Research Associate

Job content

Salary range: £34,308 - £42,155

FTE: 1 (35 hours/week)

Term: Fixed term (12 months)

Closing date: 20 October 2022

This is a unique opportunity for a post-doctoral researcher to join an internationally leading Maritime Human Factors group based at the University of Strathclyde. As part of your role, you will be working in EU H2020 SAFEMODE project and EC-H2020 project GATERS (Gate Rudder System as a Retrofit for the Next Generation Propulsion and Steering of Ships). You will also be expected to support other research and knowledge exchange initiatives that is managed by the research centre.

SAFEMODE Project

SAFEMODE is a ~10 million euros, 3 years project, carried out by a consortium of 33 partners from all over world mainly from EU, Russia, China, Indonesia and Philippines. This project is funded by the EU H2020 scheme and the main aim of SAFEMODE project is to develop a novel HUman Risk Informed Design (HURID) framework in order to identify, collect and assess Human Factors data to inform risk-based design of systems and operation in aviation and maritime transport.

The focus will be to reduce risks for safety critical situations, (e.g. mid-air collisions, grounding, evacuation, runway excursions etc.) through the enhancement of human performance. This will be achieved through investigation of past accidents, incidents, near-misses, reports, data from everyday operations, including previously unknown uncertainties such as increasing levels of automation and increased number of drones in transportation.

GATERS Project

The Department has been heavily involved in R&D activities in the area of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly propulsion and steering of ships by exploring novel systems. The recently awarded three years of Innovation Action (IA), multi-European EC-H2020 project GATERS (Gate Rudder System as a Retrofit for the Next Generation Propulsion and Steering of Ships). The aim of GATERS is to design, manufacture and install a retrofit Gate Rudder System (GRS) and demonstrate the effectiveness of the retrofit GRS through sea trials and voyage monitoring as well as the life cycle benefits.

NAOME Department

The Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering department of the University of Strathclyde is a key provider of innovative and useful research for the maritime, oil and gas and marine renewables industries across the world. Further info can be found here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/research/subjects/navalarchitectureoceanmarineengineering/.

About The Post

As a Research Associate, you will play a key role in the aforementioned research and innovation projects, by bringing your expertise in risk and reliability assessment, modelling and safety management (especially in modelling of human risk and reliability). You will also be required to understand existing key regulations and be able to assess the EEDI, EEOI as well as EEXI and CII. You will also need to demonstrate a good experience in regulatory approval of new systems’ integration into ship operations. Furthermore, knowledge of conducting cost-benefit assessments for systems and risk improvement contexts will be required.

In these projects, you will require to work with historic data and should be able to conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses. In order to deal with these tasks, you will be required to be equipped with good software skills and should demonstrate previous relevant experience in similar research or industrial jobs.

As a Research Associate, under the general guidance of a research leader, you will develop research objectives and proposals, play a lead role in relation to a specific project/s or part of a broader project, conduct individual and/or collaborative research, contribute to the development of new research methods, identify sources of funding, and contribute to the securing of funds for research, including drafting grant proposals and planning for future proposals. You will write up research work for publication, individually or in collaboration with colleagues, and disseminate the results via peer-reviewed journal publications and presentations at conferences. You will join external networks to share information and ideas, inform the development of research objectives and identify potential sources of funding. You will collaborate with colleagues to ensure that research advances inform departmental teaching efforts and you will collaborate with colleagues on the development of knowledge exchange activities by, for example, participating in initiatives which establish research links with industry and influence public policy and the professions.

You will supervise student projects, provide advice to students and contribute to teaching as required by, for example, running tutorials and supervising practical work. You will contribute in a developing capacity to Department/School, Faculty and/or University administrative and management functions and committees and engage in continuous professional development.

To be considered for the role, you will be educated to a minimum of PhD level in an appropriate discipline or have significant relevant experience in addition to a relevant degree. You will have the ability to plan and organise your own workload effectively and an ability to work within a team environment. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to listen, engage and persuade, and present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences.

Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Dr Rafet Kurt, Senior Lecturer (rafet.kurt@strath.ac.uk) or Prof Osman Turan, o.turan@strath.ac.uk.