Research Fellow x2
| Posting date: | 17 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £35,608 to £46,049 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 March 2026 |
| Location: | Warwick University, Coventry |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 2 days per week |
| Company: | University of Warwick |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | 111335-0226 |
Summary
Flexible Working
We will consider applications for employment on a part-time or other flexible working basis (e.g. job share), despite the position being advertised as full-time.
Applications are invited for two Research Fellows to work with Dr Bryn Davies on the Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award entitled “Unlocking a New Generation of Imperfection-Resilient Metamaterials” at the University of Warwick.
About the Project
The performance of advanced materials such as metamaterials is often highly sensitive to imperfections, significantly hampering high-volume manufacturing and limiting operational lifespan.
We will develop new mathematical tools to enable the design of a new generation of imperfection-resilient metamaterials that function despite defects or damage.
By driving a discipline-wide shift towards approaching resilience as a design objective, we will reduce the hurdle between theoretical breakthroughs and real-world applications.
The project will focus on several key questions:
1. Predicting when metamaterials fail: develop new mathematical tools to predict the magnitude of imperfection that causes a given function to break down (by exploiting topological characterisations of spectra);
2. Understanding how metamaterials fail: develop new tools for characterising the function of imperfect systems (by developing methods for PDEs with periodic coefficients);
3. Design and fabricate imperfection-resilient metamaterials: use our new tools to develop imperfection-resilient designs (by developing numerical optimisation strategies and working with experimental collaborators to validate predictions).
Opportunity
If you’re excited by waves, metamaterials, analysis of PDEs and interdisciplinary collaboration, and want to work at the interface of first-principles mathematics and real-world applications, then this position is for you!
Within this large-scale project, there is some flexibility to tailor the research direction towards the interests and background of the candidate.
About You
You should have (or be due to submit soon) a PhD, or have equivalent experience, and have expertise in mathematical analysis and/or computational modelling, ideally with some experience of wave physics and PDE models.
You can work effectively in a larger research group and have the ability to communicate its results to our partners and the wider research community.
You will have excellent communication and presentation skills and be comfortable talking about your work with academics from other disciplines and non-specialists.
You will have a record of research papers published in journals (or accepted to be published). You will have a high capacity for original research and creative thought, as well as the ability to manage your time effectively across multiple strands of research.
You will be working as part of an inclusive and flexible team, based in the Warwick Maths Institute, a world-leading mathematics department with a strong group working in applied and computational areas.
You will have opportunities to travel in the UK and abroad, on research visits to collaborating groups/partners and to international conferences. You will be given both time and mentoring support to develop your own research profile and broader skills.
This position is suitable for a finishing PhD student, provided you will have submitted your thesis before the start of this position.
We will consider applications for employment on a part-time or other flexible working basis (e.g. job share), despite the position being advertised as full-time.
Applications are invited for two Research Fellows to work with Dr Bryn Davies on the Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award entitled “Unlocking a New Generation of Imperfection-Resilient Metamaterials” at the University of Warwick.
About the Project
The performance of advanced materials such as metamaterials is often highly sensitive to imperfections, significantly hampering high-volume manufacturing and limiting operational lifespan.
We will develop new mathematical tools to enable the design of a new generation of imperfection-resilient metamaterials that function despite defects or damage.
By driving a discipline-wide shift towards approaching resilience as a design objective, we will reduce the hurdle between theoretical breakthroughs and real-world applications.
The project will focus on several key questions:
1. Predicting when metamaterials fail: develop new mathematical tools to predict the magnitude of imperfection that causes a given function to break down (by exploiting topological characterisations of spectra);
2. Understanding how metamaterials fail: develop new tools for characterising the function of imperfect systems (by developing methods for PDEs with periodic coefficients);
3. Design and fabricate imperfection-resilient metamaterials: use our new tools to develop imperfection-resilient designs (by developing numerical optimisation strategies and working with experimental collaborators to validate predictions).
Opportunity
If you’re excited by waves, metamaterials, analysis of PDEs and interdisciplinary collaboration, and want to work at the interface of first-principles mathematics and real-world applications, then this position is for you!
Within this large-scale project, there is some flexibility to tailor the research direction towards the interests and background of the candidate.
About You
You should have (or be due to submit soon) a PhD, or have equivalent experience, and have expertise in mathematical analysis and/or computational modelling, ideally with some experience of wave physics and PDE models.
You can work effectively in a larger research group and have the ability to communicate its results to our partners and the wider research community.
You will have excellent communication and presentation skills and be comfortable talking about your work with academics from other disciplines and non-specialists.
You will have a record of research papers published in journals (or accepted to be published). You will have a high capacity for original research and creative thought, as well as the ability to manage your time effectively across multiple strands of research.
You will be working as part of an inclusive and flexible team, based in the Warwick Maths Institute, a world-leading mathematics department with a strong group working in applied and computational areas.
You will have opportunities to travel in the UK and abroad, on research visits to collaborating groups/partners and to international conferences. You will be given both time and mentoring support to develop your own research profile and broader skills.
This position is suitable for a finishing PhD student, provided you will have submitted your thesis before the start of this position.