The British Geological Survey (BGS), part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), is the UK's premier geoscience strategic mapping and research organisation. We are offering a 3 year Post Doctoral Research Associate position based at Keyworth, Nottingham, working within the NERC Research Associate Training Programme.

BGS staff typically work in teams on a range of projects supporting a broad spectrum of scientific objectives from "blue-skies" research to highly specific commercial contracts. The varied nature of the work programme, which often includes opportunities to undertake personal research and to present that work at international conferences and exhibitions, is highly valued, as is the organisation's commitment to training and developing its staff.

As a Post Doctoral BGS Research Associate (PDRA), you will undertake a programme of training in scientific research methods and modelling and will pursue a supervised programme of personal research. The research position in groundwater modelling will be associated with the Groundwater Science Theme.

BGS has recently been awarded a NERC grant, "Hydrological extremes and feedbacks in the changing water cycle", under the Changing Water Cycle programme (www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/cwc/) as part of a consortium with the universities of Reading and London (University and Imperial colleges) The project seeks to examine how climate change will impact extreme events including groundwater flooding and droughts, particularly improving the modelling of land-atmosphere feedbacks.

A PDRA is sought to aid model development for the project. Working with BGS staff, you will develop multi-scale groundwater models for various case studies, couple them together and with climate and land-surface models such as JULES (www.jchmr.org/jules/) and undertake predictions using climate data provided by the project partners. The aim is to deliver suitable groundwater models to improve land-atmosphere feedbacks in climate change impact predictions.

You will also work on Future Water, a project jointly undertaken with the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), again funded by NERC, to produce a pilot study of a modelling system to examine threats to surface water and groundwater over the timescale of decades. The aim is to provide a UK scale assessment of the impact of climate change on water resources. The project will produce modelling results in a form that is readily accessible to a range of decision-makers. You will undertake the groundwater modelling work, link the groundwater models with the surface water model developed by CEH and investigate methods of presenting model results to decision-makers.

You will be expected to have an appreciation of groundwater modelling and experience of developing model codes to simulate environmental processes. Experience in providing modelling results in an appropriate form for stakeholders would be preferable.

Qualifications and Experience:

We are looking for applicants ideally with or working towards a modelling oriented PhD degree in hydrogeology, hydrology or a related subject. Full details of the skill requirement are given in the additional documentation.

Salary and Conditions:

Starting salary will be £26,180 per annum rising to £29,410 per annum after three years service. A resettlement award will be given at the end of the training contract. A detailed training programme will be agreed. Working hours will be 37 per week excluding lunch breaks. A generous benefits package is also offered, including a company pension scheme, 30 days annual leave plus 10.5 days public and privilege holidays.

Applications are handled by the RCUK Shared Services Centre; to apply please visit our job board at https://ext.ssc.rcuk.ac.uk and complete an online application form. Applicants who would like to receive this advert in an alternative format (e.g. large print, Braille, audio or hard copy), or who are unable to apply online should contact us by telephone on 01793 867003, Please quote reference number IRC50624.

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Location: NERC-British Geological Survey

Closing date for receipt of application forms is 30 April 2012.

The Natural Environment Research Council is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. People with disabilities and those from ethnic minorities are currently under-represented and their applications are particularly welcome. The British Geological Survey is an Investors in People organisation. There is a guaranteed Interview Scheme for suitable candidates with disabilities.