Job Number

BU00773

School/Department

School of Ocean Sciences

Grade

8

Salary Information

£38,511 - £42,067 (Grade 8) p.a.

Contract Duration

47 months

Responsible to

Dr Simon Neill

Closing Date

23-01-2015

Applications are invited for the above full time post, working in the School of Ocean Sciences. 

Duties will include applying a range of oceanographic models to investigate marine renewable energy resources at a variety of time scales, and applying optimisation algorithms to the model outputs to maximise power generation, whilst minimising environmental impacts. As well as publishing the findings of the research in peer-reviewed academic journals, the successful candidate will also be expected to actively develop, and contribute to the writing of, funding proposals.

Candidates should have a PhD in a relevant subject, and have extensive oceanographic modelling experience. An understanding of current marine renewable energy research (wave and tidal energy), and some experience in writing funding proposals, is desirable.

The successful candidate will be expected to commence as soon as possible, preferably no later than March 2015 and the post is available until 31/12/2018.

Applications will only be accepted via our on-line recruitment website, jobs.bangor.ac.uk. However, in cases of access issues due to disability, paper application forms are available by telephoning 01248 383865.

Closing date for applications: Friday, 23 January 2015

Committed To Equal Opportunities

Overview

The School of Ocean Sciences (SOS) at Bangor University has an international reputation for its multi-disciplinary research into shelf and coastal seas. It is equipped with excellent modern research laboratories, and operates its own shelf sea research vessel, the 35m RV Prince Madog, with a seagoing endurance of 10 days, fully supported by a range of equipment essential to marine renewable energy research including a dual frequency multibeam, a directional wave buoy, several 5-beam acoustic Doppler current profilers, and with excellent technical support. The Ocean Physics group within SOS focus on advancing understanding of how the ocean functions over a range of scales, and interacts with the other components of the Earth System. They received £6M in research income over the past 6 years, much of which has come from UK Research Councils. The Ocean Physics group within SOS has an international reputation in shelf sea modelling, facilitated by the competitive award of 3 Fujitsu-funded PhD studentships to develop new models for linking physical processes over a range of scales from estuary to global oceans, and for assessing the environmental impacts of tidal energy arrays. The aim of marine renewable energy research within the Ocean Physics group is to quantify the wave and tidal energy resource at a variety of time-scales, and quantify the impacts of energy extraction in relation to natural inter-annual and inter-seasonal variability. This is achieved through application of advanced modelling methodologies, including 3D tidal models, spectral wave models, and simulating non-linear wave-tide interaction through state-of-the-art model coupling. The group simulate energy extraction by arrays of devices, running models at a variety of spatial scales from the North Atlantic to the interaction between devices at array scale. Hence, the group investigates feedbacks between array operation, the resource, and associated environmental processes.

The Project

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and aid sustainable development, there is an urgent need to support our electricity generating capacity through the development of low carbon technologies, particularly those generated from renewable sources. The ocean represents a vast and largely untapped energy resource, which could be exploited as a form of low carbon electricity generation. The northwest European shelf seas equip Europe with world leading wave and tidal energy resources for the development of a marine renewable energy industry, and are therefore host to a large number of test centres and commercial projects. However, we do not yet fully understand the nature of these resources, and their interaction, over various spatial and temporal scales, including inter-annual variability, and how the resource will evolve in the future as a result of sea-level rise and changes in weather patterns. Further, we do not yet know how best to optimise wave and tidal energy installations so that these intermittent renewable energy sources can be aggregated to provide a firm source of power to the electricity grid, whilst minimising environmental impacts.

To address these issues, we have received NRN-LCEE (National Research Network – Low Carbon, Energy and the Environment) Sêr Cymru funding to support a 4 year research cluster on marine renewable energy: QUOTIENT Quantification, Optimisation, and Environmental Impacts of Marine Renewable Energy, which will support 2 Postdoctoral Research Fellows (one at Bangor and one at Swansea), and 1 PhD student (Cardiff) to work on an exciting project that will use a multidisciplinary, cutting-edge approach to address the following four research themes:

1. How can we best assess the marine renewable energy resource, and how will the resource vary in the future?

2. How can we optimise exploitation of the resource?

3. What are the impacts of marine renewable energy extraction on the environment?

4. What are the impacts of the environment on renewable energy devices?

This project will produce world-leading scientific research that will examine how wave and tidal energy resources interact with one-another, over a variety of spatial and temporal scales, from centimetres to kilometres, and from sub-second to multi-decadal. Research within the cluster will determine how we can best manage marine renewable energy extraction, for multiple resource types, for future energy extraction scenarios, informing future energy policy and investment in the electricity network. The cluster will also investigate how feedbacks between energy extraction and the resource influence dynamical processes that are driven by the resource, such as sediment transport and the maintenance of beaches and offshore sand banks. By applying a range of high resolution three-dimensional solutions on supercomputers over a variety of timescales from sub-second (turbulent) to decadal (including climate change), and simulating across a vast range of scales from individual turbines to the edge of the continental shelf, validated and parameterised by field observations and laboratory experiments, the project will result in world-leading environmental research that is of direct relevance to industry and policy.

Purpose of the Job

The post is part of an established team working in the area of marine renewable energy. The post holder will liaise with other marine renewable energy researchers in the School of Ocean Sciences, and collaborate with the other members of the QUOTIENT project at Swansea and Cardiff Universities. The post holder will be responsible for developing and applying oceanographic models to simulate multiple marine renewable energy resources, and will present the results in peer-reviewed academic journals. Additionally, the post holder will both take the lead, and contribute to, the development of funding proposals.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Development and application of oceanographic models (wave and tidal) of relevance to marine renewable energy.
• Model setup and validation using in situ datasets such as multibeam bathymetry, ADCP and wave data.
• Investigation of wave/tide interaction and its role in resource assessment.
• Parameterising marine energy array operation within larger scale oceanographic models.
• Apply optimisation algorithms to optimise the exploitation of multiple marine renewable energy resources.
• Apply sediment transport and morphodynamic algorithms to investigate the environmental impact of large-scale marine energy extraction.
• Lead and contribute to the dissemination of research outputs through peer-reviewed journal articles.
• Participate in project meetings.
• Advise and collaborate with Masters and PhD students within the collaborating research institutes.
• Gain external research funding.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• The post holder will be expected to participate in performance review and developmental activities.
• The post holder will be expected to comply with the University’s equality policies and statements, Dignity at Work and Study Policy and the University’s Welsh Language Scheme.
• The post holder has a general and legal duty of care in relation to health, safety and wellbeing and must take all reasonable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for him/her self and for other members of staff, students and visitors affected by his/her actions or inactions.  The post holder is also required to comply with all applicable health and safety policies, procedures and risk assessments.
• The post holder must comply with relevant legal and financial policies and procedures and be aware of their responsibilities in terms of the legal requirements of their posts.

Person Specification

Qualifications/Training  

Essential

• A PhD in a relevant numerate subject such as mathematics, engineering, physics or oceanography.
• PhD must be acquired no less than 2 years and no more than 8 years prior to start of contract (allowances will be made for maternity, long-term illness and national service, etc.).
• Research background in numerical modelling.

 Desirable

• Research background in marine renewable energy.
• Background in analysing in situ datasets.
• Experience in supercomputing.

Experience/Knowledge  

Essential

• The ability to undertake quantitative analysis.
• Proven track record of publications in quality journals (a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed journal articles published or in press by the start date of the post).
• Proven track record of conference presentations

 Desirable

• Experience of tidal modelling.
• Experience of wave modelling.
• Experience of wave/current interaction studies.
• Experience of sediment dynamics and morphodynamics.

Skills/Abilities  

Essential

• Demonstrate good verbal and written skills
• Demonstrate good analytical skills, ability to analyse numerical data and present results appropriately
• Demonstrate the ability to prioritise work load and work to deadlines

 Desirable

• Demonstrate proven project management skills
• Demonstrate a high level of computing skills, including Matlab and Fortran.
• Experience of wave and tidal models such as ROMS, SWAN, TELEMAC, ADCIRC.
• Demonstrate ability to work as part of a team

 Other  

Essential

• Demonstrate an understanding of the bilingual nature of Bangor University.

 Desirable

• Driving licence

General

All members of staff have a duty to ensure their actions are in line with the overall environmental aims of the University and minimise their environmental impact.

All offers are made subject to proof of eligibility to work in the UK and receipt of satisfactory references All candidates must meet the requirements of UK ‘right to work’ requirements. If you require Home Office permission to work in the UK, or need to switch your visa status in order to take this job, please note that following the introduction by the Government of immigration limits on skilled workers we recommend you use the following link to information about the routes into employment and to check eligibility requirements:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/