Lecturer in Experimental Solid State Physics
Further Particulars
1. The College
General Information
Multi-cultural, global in outlook and reach, Imperial consistently achieves one of the highest rankings nationally and internationally.
The College has three faculties (Natural Sciences, Engineering, Medicine), a Business School, and a number of interdisciplinary research centres working on the great challenges of the day, such as climate and environmental change, energy supply, security, and global health. The College also enters into partnerships with other global institutions where synergies and opportunities exist.
The President (formerly known as the Rector), Professor Alice P. Gast, is the College’s academic head and chief executive officer, overseeing all functions of the College, and focusing on the College’s strategic affairs and development.
The Provost, Professor James Stirling, is responsible for delivering and enhancing the College’s academic mission in education, research and translation, and reports to the President.
The Mission
Our mission is to achieve enduring excellence in research and education in science, engineering, medicine and business for the benefit of society and to develop the next generation of researchers, scientists and academics. More can be read about the College’s 2015-2020 strategy here: Imperial's 2015-2020 Strategy.
Imperial College embodies and delivers world class scholarship, education and research in science, engineering and medicine, with particular regard to their application in industry, commerce and healthcare. We foster interdisciplinary working within the College, and collaborate widely externally.
Vision and Strategic Intent
· To continue to be a world-leading institution for scientific research and education.
· To harness the quality, breadth and depth of our research capabilities to address the difficult challenges of today and the future.
· To develop the next generation of researchers, scientists and academics.
· To provide an education for students from around the world that equips them with the knowledge and skills they require to pursue their ambitions.
· To make a demonstrable economic and social impact through the translation of our work into practice worldwide.
· To engage with the world and communicate the importance and benefits of science to society.
Formation and History
Imperial College was established in 1907 in London’s scientific and cultural heartland in South Kensington, as a merger of the Royal College of Science, the City and Guilds College and the Royal School of Mines. St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and the National Heart and Lung Institute merged with the College in 1988 and 1995 respectively.
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School merged with the College on 1 August 1997 to form, with the existing departments on the St Mary’s and Royal Brompton campuses, the Faculty of Medicine.
The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology joined the Faculty of Medicine in 2000 and for over a decade was unique in Europe for its integration of basic science research and clinical facilities in rheumatology. On 1 August 2011, the Institute moved to Oxford University to build a new centre for research into rheumatology and inflammatory and autoimmune disease.
In 2007, the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was formed by merging Hammersmith and St Mary’s Hospitals’ NHS Trusts with the College, forming the country’s largest NHS Trust. This also established the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) bringing together healthcare services, teaching and research for maximum synergistic benefits.
Imperial College was an independent constituent part of the University of London until July 2007, when it was granted a new royal charter declaring it an independent university in its own right.
The academic structure of Imperial College is divided into three faculties, the Faculties of Engineering, Natural Sciences and Medicine. The College’s other major academic unit is the Business School.
In 2011, the College joined the Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation), which was founded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, and UCL. Together with King’s College London, the College became part of this ambitious project to create the world-leading inter-disciplinary medical research institute in London. The Francis Crick Institute opened this year, and its work will help understand why disease develops and find new ways to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Staff and Students
The academic and research staff of over 3,500 includes 72 Fellows of the Royal Society, 84 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, 79 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, one Fellow of the British Academy, four Crafoord Prize winners and two Fields Medalists. Fourteen Nobel Laureates have been members of the College either as staff or students.
The College has over 15,000 students, of whom 42 percent are postgraduate. Thirty-three per cent of students come from outside the European Union. External assessment of the College’s teaching quality in many different subject areas has judged it to be of high standard. The proportion of women students is 36 percent of the total.
Research & Translation
The College’s research has been judged consistently to be of the highest international standard and the proportion of income from research grants and contracts is one of the highest of any UK university.
The concentration and strength of research in science, engineering and medicine gives the College a unique and internationally distinctive research presence. Interdisciplinary institutes at the College provide a focal point to harness research that seeks solutions to grand challenges, such as improving global health, tackling climate change, finding sustainable sources of energy and addressing security challenges.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 marked the College’s best ever performance in a national research assessment. The College was judged to have improved in every Unit of Assessment. In addition to having the greatest concentration of high-impact research in the UK, eight out of fourteen areas assessed are top or joint-top for “outstanding” or “very considerable” impact; 91% of the research is “world-leading”; nine of fourteen research areas were in the top three, and two took the top spot, namely: Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care, and Civil and Construction Engineering. Finally, 92% of eligible staff took part, one of the highest proportions of any UK university.
International collaborations provide further opportunities, such as the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, the largest specialist medical centre in the United Arab Emirates. Biobank Qatar is another example of international collaboration. Established by the Qatar Foundation and Qatar’s Supreme Council of Health and led by Imperial’s School of Public Health, its aim is to conduct the largest population-based study in an Arab country and to address a variety of chronic diseases ranging from heart disease to diabetes.
The College’s entrepreneurial drive to produce world-class research with optimum impact has resulted in many recent initiatives such as the DNA Synthesis and Construction Foundry, which uses synthetic biology technology to address global problems, the Centre for Blast Injury Studies, the Dyson School for Design Engineering and the Data Science Institute. The Brevan Howard Centre for Finance opened in 2014 to spearhead cutting-edge research in financial market behaviour and serves as a bridge between the Business School and the business world.
The effective commercialisation of intellectual property is central to the College’s aim to maximise the potential impact of its research. Imperial Innovations commercialises technologies and discoveries emanating from the College. The College also continually seeks out and develops links with industry and engages in corporate partnerships to maximise opportunities, synergies, and research translation.
Generous support for the College’s work comes from a wide variety of sources. From industry there are donations towards certain senior academic posts, advanced courses, bursaries and scholarships. The single largest contribution to the College from industrial concerns is in the form of contracts to carry out research. The College also gains considerable support from research councils and charities to undertake research.
Teaching and Learning
The College provides students with a stimulating environment that encourages them to extend their learning beyond their disciplines. Education opportunities offering insights into global issues and fostering group working are open to all undergraduates, broadening their team working skills and business understanding and equipping them for their future careers. Over a third of students are postgraduates. The postgraduate provision uses work-based training and first-hand experience of new and emerging research to prepare students for their future careers. Courses are both discipline based and multidisciplinary.
The College’s most recent Education and Student Strategy (2013) is a comprehensive five-year plan to achieve international recognition in four areas: as a global community of the most talented students; for commitment to innovation in learning and teaching and in the wider student experience; for providing a distinctive education; and for outstanding academic and professional service infrastructure.
The College’s teaching quality is audited regularly, both internally and externally. Recent external audit found teaching quality to be of a high standard.
The Centre for Educational Development raises and consolidates the profile of learning, teaching and educational development throughout the College. Newly-appointed non-clinical lecturers will be expected to develop and expand their teaching skills, and there are many learning and teaching activities for more experienced staff.
The Graduate School is the focus of postgraduate education and research. It maintains, enhances and monitors quality and disseminates best practice, while initiating and developing new programmes, particularly those with an interdisciplinary slant. It also has quality assurance responsibilities for the two non-faculty departments of Humanities and the Business School.
The College continually seeks to engage with, and form ventures with other organisations to take advantage of research opportunities and synergies, as well as to expand its influence in education. In August 2013 the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), a joint initiative between the College and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, opened its doors to its inaugural cohort of 54 students. At full capacity, it is expected that there will be 750 students studying for medical degrees. The students will pursue an innovative curriculum developed by a team in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial, leading to a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) jointly between Imperial and NTU.
Location
The College has one of the largest operational estates of any UK University, with seven London campuses:
· South Kensington - the main campus, set in a cultural centre known for arts, science and music;
· Charing Cross;
· Chelsea and Westminster;
· Hammersmith;
· Royal Brompton;
· St Mary’s;
· White City – a new campus, and an innovation and translation hub for collaborative, multi-disciplinary research and postgraduate study. The campus houses state-of-the-art facilities for scientists, clinicians, engineers and business academics to collaborate with industry, healthcare and other higher education partners to tackle many of the global challenges of the day.
· Silwood Park - outside London, near Ascot, this postgraduate campus, set in 250 acres of natural parkland, houses ecologists, biologists and the Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment initiative.
Supporting our Staff
We are intensely proud of our staff, of their many talents, contributions, and world class research and teaching. We offer extensive support for them to pursue their research, including Faculty-based research services teams, central strategy, guidance in research proposal preparation, intellectual property issues, and scholarly communication, and open access and research data management. Teaching and postgraduate supervision is also strongly supported and continuously strengthened through training programmes and workshops.
The President’s annual awards for Excellence in Research, Teaching, Pastoral Care, Research Student Supervision, and Supporting the Student Experience recognise those who have made outstanding contributions. Some of the ways we offer a supportive environment include:
Pride in the work of our staff and the College:
· an inclusive, supportive, multi-cultural community where every individual feels that they belong
· a community where all interactions are respectful and where every role is recognised as being important to the College's mission
The development of staff and their high performance potential:
· an academic promotion framework to recognise academic success and growth in roles, specialist expertise and responsibilities
· talent programmes to support progression and strengthen existing high performance, these include the Academic Leadership Programme and the Female Academics’ Development Centre, which offers targeted support, career guidance and mentoring
· a skills development programme to enhance potential and meet the College’s strategic objectives
· faculty-specific learning and teaching development programmes
· an annual personal review and development discussion for all staff, followed by regular feedback
· a minimum of five days per annum development time tailored to an individual's role and career path
Sector leading pay and benefits:
· pay that is in the mid to upper quartile in the UK HEI benchmarks and competitive in the global market
· a benefits package that is commensurate with our position as a leading UK University
· transparent and equitable pay and pension frameworks
Support for well-being:
· many initiatives to support staff in their personal life (flexible working, support networks, childcare and eldercare) as well as active lifestyle and health initiatives, such as free health checks for over 50s
The College offers a comprehensive range of benefits and discounts to its staff and has a generous annual leave package. For more detailed information on the College’s benefits, please visit Imperial College Staff Benefits.
2. The Faculty of Natural Sciences
The Faculty of Natural Sciences is dedicated to delivering the highest possible quality teaching and research at the heart of Imperial College London and fosters excellence in a diverse and supportive community. The Faculty fully embraces teaching and research activities across the core scientific disciplines of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Life Sciences. The Faculty also hosts the Centre for Environmental Policy, the Institute for Systems and Synthetic Biology, the Centre for Plastic Electronics, and the Institute of Chemical Biology. It is a major stakeholder in the Thomas Young Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials, the London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Centre for Complexity Science, the Institute of Shock Physics, the Centre for Plasmonics and Metamaterials, and the Grantham Institute.
The Faculty’s academics enjoy the highest standing and its research volume, quality of publications and number of citations are enviable. The Faculty is committed to interdisciplinary and inter-Faculty activities and strives to provide the kind of environment where these collaborations can flourish. The Faculty benefits from national and international alliances and collaborations with industry and other institutions and organisations.