Research Fellow in Atmospheric Ice Nucleation - ENVEE1853
| Posting date: | 27 November 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £41,064 to £48,822 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 27 December 2025 |
| Location: | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | University of Leeds |
| Job type: | Temporary |
| Job reference: | ENVEE1853 |
Summary
This role will be based on the university campus with scope for it to be undertaken in a hybrid manner. We are also open to discussing flexible working arrangements.
Would you like to help to help to reduce uncertainty in cloud-climate feedbacks through new field work, do you have an established background in experimental cloud and aerosol research and do you want to further your career in a one of the world’s leading atmospheric science institutes?
You will become a key member of the Ice Nucleation group in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. You will work on the M-Phase (Resolving climate sensitivity associated with shallow mixed phase cloud in the oceanic mid- to high latitudes) and also the new IceSO (Measuring the variability in ice-nucleating particles over the Southern Ocean to reduce uncertainty in cloud-climate feedbacks) projects. These projects are tackling important questions at the core of one of the largest uncertainties in global climate projections – the properties of low-level oceanic clouds and the influence or aerosol particles. Model radiative biases over the Southern Ocean (SO) are largely due to a lack of low-level supercooled liquid clouds that results in far too much solar radiation making it to the surface, a sea that is too warm and global cloud feedback that is too negative. The balance between supercooled water and ice is central to defining the effects of clouds on climate and climate change, yet this balance is very poorly represented by current climate models. A key goal is to substantially improve our understanding of the sources and properties of the ice-nucleating particles (INPs) that initiate these critical changes in cloud phase, and thereby reduce uncertainty in climate projections.
Our knowledge of the enigmatic particles that trigger ice formation in clouds is particularly poor for remote oceans, such as the SO. Available data are limited by being of low time resolution (many hours to days) and short-term campaign-based (weeks, months) that only provide a snapshot. The available measurements show substantial variability in INP concentrations, and an unexplained decrease in SO INP concentrations over several decades.
At present we do not understand short- or long-term variability in INP and furthermore the sources, seasonal cycle and temperature dependence of INPs remain poorly defined; this hinders the development of realistic treatments of cloud physics in climate models. To accurately represent INPs in our models we need long-term high time resolution (~1 hr or better) measurements, but until now we have not had the tools to make these measurements. We have broken this deadlock with the development of PINE (Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment), a mobile cloud chamber, which we propose to deploy in the SO region. In IceSO PINE will be installed at the Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (KCG-BAPS; 40°S, 144°E) through our partners at CSIRO (Ruhi Humphries). KCG-BAPS is situated at the latitude band of greatest low-cloud feedback on Earth and has been used as a SO baseline station for over 40 years.
You will work closely with Dr Mark Tarn (Leeds), who led the M-Phase cruise and collected filter samples from the FAAM aircraft that we will study with electron microscopy; Dr Ross Herbert (Leeds) and Prof. Ken Carslaw (Leeds), who are our global aerosol modellers who will make use of our new SO data; Dr Paul Field (Leeds and Met Office) who will work with Herbert on cloud modelling; Dr Ruhi Humphries who will assist us in deploying PINE at KCG-BAPS; and Dr Ottmar Möhler who co-developed PINE with Leeds.
Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.
What we offer in return
26 days holiday plus approx.16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – That’s 42 days a year!
Generous pension scheme options plus life assurance
Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.
Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team.
Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.
And much more!
Would you like to help to help to reduce uncertainty in cloud-climate feedbacks through new field work, do you have an established background in experimental cloud and aerosol research and do you want to further your career in a one of the world’s leading atmospheric science institutes?
You will become a key member of the Ice Nucleation group in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. You will work on the M-Phase (Resolving climate sensitivity associated with shallow mixed phase cloud in the oceanic mid- to high latitudes) and also the new IceSO (Measuring the variability in ice-nucleating particles over the Southern Ocean to reduce uncertainty in cloud-climate feedbacks) projects. These projects are tackling important questions at the core of one of the largest uncertainties in global climate projections – the properties of low-level oceanic clouds and the influence or aerosol particles. Model radiative biases over the Southern Ocean (SO) are largely due to a lack of low-level supercooled liquid clouds that results in far too much solar radiation making it to the surface, a sea that is too warm and global cloud feedback that is too negative. The balance between supercooled water and ice is central to defining the effects of clouds on climate and climate change, yet this balance is very poorly represented by current climate models. A key goal is to substantially improve our understanding of the sources and properties of the ice-nucleating particles (INPs) that initiate these critical changes in cloud phase, and thereby reduce uncertainty in climate projections.
Our knowledge of the enigmatic particles that trigger ice formation in clouds is particularly poor for remote oceans, such as the SO. Available data are limited by being of low time resolution (many hours to days) and short-term campaign-based (weeks, months) that only provide a snapshot. The available measurements show substantial variability in INP concentrations, and an unexplained decrease in SO INP concentrations over several decades.
At present we do not understand short- or long-term variability in INP and furthermore the sources, seasonal cycle and temperature dependence of INPs remain poorly defined; this hinders the development of realistic treatments of cloud physics in climate models. To accurately represent INPs in our models we need long-term high time resolution (~1 hr or better) measurements, but until now we have not had the tools to make these measurements. We have broken this deadlock with the development of PINE (Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment), a mobile cloud chamber, which we propose to deploy in the SO region. In IceSO PINE will be installed at the Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (KCG-BAPS; 40°S, 144°E) through our partners at CSIRO (Ruhi Humphries). KCG-BAPS is situated at the latitude band of greatest low-cloud feedback on Earth and has been used as a SO baseline station for over 40 years.
You will work closely with Dr Mark Tarn (Leeds), who led the M-Phase cruise and collected filter samples from the FAAM aircraft that we will study with electron microscopy; Dr Ross Herbert (Leeds) and Prof. Ken Carslaw (Leeds), who are our global aerosol modellers who will make use of our new SO data; Dr Paul Field (Leeds and Met Office) who will work with Herbert on cloud modelling; Dr Ruhi Humphries who will assist us in deploying PINE at KCG-BAPS; and Dr Ottmar Möhler who co-developed PINE with Leeds.
Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.
What we offer in return
26 days holiday plus approx.16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – That’s 42 days a year!
Generous pension scheme options plus life assurance
Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.
Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team.
Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.
And much more!