Postdoc Research Fellow in Materials Science and Engineering
University of New South Wales School of Materials Science and Engineering
Australia

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The School of Materials Science and Engineering is one of the top ranked Materials programs in the Asia-Pacific region and strongly positioned in every facet of materials science and engineering. The School of Materials Science and Engineering comprises approximately 25 academic staff, approximately 35 research staff and approximately 20 professional and technical staff. Its recurrent income is about $7M per annum, with a further $10M each year in research income. The School has about 350 undergraduate students, 100 postgraduate coursework students and about 170 postgraduate research students. In 2015, the School moved to a new state-of-the-art materials building that is equipped with a large number of general and discipline-specific research laboratories, including, for example, metallurgical processing, ceramics, polymers and physical metallurgy laboratories.

The High Temperature Lab at the School of Materials Science and Engineering is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to contribute to the research on high temperature materials corrosion induced by multiple secondary oxidants. The aim of the project is to understand how secondary oxidants (C, S, Cl or water vapour) affect chromia-forming heat resistant alloys by advanced materials analyses and define the methods to prevent corrosion based on mechanism understanding. The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be responsible for reaction product analysis, mechanism deduction, and development of corrosion preventing strategies.

About the role

• $98K - $105K plus 17% superannuation and annual leave loading
• Fixed Term – 12 months (with the possibility to extend by another year)
• Full-time (35 hours per week)

The role of Postdoctoral Research Fellow reports to Professor Jianqiang Zhang.

Specific responsibilities for this role include:

• Actively contribute to the investigation of chromia forming alloy corrosion, in particular in reaction product analysis, mechanism deduction, and development of corrosion preventing strategies.
• Prepare presentations, manuscripts for publication, and progress reports.
• Be active in the dissemination of research outcomes, through publication of papers in leading international refereed journals and attendance of conferences.
• Contribute to the preparation of research proposal submissions to funding bodies and actively seek collaboration with industry partners as appropriate.
• Participate in and/or present at conferences and/or workshops relevant to the project as required.
• Assist with the supervision of research students in the research area where required.
• Collaborate actively with research partner in other universities.
• Liaise effectively with the students in the group, and related school academic and technical staff.
• Other duties as assigned in consultation with the supervisor.
• Align with and actively demonstrate the UNSW Values in Action: Our Behaviours and the UNSW Code of Conduct.
• Cooperate with all health and safety policies and procedures of the university and take all reasonable care to ensure that your actions or omissions do not impact on the health and safety of yourself or others.

About the successful applicant

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Completion of a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience carrying out high temperature materials exposure experiments.
• Demonstrated ability to use different methodologies in materials characterisation, including some of focused ion-beam analysis, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy.
• Preferred experience using advance techniques, such as atom probe tomography, transmission Kikuchi diffraction, EBSD, XPS and TOF-SIMS.
• Solid knowledge and understanding of reaction thermodynamics and kinetics, and diffusion.
• Demonstrated experience in collection, management, statistical analysis and reporting of research data.
• Demonstrated capacity to contribute to research publications and reports as evidenced by peer reviewed (or equivalent) publications.
• Demonstrated ability to present research findings as evidenced by presentations at conferences or other venues.
• Strong organisational skills including the ability to prioritise a range of tasks and meet deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to communicate and interact with a diverse range of stakeholders and students.
• An understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines.
• Knowledge of health and safety responsibilities and commitment to attending relevant health and safety training.

You should systematically address the selection criteria listed within the position description in your application.

Please apply online - applications will not be accepted if sent to the contact listed.

Contact:
Jianqiang Zhang
E: j.q.zhang@unsw.edu.au
Applications close: April 22^nd, 2021 

Find out more about working at UNSW at www.unsw.edu.au

UNSW aspires to be the exemplar Australian university and employer of choice for people from diverse backgrounds. UNSW aims to ensure equality in recruitment, development, retention and promotion of staff and that no-one is disadvantaged on the basis of their gender, cultural background, disability, sexual orientation or identity or Indigenous heritage. We encourage everyone who meets the selection criteria to apply.

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