Organisation
Cranfield University
Faculty or Department
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Based at
Cranfield Campus, Cranfield, Bedfordshire
Hours of work
37 hours per week, normally worked Monday to Friday. Flexible working will be considered.
Contract type
Fixed term contract
Fixed Term Period
24 Months
Salary
Full time starting salary is normally in the range of £38,655 per annum
The Cranfield Water Science Institute welcomes applications from passionate, skilled and motivated engineering, chemistry or environmental science graduates with a PhD in the field of water or wastewater treatment processes to join our team and contribute to investigate treatment strategies for chemical circularity and sustainability in drinking water production.
About the Role
We are looking for a self-driven Research Fellow to join our dynamic team to address the challenge of chemical circularity and sustainability in drinking water treatment. The UK produces 5 trillion litres of high-quality drinking water each year. Producing this water currently relies on large volumes of chemicals and energy intensive processes, which generate significant waste, emissions, and environmental pressures. Based at Cranfield University, this research is part of Chemnovate – Circular and Low Carbon Chemical Solutions for Drinking Water. Chemnovate is a new project awarded funding by the UK water regulator OFWAT, and isled by Anglian Water in partnership with Cranfield University, Essex and Suffolk Water Limited, Northumbrian Water Limited, Scottish Water Limited, Spring Innovation Limited. The project aims to address the major challenges to achieving chemical circularity and sustainability in drinking water production.
The successful candidate for this position will investigate advanced and innovative treatment options for brine salt recovery from ion exchange processes used for nitrate removal in drinking water. This research will assess technologies such as biological denitrification, and membrane processes to remove nitrate and other contaminants from used brine and options for brine salt reuse.
The researchers will use our drinking water laboratory, analytical facilities and the National Research Facility for Water and Wastewater Treatment to deliver this innovative research.
You will join us as part of a cross-organisational team, working with Cranfield researchers, water companies and innovation facilitators to translate experimental findings into feasibility analyses, benchmarked against UK water company operational data. This is a great opportunity for any researcher passionate about water processes, environmental engineering and science to deliver impactful research for the water sector
About You
You will have a PhD(or close to completion) in a relevant engineering or science discipline such as, but not limited to, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, chemistry or environmental science related to the research topic. The successful candidates will assess the feasibility of advanced and innovative technologies for removal of nitrate and recovery of useful materials from brine waste streams.
The ideal candidate will have expertise in:
- Experimental research related to water treatment processes, and ideally, biological processes such as denitrification, and/or physicochemical separation processes, including membrane processes
- Relevant advanced analytical techniques such as biological quantification, PCR, ion chromatography, spectrophotometry and solid analysis
- statistical data analysis
- designing new experimental bench-scale set ups
- working with pilot plants
You will have project management skills and demonstrable experience of timely research delivery, with excellent demonstrable communication skills and experience working with different stakeholders. You will be able to demonstrate a track record of high-quality scientific publications. The ideal candidate will have knowledge and experience of water chemistry and treatment. Equivalent industry experience would be considered.
About Us
As a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield’s world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally. Learn more about Cranfield and our unique impact here.
The Water Science Institute undertakes globally leading research and post graduate teaching in water and wastewater process science, engineering and management. We drive sustainable solutions to combat the multiple challenges being faced by our water resources, assets and services. We have a track record of delivering collaborative cutting-edge discovery science on the transformation, removal and recovery processes in water and wastewater treatment systems. Our academic and research staff, including scientists, engineers, technologists and policy specialists have engaged in delivering postgraduate teaching, research, consultancy and training in an international arena for over 40 years.
Our Values and Commitments
Our shared, stated values help to define who we are and underpin everything we do: Ambition; Impact; Respect; and Community. Find out more here.
We aim to create and maintain a culture in which everyone can work and study together and realise their full potential. We are a Disability Confident Employer. We are committed to actively exploring flexible working options for each role and have been ranked in the Top 30 family friendly employers in the UK by the charity Working Families. Find out more about our key commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Flexible Working here.
Working Arrangements
Collaborating and connecting are integral to so much of what we do. Our Working Arrangements Framework provides many staff with the opportunity to flexibly combine on-site and remote working, where job roles allow, balancing the needs of our community of staff, students, clients and partners.
How to apply
For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Dr Irene Carra, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Processes, (E): [email protected]
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further details on E: [email protected]. Please quote reference number 5376.
Closing date for receipt of applications: 13 September 2026
Please note that we reserve the right to close this advert prior to the stated closing date should we receive sufficient numbers of applications. Therefore, we would encourage you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.
