Research Associate

Research Associate in Life Cycle Assessment and Development of Sustainable Construction Products

Applications are invited for a highly motivated and ambitious Post-Doctoral Research Associate to work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, led by Dr Stephen Allen in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath, UK.

You will be joining a significant European research project that aims to co-design, test, implement and monitor innovative bio-based and geo-based lower carbon products and facade solutions to improve the energy efficiency and whole life impact of buildings. As well as delivering high quality research, you will be expected to develop strong and effective working relationships with project teams and partners and external stakeholders.

You will be responsible for:

• Life cycle assessment (LCA) and simplified life cycle costing (LCC) of innovative construction products, including collaboration with product manufacturers for primary data collection;
• Collaborating with project partners who are undertaking social LCA and combining all three (LCA, LCC and sLCA) into a comprehensive sustainability assessment;
• Contributing to definition of resource assessment methodology and key-performance indicators for INBUILT’s building-level platform;
• Integrating product-level LCA/LCC/sLCA results into building-scale 3D Building Information Model. 

A lower grade offer may be made (Grade 6) with comparable reduction in responsibilities and amendment in job title to Research Assistant, if a suitable applicant cannot be found to fill the Grade 7 position. Applicants will need to be within six months of their course completion date and will be promoted to Research Associate once their PhD has been awarded.

As a member of Research Staff at the University of Bath, you will be encouraged to take up a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year.

About you 

Our ideal candidate will have:

• A PhD in a relevant subject area;
• Expertise in life cycle assessment including primary data collection from manufacturers. Experience in life cycle costing is also desirable but not essential;
• Experience using Brightway2 and openLCA;
• Knowledge of the construction sector;
• Good organisational and presentation skills;
• The ability to work well in an interdisciplinary environment.

Further Information 

This is a full-time position, initially for 12 months fixed term, and available from 1 September 2025. Part time working and/or some degree of flexible working may be possible and if interested in applying on this basis you should make this clear on your application form.