UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
RECRUITMENT ROLE PROFILE FORM

Job Title: Manager - R&D programme on the Combustion Test Facility at E.ON Technologies Ltd

Faculty: Faculty of Engineering - Cleaner Fossil Energy and Carbon Capture Technologies Research Group

Salary: R&T 4, £28,695- £36,309 per annum, depending on skills and experience.

Contract Status: This part-time (0.6 FTE) post is available from 1 January 2016 and will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of 2 years.

Hours of Work: Hours of work for this role are 60% of the normal working week.

Location: Faculty of Engineering, Cleaner Fossil Energy and Carbon Capture Technologies Research Group

Responsible to: Professor Colin E. Snape

Overall Context and Job Outline:

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential to secure the long term viability for fossil fuels and for the UK to meet the 2050 CO2 emissions reduction target. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has identified this as a real opportunity for the UK to lead the market in new global CCS technologies. There has been a recent rapid growth in research and capacity building in the UK funded by both EPSRC (ca. £60M portfolio in CCS) due to increasing recognition of the importance of CCS to enable the UK and other countries to meet its CO2 emission reduction targets. Nottingham has been particularly successful in obtaining close to £20M funding for CCS and cleaner fossil energy, including the existing EngD Centre in Efficient Fossil Energy Technologies and new Industrial Doctorate Centre in CCS and Cleaner Fossil Energy, plus 6 major EPSRC contracts led by Nottingham.

The addition of world-class pilot-scale and supporting facilities for combustion and CO2 capture research will enable Nottingham to attract significantly more funding from EPSRC, UK Government, the EU and industry and will be an extremely attractive proposition for attracting high calibre academic staff, researchers and PhD students. Nottingham is a core partner of the EPSRC Pilot-scale Advanced Capture Test (PACT) facilities, led by Sheffield and funded as part of the UK CCS Research Centre. However, the fact that Nottingham does not currently operate or own pilot-scale facilities will clearly limit funding opportunities in the longer-term, especially if future funding from EPSRC with respect to CCS is likely to be geared more to pilot-scale facilities.

To increase access to large-scale facilities, part of an SDF award for the overall programme has been earmarked to have exclusive access to the advanced 1MW Combustion Test Facility (CTF) located at E.ON, Ratcliffe-on-Soar. The CTF has proved to be a world class facility that has helped to pioneer the development of new combustion technologies, including both oxyfuel combustion and biomass firing (both dedicated and co-firing).

The Manager will be responsible for income generation from industry and other academic groups, organising the test programme for the CTF including handling the access arrangements with E.ON, liaising with and reporting results to internal and external users of the Facility. This request is to fund this position for the next 2 years from the SDF award where there is funding for 1.2 FTE.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Main Responsibilities / % time per year
1. / To be responsible for the overall management of the R&D programme on the 1 MW Combustion Test Facility, handling all interactions with E.ON, including the organisation for individual tests. / 25%
2. / To generate further R&D funding for the Facility from industry, the EU, UK Government programmes which will be ca. £250k per annum. Responsible to Prof. Snape for writing research proposals to generate this funding. / 45%
3. / To liaise with internal and external users of the Facility, organising test programmes and reporting the results. / 20%
4. / To organise publicity for the Facility and liaise with PACT. / 5%
5. / Any other duties appropriate to this post. / 5%

Person Specification:

Essential / Desirable
Qualifications/ Education / PhD in a discipline of science and engineering / First degree in science/engineering
Skills/Training / To have carried out research in a topic relevant to the R&D programme on the CTF.
Experience of successful research proposals / Experience of working collaborative research grants
Managing and delivering research grants.
Experience / To be already familiar with the CTF and to have worked with E.ON.
To have carried out research on a topic relevant to the CTF.
To have worked in an industrial environment. / Experience with fossil fuel industry and UK power generation sector
Contributing to the writing research proposals
Personal Attributes / Self-motivated
Ability to work independently
Excellent communication and coordination skills at all levels including reporting and grant proposal writing
Ability to work collaboratively. / Knowledge of proposal writing.
Decision Making

i) taken independently by the role holder;

Overall Facility management and organisation

Discussing test work with industrial and academic partners

Reporting results to users

ii) taken in collaboration with others;

Overall direction of research projects that make extensive use of the Facility
Writing and submission of papers to academic journals and conferences

iii) referred to the appropriate line manager (please name) by the role holder.

Preparing and submitting grant applications to UK Government and the EU and proposals to industry. (Professor Colin E Snape)

Additional Information

The Cleaner Fossil Energy and Carbon Capture Technologies Research Group is committed to reviewing its work and practices to ensure organisational effectiveness. Candidates should be aware that roles and responsibilities will inevitably evolve over time and be prepared to adapt as necessary.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor C Snape, tel: 0115 951 4166 or Email: ;