Join our thriving and Department of Chemistry as a Prize Fellow in Biological Chemistry.

The (CWBE) is a £13m interdisciplinary research centre, established in 2024 with funding from Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) scheme, together with contributions from the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ and partners. 

We are working to transform public and environmental health management, establishing the first Urban Living Lab facility; a state-of-the-art digital water sensing platform, training base and ideas hub. Our ambition is to provide a practical roadmap for a UK early-warning system, co-produced with regional and national stakeholders to serve as a sentinel and multigenerational testing site for research and innovation. This platform will enable testing of public health and environmental interventions focused on increasing community resilience to disease, pollution and climate change impacts. 

We are looking to recruit a Prize Fellow:

• To develop an internationally leading independent research programme in the broad areas of Biological chemistry; Chemical toxicology; Cheminformatics/data science. 
• To teach aspects of analytical chemistry in both lectures and laboratory classes, maintaining the University’s high standards in teaching and learning, and its inclusive and supportive learning environment. 
• To contribute, with support, at an appropriate level to the administration, leadership, and management of the Department’s and Centre’s activities. 

Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ you

At Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ we offer an exceptional environment for research teaching and learning and we wish to support you in reaching your potential for internationally leading research, in the broad field of water-based epidemiology. Applications are invited for a Prize Fellow position in the Department of Chemistry to join the multidisciplinary CWBE team, working on wastewater-based early warning systems for public health protection.

The successful candidate will develop an independent research programme aligned with the CWBE mission while expanding the Centre's existing capabilities in one or more of the following areas: Biological chemistry, Chemical Toxicology, Cheminformatics and Data Science. We are particularly interested in strengthening our expertise in proteomics, as well as in cheminformatics, artificial intelligence, and data science. Applicants should have expertise in at least one or two of these areas demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively within an interdisciplinary environment. The role will involve close interaction with engineers, chemists, biologists, and social scientists, making strong teamwork and communication skills essential.

You should hold a PhD and be able to demonstrate the potential to develop an internationally leading research programme, to acquire significant funding from UK and international sources, and to produce high-quality publications.

Application Requirements & Selection Process:

Please provide both research and teaching statements of up to two pages for each in addition to a full CV. 

Your research statement needs to outline your plans and intentions for research activity that expands and complements existing capabilities in the centre, grant capture over the coming five years and your planned contributions to further development of the centre. This document will be treated in the strictest confidence and with full respect for ownership. The teaching vision should outline your areas of teaching expertise and a range of potential teaching subjects as well as course development interests. These are mandatory components of the selection process, without which we will be unable to progress your application.

For informal discussion about the role, please contact Professor Matthew Jones, Head of Department (mj205@bath.ac.uk), Prof Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Director of CWBE (bkh20@bath.ac.uk). However, please submit your application via the University website. This role is a full-time fixed term position (36.5 hours per week for 24 months). Subject to satisfactory progress at the end of the fixed term, the position will transfer to a Lectureship in the Department of Chemistry and CWBE. 

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

We're very proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. an accredited Disability Confident Leader; autism friendly university, committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff. 

What we can offer you 

We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ gym
• Staff benefits include discounted postgraduate tuition and language courses, alongside a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities such as apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning, and more
• Local discounts, including free entry to the Holburne Museum in Ä¢¹½´«Ã½
• A family-friendly workplace 
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance
• Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses
• Employee assistance services through Health Assured, including access to the Wisdom app

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ a great place to work as well as following us and .

Be Well at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½

We’re committed to creating a health-supporting working environment where everyone can thrive and be at their best. We offer a range of resources to enable you to do that from your first day here, including:

• Staff support groups and networks
• A network of Staff Wellbeing Champions
• A suite of tools, resources and frameworks that enable you to be at your best and thrive

Find out more about being at your best at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½.

 

Closing Date: 09 Nov 2026

Department: Education & Research

Salary: £48,337 to £57,666

Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ the role

The project will establish an automated workflow for rapid production of novel small-molecule libraries, enabling Almac Discovery to accelerate early-stage drug discovery, reduce reliance on outsourced compound synthesis, and strengthen its capability to identify promising new medicines more quickly and cost-effectively.

Whilst working on this unique project as an AKT Associate, applying your academic skills to an industrially focused project, you will broaden your knowledge and expertise, and be supported by an Industrial and an academic supervisor. 

Working under the supervision of Dr Alex Cresswell, Reader in Organic Chemistry and Co-Lead of the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Centre for Drug Discovery, and Dr Colin O'Dowd, Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Almac Discovery, you will play a key role in transferring innovative automated synthesis methodologies into an industrial drug discovery environment.

 As the AKT Associate, you will:

• Demonstrate and optimise automated synthetic chemistry workflows.
• Design and produce representative small-molecule screening libraries.
• Evaluate workflow robustness, reproducibility and operational efficiency.
• Work closely with medicinal chemistry, biology and analytical teams.
• Develop standard operating procedures and supporting documentation.
• Support the transfer of knowledge and capability into Almac Discovery's research teams.
• Contribute to future plans for technology expansion and commercial exploitation.

The post will offer the following benefits:

• Work at the interface of academic innovation and industrial drug discovery.
• Gain experience of technology transfer within a commercially focused research environment.
• Collaborate with world-leading experts in synthetic chemistry and drug discovery.
• Build valuable industrial and translational research experience within the life sciences sector.

We welcome applications from candidates who have: 

• Strong practical expertise in synthetic organic chemistry.
• Experience of reaction optimisation and analytical characterisation.
• The ability to design, execute and interpret complex experimental programmes independently.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to work effectively across academic and industrial environments.

This AKT project is funded by UKRI through . This programme has been adesigned to create short-term collaborations between a university and business to deliver a rapid and targeted intervention to accelerate the development of an innovation project, with potential for significant impact on the business. AKT projects are delivered by graduates who benefit from the opportunity to work on a strategically relevant project within industry, whilst receiving support and guidance from university academics. More information about the Accelerated Knowledge Transfer programme can be found at:

Further information

Interviews will be held on Friday 23 October.

This is a fixed-term role for a period of 3 months, and the role must start no later than 13 November 2026.

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

We're very proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. an accredited Disability Confident Leader; autism friendly university, committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff.

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ a great place to work as well as following us and .

Be Well at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½

We’re committed to creating a health-supporting working environment where everyone can thrive and be at their best. We offer a range of resources to enable you to do that from your first day here, including:

• Staff support groups and networks
• A network of Staff Wellbeing Champions
• A suite of tools, resources and frameworks that enable you to be at your best and thrive

Find out more about being at your best at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½.

Closing Date: 19 Oct 2026

Department: Education & Research

Salary: £43,482

This role is part of the UK Catalysis Hub where the practical work will take place at the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH), working within the Hub laboratories.

The UK Catalysis Hub is a national consortium of 46 universities, 15 companies, the STFC Harwell science facilities, and 13 international partners established in 2013 to coordinate and advance UK catalysis research and connect it internationally. Now in its third phase of funding, its priority research areas include sustainability and net zero, digital chemistry, and advanced characterisation methods. One of its core missions is to support the training and career development of early career researchers via community events.

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled and motivated postdoctoral researcher to work at the interface of heterogeneous catalysis and in situ spectroscopy, to understand molecular behaviour in zeolite catalysts for sustainable aviation fuels.

This one-year project brings together complementary expertise in catalytic testing and in situ spectroscopy (Lezcano Gonzalez, UK Catalysis Hub/Manchester) with atomistic modelling and simulation of microporous catalysts carried out by the main supervisor (O’Malley, Ä¢¹½´«Ã½). The work will focus on the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) process, a key route to sustainable aviation fuels, and aims to establish how adsorption, diffusion, and competitive site interactions within zeolite micropores govern catalytic performance, selectivity, and stability.

The project will involve catalytic testing in fixed-bed reactors and in situ FTIR/DRIFTS spectroscopy to probe adsorption, acid-site interactions, and reaction intermediates. The successful candidate will be based at Harwell, gaining experience across multiple techniques.

This role offers a unique opportunity to develop an integrated experimental skillset working closely with expertise in molecular simulation, with strong links to national facilities (ISIS and Diamond) and future large-scale research programmes. There will also be opportunities to engage with industrial partners working on sustainable aviation fuels and advanced catalyst materials.

Both the UKCH and Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ are strongly committed to ED&I and RRI, with comprehensive strategies to tackle long-standing issues facing under-represented groups and key ethical issues, focusing on empowering, inspiring, connecting and upskilling more diverse leaders.

Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ you

Ideal candidate will have experience in the use of vibrational spectroscopy to study the adsorption of molecules into porous materials, and ideally synthesis and characterisation of zeolite catalysts. 

Apart from excellent technical skills, good organisational, communication and presentation skills are essential for this role, as is the ability to work well in an interdisciplinary environment. Interaction with partners of the UK Catalysis Hub and participation in their events will be expected.

Further information

This is a full time (36.5 hours per week) fixed term role.

For an informal discussion regarding the role please contact Alexander O'Malley at aom36@bath.ac.uk.

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

We're very proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. an accredited Disability Confident Leader; autism friendly university, committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff. 

What we can offer you

We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Free counselling services through Health Assured
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ gym
• Staff discounts on postgraduate tuition fees
• Staff discount on language courses
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• A wide range of personal and professional development opportunities including Apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning and more
• Free entry to the Holburne Museum in Ä¢¹½´«Ã½
• Local discounts and more
• A family-friendly workplace 
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ a great place to work as well as following us and .

 

Closing Date: 22 Oct 2026

Department: Education & Research

Salary: £39,560 to £46,970