Research Fellow in Computational Modelling of the Sorption Chemistry of Pollutants in Soils at University of Leeds,UK [Salary: £35,333 to £42,155 per annum]

Are you eager to work on processes underlying the environmental development of antimicrobial resistance? Are you interested in understanding the interactions of veterinary antibiotics with soil minerals? Do you have skills in first principles computational modelling?

This is an opportunity to work on a NERC Exploring the Frontiers pilot project looking at the sorption properties of mixtures of veterinary antibiotics and their metabolites on the minerals that make up the structure of agricultural soils. You will use the first principles DFT code, CASTEP, to run dynamic simulations of antibiotic sorption on kaolinite and goethite surfaces. This will provide an atomic-scale understanding of how these ubiquitous environmental pollutants interact with representative mineral components of soils and, critically, how competition between different antibiotics can lead to the retention of some antibiotics in the soil, and the wash-out of others into nearby water bodies.

This is critically important with respect to the potential development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment as well as the direct uptake of contaminants by lower animals and plants and their transfer into the human food chain. The project links to other research at the University of Leeds in this area, which will provide plenty of scientific interactions with other researchers. 

You will have a background in theoretical/computational chemistry and an interest in the environmental fate of organic contaminants. Knowledge of CASTEP, or other first principles modelling software, would be an advantage. 

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Dr Helen Chappell, University Lecturer

Email: h.f.chappell@leeds.ac.uk

Dr Laura Carter, Associate Professor

Email: l.j.carter@leeds.ac.uk

Candidate Brief

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