A postdoc position is available in the Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling within the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick to work in the group of Dr James Kermode as part of the EPSRC-funded project “Predictive Modelling of the Fundamentals of Fracture in Metals” (EP/P002188/1).

Key objectives of the project are to develop methodology that allows energy barriers for rare events to be computed with quantum mechanical precision in systems containing millions of atoms using a multiscale QM/MM framework, and to apply this new methodology to predict rates for activated materials failure processes in representative systems such as dislocation motion, crack growth, and crack tip dislocation emission in nickel, aluminium and tungsten. Relevant publications include Kermode et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 115, 135501 (2015) and Kermode et al., Nature, 455, 1224-1227 (2008).

Candidates must have a PhD in physics, chemistry, materials science or a related subject, experience with first principles methods at the level of density functional theory and strong scientific software development skills using C, Fortran or Python. Experience with classical molecular dynamics and/or rare events techniques such as nudged elastic band would be an advantage.

Please contact Dr Kermode ([email protected]) for informal enquires, see his website for more details (http://www.warwick.ac.uk/jrkermode) or apply here.

The position is available from 1 March 2017 for 12 months in the first instance and may be extendable subject to mutual agreement and available funding. The closing date for applications is 18 Jan 2017.