The University of Dundee (UoD) is looking for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with centrifuge modelling experience to work on the EPSRC-funded project “Climate-change effects on the performance of bioengineered clay fill embankments”. The project is in association with Network Rail and Highways England, the two government agencies who manage transport assets and infrastructure in most of the UK.

The PDRA based in Dundee will be for 12 months (full-time) and will focus on centrifuge modelling and testing of the behaviour of vegetated clay embankments. The project aims to critically evaluate the effectiveness of using live poles to combat adverse climate-change effects on the behaviour of clay fill slopes. A specific research question to answer by this post is whether suction induced by pole transpiration may be preserved to enhance slope stability under extreme rainfall events (ultimate limit state, ULS), while not causing excessive ground movements (serviceability limit state, SLS) due to the shrink-swell of clay.

The post will be supervised by researchers from UoD and senior engineers from the two industrial partners.

Further details may be found on the attached job description. Applications should be made online at : www.dundee.ac.uk/jobs, quoting the reference number: SSEN0049. The closing date is 20 July 2016. Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr Anthony Leung (a.leung@dundee.ac.uk).