The post holders will be responsible for the design, construction, test, calibration and deployment/data collection/servicing of multi-instrument seabed platforms. You will support sensor integration for ship-based surveys, integration of new sensors into turbine-based measurements and develop new research areas of unscrewed or autonomous surface vehicle measurements.
A level of Gaelic ability would be advantageous to your application.
As offshore wind expands, advanced and efficient monitoring techniques are needed to collect the required data across spatial and temporal scales. The development and deployment of these underpinning techniques will not only address critical evidence gaps but also mitigate the cost and risk associated with future consenting processes. Supporting the move towards distributed, coordinated marine measurements relies heavily on the advancement of sensor technologies and methodological frameworks to robustly quantify cumulative impacts. This role focuses on developing and deploying advanced sensor platforms that enhance data collection across spatial and temporal scales, revolutionizing how we monitor marine ecosystems.
The candidate will be responsible for:
- Design, construction, test, calibration and deployment / data collection / servicing of multiinstrument seabed platforms, often combining active acoustics (echosounders, imaging sonar) with passive acoustics (click detectors, broadband hydrophones) and oceanographic sensors (ADCP, CTD, fluorometer, etc.).
- Support sensor integration for ship-based surveys, integration of new sensors into turbine-based measurements and developing new research areas of uncrewed or autonomous surface vehicle measurements.
- Lead integration and performance evaluation of new sensors to enhance capabilities ensuring cutting-edge technology is deployed in a robust way.
- Develop real-time data acquisition and processing techniques for adaptive sampling and intelligent environmental monitoring.
The candidate will require:
- Experience with electrical and electronic design, including interfacing and control of sensors, communications, power supply and fault-tolerance / redundancy.
- Basic mechanical engineering experience for the design, and management of fabrication for future subsea sensor platforms.
- Experience with configuration, deployment, recovery and servicing of marine instrumentation.
- Experience with software/hardware interfaces, parsing and processing data streams (e.g., Ethernet, proprietary file formats, common databases), communication protocols.
- Programming experience to develop & implement software for interfacing sensors and processing data in real time, enabling test and demonstration, before field deployments.
- Enthusiasm for pushing the boundaries of marine sensing and its application to offshore renewables.
Qualifications:
Postholders have the knowledge, skills and experience normally associated with a first degree, together with:
- a Ph.D. or an equivalent professional qualification; or
- at least 4 years appropriate professional experience.
Experience:
- Sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in the discipline to effectively contribute to research programmes and to the development of departmental research activities.
- A developing ability to prepare research proposals, to conduct individual research work and to disseminate results, with the assistance of a mentor if required.
- The ability to organize own research workload, with some guidance from senior colleagues if required.
Salary: Research Associate I £36,066 – £38,641 per annum, Research Associate II £41,467 – £44,420 per annum.
Application deadline: May 16, 2025
