Horizon Europe Guarantee MSCA Doctoral Network Researcher - FLUXIONIC

The Fellow will be considered to be both a registered student of the University, being enrolled for a comprehensive PhD/DPhil training in Oxford and as part of a European network, and also employed as a worker.

Alongside research work, the department provides training in teaching skills, and there are opportunities to take part in teaching activities in the department, such as undergraduate classes and laboratory demonstrating, and tutorial teaching in colleges. However, please note that under the terms of the funding (which is provided by the UKRI Horizon guarantee scheme) the post-holder may not be paid for any teaching or other activities carried out over and above the full-time requirements of the post.

Water and ions in confined geometry arise in a vast range of natural phenomena, from the salt organs of marine animals to the biomineralizing environments where shells, teeth, cytoskeletons are formed. The electrolyte solutions involved in these processes are highly complex, involving multiple ionic and non-ionic ingredients. Ionic species can be atomic ions (such as Na+, Cl-) or molecular ions (e.g. sulfate, carbonate, charged lipids, nucleotides). Molecular species can be polar, zwitterionic (e.g. amino acids), or polymeric/polyelectrolytic. These co-solutes can be crucial in determining the outcome of a process, e.g. the polymorph resulting from mineralisation. In this project you will study the influence of ‘spectator’ ions and polymers on structure and interactions in electrolyte solutions confined to thin films, and their effect on mineralisation from supersaturated solutions in confinement. This role includes experimental and theoretical study of aqueous solutions at interfaces and in thin films using a surface force balance (SFB) within the research team of Susan Perkin. The work is based in the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, part of the Department of Chemistry. Interested candidates are invited to be in contact directly to find out more about the project: susan.perkin@chem.ox.ac.uk.

The successful applicant will also become a member of the EU network “FLUXIONIC”, funded from 2024-2028 by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions grant. They will become part of a Europe-wide network of students and investigators all working on projects related to Controlled transport of water and ions in nanoconfinement. Annual scientific meetings and training events will be included in the network’s activities. Furthermore, the successful applicant will have the opportunity to carry out a secondment at another laboratory (“node”) of the network during the 36 month project.