD qualification in a relevant subject, and knowledge and expertise in at least two of the following areas: laser optics, signal processing, imaging, spectroscopy, and machine learning. Ideally, you would also have experience in imaging and image analysis. Your expertise should be at a level appropriate for conducting research and publishing new knowledge in leading international research journals. The post-holder will need to show a high level of initiative and the ability to work collaboratively and independently. Applicants should have good team-working skills and a strong command of English. You will have the opportunity to work in the UK's large facilities, e.g. Diamond Light Source and Central Laser Facilities. You will be supervised by Dr. Chu Lun Alex Leung (PI), and based in the Research Complex at Harwell in Oxfordshire.

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As London's Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL's workforce. These include people from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people and LGBTQI+ people.