About the role

Shipping currently produces greenhouse gas emissions on par with aviation, and significant efforts are underway to reduce its environmental impact. One promising approach is Wind-Assisted Propulsion, which decreases the thrust required from propellers and, consequently, the load on internal combustion engines. However, the optimal control of these propulsion systems remains an open challenge. This project builds on preliminary work using Reinforcement Learning for control strategies and aims to validate simulation results through wind tunnel testing.

About you

You should have:

• a PhD in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• experience in designing and conducting experimental test campaigns.
• experience in simulation and modelling of dynamic systems.
• strong analytical and problem solving skills.

Further information

This is offered on a fixed-term basis from September 2025 until April 2026.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Nathan Sell (nps22@bath.ac.uk) or Özgür ÅžimÅŸek (os435@bath.ac.uk).

As a member of Â鶹´«Ã½ Staff at the University of Bath, you will be encouraged to take up a minimum of 10 days professional development pro rata per year

A lower grade offer may be made (Grade 6) with comparable reduction in responsibilities and amendment in job title to Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 Â鶹´«Ã½ Associate once their PhD has been awarded. 

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equality and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

We're very proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. an accredited Disability Confident Leader; autism friendly university, committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff. 

What we can offer you

We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Free counselling services through Health Assured
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Bath gym
• Staff discounts on postgraduate tuition fees
• Staff discount on language courses
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• A wide range of personal and professional development opportunities including Apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning and more
• Free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
• Local discounts and more
• A family-friendly workplace 
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance
• Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the University of Bath a great place to work as well as following us and .

Closing Date: 27 Jul 2025

Department: Education & Â鶹´«Ã½

Salary: £38,249 to £45,413 (Â鶹´«Ã½ Associate) or £30,805, rising to £37,174 (Â鶹´«Ã½ Assistant)

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Â鶹´«Ã½ Associate (PDRA) to take a key role in the development of a new analytical framework for developing dexterous soft robotic manipulators. The role is funded by The successful applicant will be based at the University of Bath.

The emerging technology of soft robotics exploits flexible and compliant materials for their design. They are able to translate fundamental biological principles into new engineering design rules or combine life-like components into a synthetic structure to create robotic systems that perform very much like a natural system. Soft robotic systems provide a route to increase body flexibility, improve dexterous handling in unstructured environments, enable adaptability of wearable and medical devices, and safer human-machine interaction. Machine Learning (ML) is an emerging technology with significant potential in integrating and embodying soft robotics technologies, but it is in its infancy in this area. This high-risk, high-gain project will provide a step-change and lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge in soft robotics by creating a new analytical modelling framework which involves new model- and learning-based approaches and their integration to allow modelling, prediction, control and understanding of soft robotic manipulators. The new framework will address and overcome “frustrating unpredictability”, “surprising results”, “ineffectiveness and inaccuracy”, and “unreliability” of the soft manipulators during motion, as well as “a lack of understanding and tools” challenge during research on soft robotics.

The PDRA will be responsible for delivering high-quality research on the topic, including:

• Design and development of soft manipulators.
• Development of a multimodal sensing system and the learning-based models of soft manipulators.
• Model assessment and evaluation.
• Creation of an analytical modelling framework to enable an understanding and the development of dexterous soft robotic manipulators 

This role will suit you if you:

• Hold a PhD degree in a subject area of direct relevance for the project.
• Have previous experience in one or more of the following: modelling, design, control or prototyping of soft robots and systems.
• Have excellent analytical, problem-solving, and project management skills.
• Are self-motivated and have excellent communication skills.

You will be responsible for planning and performing your own research activities. You will be expected to take an active role in supporting PhD and undergraduate research students within the laboratory. You should have excellent interpersonal and communication skills to work as part of a team and discuss your work with a range of audiences.

Further information

This is a full-time, fixed term role for a period of 24 months.

For an informal discussion about this role please contact Professor Min Pan (mp351@bath.ac.uk)

Please ensure you submit your application via our website. Please note that during initial shortlisting, the panel can only see your application form and your answers to the shortlisting questions; they cannot see your attachments (e.g. your CV).

A lower grade offer may be made (Grade 6) with comparable reduction in responsibilities and amendment in job title to Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 Â鶹´«Ã½ Associate once their PhD has been awarded.

What we can offer you

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equality and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students, so we encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our commitment.

We are very proud to be an autism friendly university and are an accredited Disability Confident Leader; committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff.

• Free counselling services through Health Assured
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Bath gym
• Staff discounts on postgraduate tuition fees
• Staff discount on language courses
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• A wide range of personal and professional development opportunities including Apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning and more
• Free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
• Local discounts and more
• A family-friendly workplace 
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance
• Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses

We are committed to continually expanding our benefits to better support you and enhance your experience with us. Find out more about our benefits.

Find out from our staff what makes the University of Bath a great place to work. Follow us and on X for more information.

Closing Date: 31 Jul 2025

Department: Education & Â鶹´«Ã½

Salary: £38,249 to £45,413