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The University of Edinburgh
Postdoctoral Research Associate
City of Edinburgh Hybrid 2-5 yrs exp£41k – £49k / year
Process-based modellingStatistical analysisADMS-Urban modelClimate data analysisEmissions scenario development
Requirements
The candidate must be able to perform simulations of outdoor air quality and analyze regional long-term weather and climate model projections. Experience with UK NAEI emissions inventory and climate datasets like UKCP18 or EURO-CORDEX is expected.
Job Description
Job Description
Grade UE07: £41,064 - £48,822 per annum, pro rata if part time
School of GeoSciences / CSE
Full time: 35 hours per week
Fixed term contract: until 12 February 2030
The Opportunity
Shape what happens next. Be part of something bigger.
Here, you can continue to make a difference in everything around you. Take on new challenges, grow your career, be recognised for your contributions, and benefit from our commitment to your wellbeing. Be part of something bigger — where your work has real impact and your development matters. There are so many reasons to take your next step with us. The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where researchers can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area.
We seek a postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) to undertake climate and air pollution related research within two large multi-institutional UKRI funded hubs: "Indoor HABItability during the Transition to NetZero Housing Hub: INHABIT and HEARTH: National Hub on Net Zero, Health and Extreme Heat" which aim to produce scientific evidence and policy-relevant solutions to realise the health co-benefits of the UK’s net zero transition. The research will utilise street-scale process-based modelling and statistical analysis methods applicable to large climate datasets, to quantify ambient environmental exposures.
The PDRA will focus on two related strands of research focusing on air pollution and climate change: You will perform simulations of outdoor air quality, within an outdoor-indoor air quality exposure and health modelling framework, using the ADMS-Urban model. This research will develop emissions scenarios for model simulations that consider future emission pathways and sector–based interventions that utilise the UK NAEI emissions inventory and/or regional action plans. You will also examine heat and related co-occurring climate extremes (such as outdoor air quality, wildfires, drought, flooding), and their impacts through analysis of regional long-term weather and climate model projections datasets (e.g. UKCP18, EURO-CORDEX). You will co-develop an indoor heat-health warning system for different settings (such as homes, care homes, hospitals, prisons) and co-produce a set of indicators and metrics to measure impacts and quantify the health co-benefits of net zero interventions. You will gain exposure of interdisciplinary working across natural and built environments and in health sciences within a large hub team and benefit from hub career development opportunities.
Our people are at the centre of the University community and everything we do. We value colleagues with drive, determination and a passion for what they do.
A career with us has a range of other benefits that can be tailored to your lifestyle:
View the full job description (opens in a new browser tab)
How To Apply
Please include the following documents in your application:
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also a Stonewall Proud Employer, actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)
The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant. Please note if the role is offered on a part-time basis, it may result in sponsorship being dependent on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant or the role no longer meeting the Home Office’s criteria for sponsorship.
Key dates to note
The closing date for applications is 17 September 2026.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
Interviews will be held mid-end October.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About The Team
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable.
With over 500 academics, researchers and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as having application to key societal challenges including inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; development and sustainability; climate and environmental change; energy, food and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; and natural hazards.
The School of GeoSciences aims to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working.
More details about the School is available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
Grade UE07: £41,064 - £48,822 per annum, pro rata if part time
School of GeoSciences / CSE
Full time: 35 hours per week
Fixed term contract: until 12 February 2030
The Opportunity
Shape what happens next. Be part of something bigger.
Here, you can continue to make a difference in everything around you. Take on new challenges, grow your career, be recognised for your contributions, and benefit from our commitment to your wellbeing. Be part of something bigger — where your work has real impact and your development matters. There are so many reasons to take your next step with us. The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where researchers can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area.
We seek a postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) to undertake climate and air pollution related research within two large multi-institutional UKRI funded hubs: "Indoor HABItability during the Transition to NetZero Housing Hub: INHABIT and HEARTH: National Hub on Net Zero, Health and Extreme Heat" which aim to produce scientific evidence and policy-relevant solutions to realise the health co-benefits of the UK’s net zero transition. The research will utilise street-scale process-based modelling and statistical analysis methods applicable to large climate datasets, to quantify ambient environmental exposures.
The PDRA will focus on two related strands of research focusing on air pollution and climate change: You will perform simulations of outdoor air quality, within an outdoor-indoor air quality exposure and health modelling framework, using the ADMS-Urban model. This research will develop emissions scenarios for model simulations that consider future emission pathways and sector–based interventions that utilise the UK NAEI emissions inventory and/or regional action plans. You will also examine heat and related co-occurring climate extremes (such as outdoor air quality, wildfires, drought, flooding), and their impacts through analysis of regional long-term weather and climate model projections datasets (e.g. UKCP18, EURO-CORDEX). You will co-develop an indoor heat-health warning system for different settings (such as homes, care homes, hospitals, prisons) and co-produce a set of indicators and metrics to measure impacts and quantify the health co-benefits of net zero interventions. You will gain exposure of interdisciplinary working across natural and built environments and in health sciences within a large hub team and benefit from hub career development opportunities.
Our people are at the centre of the University community and everything we do. We value colleagues with drive, determination and a passion for what they do.
A career with us has a range of other benefits that can be tailored to your lifestyle:
- Professional development and subject matter expertise
- Opportunities to develop new skills and broaden your experience
- Leading-edge research
- Opportunities for publication
- Working within one of the world’s leading universities
View the full job description (opens in a new browser tab)
How To Apply
Please include the following documents in your application:
- CV (including list of publications)
- Cover letter
- Two references
- A competitive salary.
- An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
- To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also a Stonewall Proud Employer, actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)
The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant. Please note if the role is offered on a part-time basis, it may result in sponsorship being dependent on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant or the role no longer meeting the Home Office’s criteria for sponsorship.
Key dates to note
The closing date for applications is 17 September 2026.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
Interviews will be held mid-end October.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About The Team
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable.
With over 500 academics, researchers and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as having application to key societal challenges including inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; development and sustainability; climate and environmental change; energy, food and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; and natural hazards.
The School of GeoSciences aims to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working.
More details about the School is available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
Education
Postgraduate Degree
Skills
Process-based modellingStatistical analysisADMS-Urban modelClimate data analysisEmissions scenario developmentClimate model projectionsInterdisciplinary researchAir quality simulation