Research Assistant​/Associate in Urban Soil Carbon Capture

Requisition : 28973

Location: Newcastle, GB

Contract Type: Fixed Term

Working Pattern: Full Time

Posted Date: 22 Jan 2026

Salary:
Research Assistant - £33,002 to £34,610 per annum

Research Associate - £35,608 to £36,636 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 05 February 2026

The School of Natural and Environmental Sciences (SNES) at Newcastle University is seeking to recruit a fixed-term Research Assistant/ Research Associate in Urban Soil Carbon Capture to join an exciting project funded by the EPSRC’s Northern Net Zero Accelerator, managed by Dr Anjali Jayakumar and Professor David Manning. The post will involve developing a sustainable network of non-academic and academic stakeholders in the region, with a common interest in using soils to deliver carbon capture as one of a range of ecosystem services.

The project will revolve around a ‘carbon capture garden’, which you will create on a live development site using material derived from demolition and waste processing. You will liaise with stakeholders in the design of the facility, to make sure that it meets the needs of stakeholders. A particular focus involves designing structures within the soil to sample the soil solution, and protocols to demonstrate removal of atmospheric CO2 as bicarbonate in solution.

In addition to project-specific activities, you will be encouraged to pursue your own, related, independent research interests and training/development. Furthermore, you will be encouraged to undertake outreach/engagement activities, particularly those designed to increase impact in the context of the Research Excellence Framework.

Successful applicants will join the growing soil carbon group at Newcastle University, which has wider expertise in biochar and Enhanced Rock Weathering. You will work closely with collaborating scientists at Northumbria University, and with others in the region as the project develops.

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles. These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

For information enquiries please contact Ankush Prashar (AN)

• Take responsibility for managing on a day-to-day basis the many separate aspects of the project.
• Liaise closely with non-academic and academic stakeholders, and develop new contacts.
• Plan workshops for stakeholders, working with support staff who will arrange invitations, rooms, catering etc.
• Design a facility approximately 10 x 10 m in size, made by blending crushed concrete and green waste compost, to include sampling apparatus to remove the soil solution for analysis.
• Supervise engineering and other contractors engaged in constructing the facility.
• Test the performance of the facility once constructed, generating baseline data and ongoing monitoring data to assess CO2 removal.
• Develop a protocol for the ongoing scientific use of the facility.
• If necessary, manage the eventual decommissioning of the facility should the land be needed for other purposes.
• Work successfully with others in the research team and wider collaborators to publish world-leading research.
• Present outputs of the research from the research team to academic and non-academic audiences, in written and oral form.
• Contribute to the positive culture and general strengths of the research group and the School; for example, by helping with supervision of project students, participation in outreach, leading initiatives to promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and organising/participating in research events.
• Any other duties that may be required from time to time, commensurate with the grade of the post.

• Excellent organisational skills that relate to the recent construction of facilities with…