The Polar Science group in Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) are recruiting a Senior Research Associate to improve our understanding of the impact of extreme weather events on the Antarctic firn layer. This is a 2 year position with a start date in early July 2025 sought (or soon after).

Increasing occurrences and intensities of weather and climate extremes are a visible manifestation of climate change, and they have a strong impact on the natural environment and society. They are projected to become more frequent and intense in all areas of the world, including the Antarctic. Antarctic extreme weather events (AEWE) have global implications, through potential detrimental impacts on ice shelf stability and sea-ice cover, leading to ice mass loss and global sea level rise. Obtaining improved projections of how AEWE, their drivers and their impacts may be affected by climate change is hence crucially important. AEWE can lead to warm temperatures and increased snowfall, both of which are important controls on the depth and density of the firn layer. This has implications for the retention and refreezing of meltwater, and associated processes including meltwater ponding. In this project we will 1) perform a systematic assessment of the role of AEWE on firn evolution using the community firn model and 2) perform forward simulations forced by RCM output to examine the role of future extremes on ice shelf viability.

Lancaster University is a UK top 15 university in all three main domestic league tables and was International University of the Year in 2020 according to the Sunday Times Good University Guide. LEC forms one of the largest and most prestigious groupings of environmental researchers in Europe and is the largest department at the University. Polar Science is one of the major research themes in LEC and the polar science group has extensive involvement in major national and international research projects and is renowned for research excellence.

Role

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), you will conduct research under the supervision of Dr Amber Leeson as part of a project titled ‘Processes, Impacts, and Changes of ANTarctic Extreme weather (PICANTE)’. The project involves partners at the Universities of Sheffield, Lincoln and Exeter, Imperial College and the British Antarctic Survey. 

Specific activities you will perform:

• Gridded simulations using the Community Firn Model over selected East Antarctic, West Antarctic, and Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves for the 1979-2019 period forced by RCM output. 
• Use these data, together with an inventory of AEWEs compiled by project partner to investigate 1) the direct impact of AEWE on firn depth, density and liquid water contect in the days/weeks following an extreme melt event and 2) the cumulative effect of AEWE on long-term firn pore space, and 3) the extent to which AEWEs contribute to preconditioning the firn layer for future saturation and ponding. 
• Statistical emulation will be used to constrain uncertainty and to identify priorities for future model development. 
• Forward simulations will also be performed under two possible storylines; a) high sea ice loss in combination with a weak strengthening of the stratospheric polar vortex and b) low sea ice loss in combination with a strong strengthening of the SPV.

Where appropriate you will:

• Participate in national/international meetings, conferences and workshops to present the results of the project to a wider audience and to learn about current advances in the field.
• Write research papers and other publications.
• Assist with a small amount of undergraduate teaching in Environmental Science.
• Assist with mentoring more junior team members e.g. PhD students. 

You will join us on an indefinite contract, however the role remains contingent on external funding which at this time is limited to a two-year post.

Closing Date: 05 May 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 (Full time, indefinite with end date)

This £4M programme is funded by EPSRC and brings together research groups from the Universities of Lancaster, Bristol, Warwick and the London School of Economics together with a committed group of industrial and public sector partners. 

Interaction between the research groups at the universities will be strongly encouraged and resourced; our philosophy is to tackle the methodological, theoretical and computational aspects of these statistical problems together. This integrated approach is essential to achieving the substantive fundamental advances in statistics envisaged, and to ensuring that our new methods are sufficiently robust and efficient to be widely adopted by academics, industry and society more generally.

The programme is led by Idris Eckley (Lancaster University), Haeran Cho (University of Bristol), Paul Fearnhead (Lancaster University), Qiwei Yao (London School of Economics) and Yi Yu (University of Warwick). 

This 2-year position is available at Lancaster University. You should have, or be close to completing, a PhD in Statistics or a closely related discipline. Throughout, you should have demonstrated an ability to develop new statistical theory and methods in one of the relevant areas, including but not limited to: anomaly detection; changepoint analysis; non-stationary time series analysis, high dimensional statistics, statistical-computational tradeoffs, scalable statistical methods. You will also have shown a demonstrable ability to produce academic writing of the highest publishable quality.  

These are full-time positions, though we will consider applicants requesting part-time or other flexible working arrangements. 

Candidates who are considering making an application are strongly encouraged to contact Idris Eckley (i.eckley@lancaster.ac.uk) or Paul Fearnhead (p.fearnhead@lancaster.ac.uk) to discuss the programme in greater detail.  

Closing Date: 30 May 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 (Full-Time/Indefinite with End Date)

More than 13,000 people in Lancashire and South Cumbria have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness, while Blackpool has the highest rate of deaths linked to addiction and suicide in England. In conjunction with partners at the University of Manchester and King’s College London, the group will identify local needs and priorities for mental health research and work alongside residents to develop a more proactive, preventative model of care. Four initial research themes aim to tackle inequities in access to effective mental health interventions, particularly for those experiencing multiple disadvantages and/or complex mental health issues, who are often excluded from mainstream services. The voices of diverse individuals with lived experience are central to all aspects of the research programme. 

In this role, you will work within the cross-cutting implementation science strand, facilitating the rapid translation of co-produced research into significant improvements in local mental health service provision. 

This will include relational work with diverse partners across health, social care, and community sectors to integrate activities and support the development of local implementation plans and business cases that enable practical application of research evidence. 

You will have good awareness of the current mental health research landscape and a PhD in a related discipline (or equivalent experience). You will work closely with members of the MHRG programme from a wide range of organisations, producing reports, publications and other outputs tailored for different audiences. As such, you will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills. You will be well-organised and able to manage multiple work priorities, including co-ordinating regular meetings of the MHRG Implementation Science Steering Group. 

The ideal candidate will have experience in supporting the translation of research evidence into health care service improvements and measuring the impact of these changes. Experience of using implementation tools to facilitate the uptake of evidence-based practices would also be an advantage but is not essential as full training will be provided. Opportunities to support with supervising PhD students within the MHRG may also be available. 

The post will be based at Lancaster Medical School and will involve some travel across the UK.

Lancaster Medical School sits within Lancaster University’s Faculty of Health and Medicine and offers a friendly environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each employee and actively promotes a healthy work-life balance. The Faculty is committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies and has held a Silver Athena SWAN award since 2014 in recognition of its good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements and welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.

You will join Lancaster University on an indefinite contract; however, the role remains contingent on external funding, which is currently due to come to an end on 30^th June 2031.

For further information on the role and to discuss any aspects of the position, please contact: 

Professor Louise Connell: l.connell2@lancaster.ac.uk.

Closing Date: 29 Apr 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 (Full time, indefinite with end date)

Division of Health Research (Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research) 

Grade 7

Lancaster University has a world-class reputation as a centre for excellence in teaching and research. It is in the top 1 per cent of universities in the world and highly ranked in each of the UKs major university league tables. The Division of Health Research (DHR), within Lancaster University’s Faculty of Health and Medicine, is seeking to appoint an experienced Senior Research Associate to join the new Mental Health Research Group (MHRG). The MHRG is a five-year initiative funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), who have recently awarded Lancaster University almost £11 million to conduct world-class mental health research in the North West region.   

More than 13,000 people in Lancashire and South Cumbria have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness, while Blackpool has the highest rate of deaths linked to addiction and suicide in England. In conjunction with partners at the University of Manchester and King’s College London, the group will identify local needs and priorities for mental health research and work alongside residents to develop a more proactive, preventative model of care. Four initial research themes aim to tackle inequities in access to effective mental health interventions, particularly for those experiencing multiple disadvantages and/or complex mental health issues, who are often excluded from mainstream services. The voices of diverse individuals with lived experience are central to all aspects of the research programme. 

You will work alongside Dr Jasper Palmier-Claus, Professor Steven Jones and Dr Euan Lawson to lead and deliver a randomised control trial for enabling physical health appointments in people with severe mental health difficulties. This role will involve measuring the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the intervention, as well as carrying out a process evaluation to better understand how and why the intervention works, for whom, and in what contexts. You will have a strong background in mental health research and a PhD in a related discipline (or equivalent experience). Knowledge of clinical trial methodology and qualitative approaches, plus an understanding of the ethical and governance processes associated with intervention studies, would be advantageous. You will be expected to contribute to the development of future competitive funding applications to ensure sustainability in mental health research; previous experience is desirable.

The post will be based in the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University (Health Innovation campus) and will involve some travel within the UK. 

Our team and the Division of Health Research offer a friendly environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each employee and actively promotes a healthy work-life balance. The Faculty is committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies and has held a Silver Athena SWAN award since 2014 in recognition of its good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research. 

The post is available to start July 2026 and we will consider against the business needs of the project flexible working arrangements including condensed hours, days/hours worked and flexible start and finish times. You will join Lancaster University on an indefinite contract; however, the role remains contingent on external funding, which at this time is due to come to an end on 30^th June 2031.

Applicants wishing to consider the Skilled Worker Route should ensure they meet the points requirement before applying. Further information can be found on the UK Visas and Immigration website.

For further information on the role and to discuss any aspects of the position, please contact: 

Dr Jasper Palmier-Claus email: j.palmier-claus@lancaster.ac.uk or Professor Steven Jones email: s.jones7@lancaster.ac.uk

Closing Date: 27 Apr 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 Full-Time/Indefinite with End Date)

Closing Date: 11 May 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £33,002 to £37,694 (Full time, indefinite with end date)

The advent of artificial intelligence and the proliferation of cloud-based technologies call for denser, faster and more energy efficient data processing and storage. However, the heat produced by modern data centres has already become a serious limitation to further increase their performance. At present, the data industry lacks a solution for this problem, which in future may contribute greatly to the global warming and energy crisis. This project aims to pave a way towards a memory-device characterized by very low energy consumption and switching times of one trillionth of a second. Very short pulses of electro-magnetic radiation at terahertz frequency (i.e. thousand times faster than that in current data communication and processing standards) are among the shortest stimuli available. These pulses are made from light particles, photons, with their energies naturally matching those of elementary quantum magnets, “spins”, which are used to store information in the magnetic memory. Hence, such terahertz photons can selectively excite spins on their own energy scale without releasing any significant heating into the surrounding medium. Furthermore, the terahertz excitation of the spins is expected to be strong enough to induce switching of the spins’ orientations, representing an elementary act of writing a bit of information within a magnetic data storage device.  

The position offers access to state-of-the art ultrafast laser facilities and challenging research project at the interface of photonics and magnetism. You will contribute to solving the existential challenge to the humankind: excessive energy consumption by data-intensive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and cloud computing. 

Successful candidates will hold a PhD in experimental physics in a field related to this project. Training in unique experimental techniques will be provided, but we expect you to have prior experience of one or more of the following areas: 

• Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy;
• Terahertz photonics; 
• Magnetic and/or spintronic materials;
• Optical measurements at cryogenic temperatures;
• Near-field microscopy and nanoscopy. 

 The post is available immediately and is offered for 24 months at the first instance. The further extension of the post is possible subject to performance. 

 About Green Future Fellowship programme: 

https://raeng.org.uk/green-future-fellowships 

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/about-us/news/green-future-fellowship-for-lancaster-physicist 

 Key publications: 

[1] R. A. Leenders, O. Y. Kovalenko, Y. Saito, N. R. Vovk, A. V. Kimel, and R. V. Mikhaylovskiy. THz-driven spin dynamics in orthoferrites with Kramers and Non-Kramers rare-earth ions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 246703 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1103/ldnx-67qz 

[2] R. A. Leenders, D. Afanasiev, A. V. Kimel and R. V. Mikhaylovskiy. Canted spin order as a platform for ultrafast conversion of magnons. Nature 630, 335 (2024). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07448-3

[3] S. Schlauderer, C. Lange, S. Baierl, T. Ebnet, C. P. Schmid, D. C. Valovcin, A. K. Zvezdin, A. V. Kimel, R. V. Mikhaylovskiy and R. Huber. Temporal and spectral fingerprints of ultrafast all-coherent spin switching. Nature 569, 383 (2019). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1174-7 

[4]. S. Baierl, M. Hohenleutner, T. Kampfrath, A. K. Zvezdin, A. V. Kimel, R. Huber, and R. V. Mikhaylovskiy. Nonlinear spin control by terahertz driven anisotropy fields. Nature Photonics 10, 715 (2016). https://www.nature.com/articles/nphoton.2016.181 

 About Lancaster University: 

Lancaster University is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the UK university league tables. It is located on a beautiful campus in the North-West of England close to the Lake District National Park.

The Department of Physics is committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis, as well as the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research. We are also strongly committed to fostering diversity within our community as a source of excellence, cultural enrichment, and social strength. We welcome those who would contribute to the further diversification of our department. 

 Informal inquiries:

If this opportunity interests, you and you'd like to know more—or if you're unsure whether your experience is the right fit—we encourage you to contact the principal investigator directly: Dr Rostislav Mikhaylovskiy r.mikhaylovskiy@lancaster.ac.uk He will gladly discuss any technical questions about the post or the working environment within his research team.

Closing Date: 08 May 2026

Department: Research

Salary: £33,002 to £46,049 (Full-Time/Indefinite with End Date)

You will have the opportunity to undertake internationally regarded research and share responsibility for elements of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. You will be awarded a training contract with Health Education England Northwest in the specialist registrar/specialty trainee grade or equivalent and an honorary contract with a relevant NHS Trust*.

One post is in the NIHR priority theme of digital research. The theme is looking to encourage training and research around the development and delivery of digital health and care interventions, digital research methodology and ‘big data’ analysis Research could include the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine-learning approaches and emerging digital technologies such as non-contact sensors, smartphones, and computer tablets. This theme could also include research in data analytics and predictive analytics, precision medicine (genomics), and virtual & augmented reality. This theme is focused on delivering equitable, cost-effective digital health interventions to deliver patient benefits as well as the wider use of large data sets and how this is used in research, including digital analysis methods.

There may be the potential for opportunities in other GMC registered specialties if research interests align with faculty strengths. 

To be eligible, you must hold (or have submitted) your PhD/MD at the time you apply; and must have been fully awarded your degree by 30 September 2026.  You must hold a current National Training Number (NTN) in the relevant specialty and be more than 12 months prior to CCT at time of appointment* (*not relevant for GP candidate). 

The research element of the post will be based in the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University. The clinical component will be centered around clinical settings in Lancashire and the surrounding area. 

You must be able to take up the post by 30 September 2026

Application is via our online portal at https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/ and must include the following attachments:

1. A Curriculum Vitae
2. NIHR Supplementary Questions for candidates form (attached): 

*Please refer to appendix 2 of this document*

Interview date will be advertised in due course, but the successful candidate must be in post by 30 September 2026.

Lancaster University is committed to providing equal opportunities for all and offers a range of family-friendly policies. The University is a charter member of Athena SWAN and has held a bronze award since 2008. The Faculty of Health and Medicine gained the silver award in 2013. We are committed to being an inclusive university that values all staff, and we are happy to consider job share applications and requests for flexible working arrangements from our employees.

General enquiries should be made to Dr Amy Gadoud (Academic Training Programme Director and Consultant in Palliative Medicine), email: a.gadoud@lancaster.ac.uk or Beth Whittaker (ICAT Programme Manager), email: b.whittaker@lancaster.ac.uk

Closing Date: 18 Jul 2026

Department: Research

Salary: Clinical Academic Pay Scales