Location: University of Reading
Salary: £34,980 – £44,263 (per annum)
Contract length: Fixed term until 31 December 2027
Contract type: Full time
Closing date: Midnight on Wednesday 31 July 2024
Interview date: Wednesday 4 September 2024

The University of Reading is seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and ambitious researcher to improve our understanding of ice sheets as part of our changing Earth System.

The future evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will determine the severity of the global impacts of sea level rise and their physical interactions with the wider climate system include the potential to cross thresholds beyond which ice loss accelerates rapidly and becomes irreversible. This post focuses on simulating and understanding these climate tipping points involving ice sheets in UKESM, the UK’s national Earth System model. Working with other national modelling groups in two large Europe-wide projects you will design and carry out an ensemble of simulations in which large-scale changes to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are triggered, analyse the associated process interactions with the ocean and atmosphere and the global climatic consequences and assess the potential routes for avoiding or reversing these impacts. UKESM’s world-leading sophistication in its modelling of ice sheet – climate interactions means that your work will be breaking new ground at forefront of this important area of climate change research, so publication and wide dissemination of your findings will be a particularly important part of this role.

Alongside your role in two pan-European projects, you will work with a team of scientists within the world-class Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading and will be a part of the UKESM group: a network of scientists across the UK who develop and run the UK’s national Earth System Model from a range of national science centres including the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, British Antarctic Survey and the MetOffice. This position is funded by TipESM and OptimESM, projects funded by the European Union and UKRI. TipESM and OptimESM are funded by the European Union, Horizon Europe Funding Programme for research and innovation under GA Nr.101137673 and GA Nr.101081193. If you feel that any reasonable adjustments on our part would make applying for or carrying out this role more possible for you then please let us know when applying.

You will work within the National Centre for Atmospheric Science in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, one of the world’s largest research centres focusing on the science of weather and climate.

Find out more and make your application.

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

Robin Smith, Associate Professor

Email: r.s.smith@reading.ac.uk