Research Assistant/Associate - Second-life Battery Storage for Net Zero Grids

Salary: Research Assistant: £32,546 - £34,132 per annum

            Research Associate: £35,116 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 01 May 2025

The role

This is an excellent opportunity to join leading team in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, Newcastle University.

The EPSRC Northern Net Zero Accelerator (NNZA) project aims the adoption of unsupervised learning techniques to cluster second-life EV batteries for PV solar and wind energy storage systems.

The interdisciplinary idea translation is based on the existing knowledge within Newcastle University from the two research areas i.e., Intelligent Sensing and Net-zero Electrification. The knowledge/expertise on in-line testing and characterization of batteries from projects with the EVOEMs i.e., Nissan, Renault, Daimler, project will be leveraged. Moreover, knowledge on data-driven decision making from The ReLiB Project (Faraday Institution's flagship, £18m, research project on challenges of re-using and comprehensively recycling lithium-ion batteries), will be also applied in this project. The knowledge/expertise on Intelligent Multimodal Sensing achieved from UKRI/EPSRC/Innovate-UK/Dstl funded projects will be leveraged for this work i.e., unsupervised learning, data clustering including statistical modelling and estimation, noise and heterogeneous information fusion, and multiple-source localization and tracking.

You should be educated to at least MSc (or equivalent degree qualification) in EEE (PhD award essential for Research Associate). You should have a demonstrable record of signal processing/machine learning algorithms.

This position is available immediately on a full time, fixed term basis for 6 months, from the contract start date. 

All informal enquiries welcome to:

Dr Mohsen Naqvi (mohsen.naqvi@ncl.ac.uk).

For more information about PI, please click the following link:

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/mohsennaqvi.html

For more information about the School of Engineering and our research, please click the following link: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/

Key Accountabilities

• Work with the team Dr Mohsen Naqvi (PI) in Intelligent Sensing and Communications Research Group, Dr Simon Lambert (CoI) and Dr Mazhar Abbas (CoI) in Electrical Power Research Group, within the School of Engineering
• Learn to use EC-lab software available in Electrical Power Testing (EPT) Lab as the second-life batteries’ characterization data is archived as EC-lab files
• Process retired batteries’ data. The second life-batteries and sources to get data are available under the existing project agreements
• Apply unsupervised learning techniques to screening batteries based on the preprocessing and features/parameters extraction
• Design of distributed control system based on clusters, meta data, and energy generation (PV, Wind) process
• Use unique multi-sensor research lab facility. In the state-of-the-art lab design, the multimodal sensors are operating in parallel, completely time-synchronised and specifically the Infrared sensors are working in overlapping field of view

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Track record of design, deployment and evaluation of machine/deep learning-based techniques
• Strong qualitative evaluation skills
• Experience of working on multi-sensor data
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to present detailed or technical information and the ability to work with others to understand technical and user requirements
• Basic knowledge of programming languages e.g. Python, Matlab, etc.

(Desirable)

• Evidence of originality, innovation, creativity and research track record including publications in leading conferences in Signal Processing and high-calibre journals
• Experience demonstrating to undergraduate and PGT students

Attributes and Behaviour

• Ability to work on own initiative with demonstrable problem-solving skills
• Ability to complete tasks independently and flexibly at the discretion of the Principal Investigator and Team
• Ability to work as a member of a dedicated research groups, in a collaborative manner with team colleagues at all levels
• Committed to embedding the values of equality and diversity in all aspects of your work
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills with the ability to interact and collaborate with people from industry

Qualifications

• PhD (awarded or close to submission) in EEE, or a closely related discipline. (Essential for Research Associate)
• MSc (or equivalent) in Signal Processing or Machine Learning Subjects. (Essential for Research Assistant / Desirable for Research Associate)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28099