Postdoctoral reseacher position in the OPUS-26 project

Opportunities from OPUS-26 project and National Sciene Center

This project aims to develop a novel method for the transformation of natural polymers (e.g., cellulose and chitosan) into valuable porous supports to manage the incorporation of plasmonic nanophotocatalysts with the co-photocatalytic piezoelectric element (earth abundant ZnO) to strengthen the overall physicochemical properties of those hybrids.

New catalytic materials possessing excellent piezophotocatalytic redox properties to assist continuous flow photo-redox processes in obtaining high-value chemicals from biomass-inspired compounds. The objective is to prepare metal-containing porous carbon-based piezophotocatalytic materials through the physicochemical effects of low/high-frequency sonication (e.g., effective mass transfer, microstreaming, cross-linked radical polymerization, etc, effects often inaccessible through conventional methods) as a promising approach to disruptively improve the outcomes of conventional methods (e.g, hydro(solvo)thermal, sol-gel method).

It will be carried out the study of the physicochemical properties of the hybrid materials (before and after (sono)-(photo)-catalytic test reactions), and testing them in the selective redox sonophotocatalytic C‑C and/or C‑O sonophoto-reductive coupling of biomass-inspired model compounds (in flow liquid-phase) as a futuristic approach of organic waste valorisation.

It will be carried out, a systematic basic research of the effect of green and unconventional source of ultrasonic energy on the synthesis of the hybrid materials, and its effect on the final optimisation of the synthesis method conditions. To get insight into the mechanism of ultrasound-assisted methods, the whole spectrum of materials characterization techniques, basic kinetic studies and piezophotocatalysts’ stability/recycling studies (using the appropriate flow (sono)-(photo)-reactors) will be carried out. The use of ultrasound-based procedures offer a facile, versatile synthetic tool for the preparation of nanopiezophotocatalysts, often inaccessible through conventional methods.

View job offer on ICHF website –>

Responsibilities

Basic responsibilities are as follow:

Scientific initiative and contribution through regular reporting and publishing, as well as presenting at group meetings, national and international conferences;
Providing help and supervision to junior members of the group;
Contribution to the efficient functioning of the lab, including necessary organizational tasks.

We offer

We offer a post-doctoral position (full-time employment) in the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS with a gross salary of around 9.600,00 PLN gross/month financed from the NCN OPUS-26 Project No. UMO-2023/51/B/ST5/00752. International cooperation with experienced researchers. Autonomous position in the professional and dynamically developing innovative team. The successful candidate is expected to start work within the project: the earliest 01.10.2024, the latest 02.01.2025. 100% of the work time of the postdoc researcher will be devoted to the realization of the proposed project.

Career development prospects at IPC PAS

The successful candidate will benefit in form of new knowledge and methods added to his/her toolbox. The project deals with photocatalysis, piezocatalysis, sonochemistry, flow reactors, nanomaterials, and physical chemistry phenomena in general, so any profile of candidate will find some new knowledge to be gained upon realization of the project.

We plan to publish the results of the work in high impact factor journals.

The successful candidate will be able to take advantage of all programs in the IPC PAS, including Young Scientists of IPC PAS competition and Mobility of Young Scientists of IPC PAS competition.

Institute provides an opportunity to participate in ERASMUS+ programme.

Where to apply

E‑mail rekrutacja@ichf.edu.pl

Requirements

Research Field: Chemistry

Education Level: PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Design/modeling of the methods for piezophotocatalysts’ preparation, partially responsible for materials synthesis, their characterization and testing, results elaboration and discussion, help with the organization of the project scientific activities, publications/conferences preparation, bibliographical data searching/analysis.

Basic responsibilities are as follow:

Scientific initiative and contribution through regular reporting and publishing, as well as presenting at group meetings, national and international conferences;
Providing help and supervision to junior members of the group;
Contribution to the efficient functioning of the lab, including necessary organizational tasks.

Specific Requirements

A post-doc type post is a full-time post, scheduled by the project’s principal investigator for a person who has obtained their PhD degree in the year of employment in the project or within 7 years before joining the project. This period may be extended by a time of long-term (in excess of 90 days) documented sick leaves or rehabilitation leaves granted on account of being unfit to work. In addition, the period may be extended by the number of months of a child care leave granted pursuant to the Labour Code and in the case of women, by 18 months for every child born or adopted, whichever manner of accounting for career breaks is preferable. The candidate is not eligible to apply if his/her doctoral degree has been awarded by the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS (see competition documentation of the National Science Center (NCS) for the OPUS 26).
Publication record and rich (mobility) scientific experience.
Ability to work independently as well as in a group.
Significant research achievements in carbon-based photocatalysis (materials synthesis and characterization) and plasmonic photocatalysis, nanostructured multidimensional materials synthesis, organic chemistry synthesis in particular redox processes, sonochemistry.
Familiar with heterogeneous catalysts.’ characterization techniques such as: microscopic imaging (SEM and HRTEM), XPS, XRD, chemisorption techniques, DR UV-Vis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, photoluminescence as well as AFM/STM, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Moreover, experience is desired in sonochemistry and flow reactors design/modeling.
Ability to communicate fluently in English (written and spoken).
Strong motivation to work and pursue scientific questions, creativity, and analytical thinking.
Research experience in related fields will be advantageous.
Experience in leveraging best practices from research community;
Experience in supervising and teaching students.

Languages

ENGLISH Level Excellent

Research Field Chemistry » Heterogeneous catalysis

Years of Research Experience: 4 — 10

Additional Information

Benefits

Salary — around 9.600,00 PLN gross/month
Position starts on the earliest 01.10.2024, the latest 02.01.2025
Maximum planned period of contract 24 months (with prolongation option depending on funds and project needs).

Eligibility criteria

Key assessment criteria

The Commission will take into account the following criteria:

competencies of candidates for specific tasks in a research project, (max 70 points),
previous scientific achievements of candidates, (max 20 points),
awards and distinctions of the candidate resulting from the conducted research, (max 5 points).
presented opinions via. recommendation letters, (max 5 points).

The commission evaluates applications on a point scale.

Recruitment procedure

Complete application should include the following items: cover motivation letter, professional curriculum vitae, university degree diploma and PhD certificate, a list of scientific achievements (publications, patents, conference presentations, etc.), at least two letters of recommendation written by well-known scientist in the field.
The application deadline is on the 02^th of August 2024, 12:00 pm.
Top candidates will be invited for an online or in-person interview (on the 14^thof August 2024). Good command of English is required. We reserve the right to contact and reply to only selected candidates.
A position will be offered to the person who obtains the highest number of points.
The results of the recruitment will be announced on the 06^th of September 2024
Employment will take place in accordance with the Employment policy of the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS https://ichf.edu.pl/files/csr/ipc— procedures.pdf and the provisions of the competition documentation of the National Science Center (NSC) for the OPUS-26 contest https://ncn.gov.pl/sites/default/files/pliki/uchwaly— rady/2023/uchwala23_2023— zal1.pdf#page=53
The incomplete applications will not be considered.
The results of the competition are made public.
Candidates who have been issued a negative opinion by the Competition Committee or candidates not selected for employment have the right to appeal against the results of the evaluation. The appeal shall be lodged with the Director of the Institute within 7 days from the date of receipt of the appropriate information. The decision of the Director of the Institute shall be final.
If the top candidate does not sign the contract, due to the resignation, we reserve the right to choose the next candidate from the ranking list.

Additional comments

Candidate needs to meet formal requirements:

a) the project manager was not the supervisor or co-supervisor of her/his doctoral dissertation;

b) obtained a doctoral degree in an entity other than the entity where employment in this position is planned, or completed at least 10 months of continuous and documented postdoctoral internship in an entity other than the entity implementing the project and in a country other than the country of obtaining the doctoral degree;

c) will be employed for a period of no less than 6 months; d) during the period of receiving this remuneration will not receive any other remuneration from funds granted as direct costs from research projects financed under NCN competitions;

e) during the period of receiving this remuneration will not receive remuneration from another employer on the basis of an employment contract, including an employer based outside Poland;

f) during the period of receiving this remuneration will not receive retirement benefits from the social insurance system

How to Apply:

Send application directly to rekrutacja@ichf.edu.pl;
IMPORTANT! email subject:“Rekrutacja 27 / 2024”

Deadlines

Application deadline 02^th of August 2024, 12:00 pm.
Deadline for the settlement of the competition 06^th of September 2024, 17:00 pm

*here you can put notes of the type:“under reference number: Rekrutacja ²⁷⁄₂₀₂₄ (emails without this number will be not considered!)”

By submitting the application you consent to the processing of your personal data in the recruitment process.

The controller of your personal data is the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences with its registered office in Warsaw, NIP: 5250008755 (the“Institute”). The Institute will process your data for the purpose of carrying out scientific and research activities, providing services and contact with the Institute, on the basis of a contract (in connection with the performance of the contract or in order to take action on your request before the contract is concluded – Article 6, paragraph 1, letter b) of GDPR), the legitimate interest of the Institute (Article 6, paragraph 1, letter f) of the GDPR) and legal provisions (Article 6, paragraph 1, letter c) of the GDPR) — depending on the circumstances.

You have the right to: request access to your data, receive a copy of it; rectify (correct) it; delete it; limit its processing; transfer it; lodge a complaint to the supervisory body; withdraw your consent for processing at any time (withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out prior to its withdrawal) or to lodge an objection to data processing. More information is available on the Institute’s website.

https://ichf.edu.pl/theme/ichf/pliki/RODO_klauzula_informacyjna.pdf