Applicants are expected to hold a Ph.D. in experimental physics and to have postdoctoral experience in the above area of research. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong record in experimental research this field. The appointment will be initially for a probationary appointment of four years, and the salary will be at a point on the University Lecturer's scale.
Applications (one copy suitable for reproduction) giving full details of qualifications and experience, together with the names of three persons to whom reference may be made, to arrive no later than May 13 1996 to the Registrar and Secretary, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, from whom further particulars may be obtained.
Informal contact: can be made to Tom Mullin (mullin@vax.ox.ac.uk)
Following the award of an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship to Dr R V Craster, there is a vacancy for a fixed-term lecturer in the Department of Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Nottingham.
Applications are invited from candidates qualified in a branch of physical or non-physical applied mathematics which has relevance to engineering, for example in solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, electromagnetic theory, industrial mathematics, mathematical biology, numerical analysis, nonlinear systems or applied analysis.
The Department was graded four in the 1992 Research Assessment Exercise, and the appointee will be expected to maintain and enhance this established research record. The duties of the post include the teaching of mathematics to honours degree level to students on the single honours degree course in Mathematics-with-Engineering and the joint honours course in Electronic Engineering and Mathematics, and to engineering students throughout the Faculty of Engineering.
The Lectureship is a five-year fixed-term post and the appointment will be effective from the beginning of the session 1996-97. The salary for the appointment will be within the range £15,154 to £19,848 per annum of the Lecturer A Scale.
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor D S Riley (David.Riley@nottingham.ac.uk) at Department of Theoretical Mechanics, tel: 0115 9513835.
Because of the multidisciplinary nature of this Network, the positions will be attractive to candidates from a wide range of backgrounds in mathematics, computer science or engineering. Candidates should take note of the following restrictions imposed by the European Commission.
Anyone interested should contact Prof. Budd (cjb@maths.bath.ac.uk) for details.
Applications are invited for a 3-year Postdoctoral Fellowship to join the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group at UCL and collaborate on a project modelling the generation of eddies in coastal currents and their subsequent propagation across oceans. The project will involve analytical modelling, state-of-the-art numerical techniques in collaboration with UCL Computer Science, and comparison with observational data. There will be the opportunity to spend time at Institutes doing related work.
Experience in ocean dynamics and computation would be valuable. Salary will be based on the standard Research Council scale (starting salary from UKP18120 to UKP21982 depending on age and experience).
The Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics and its Applications at UCL has a vacancy for a post-doctoral fellow, funded through the European Commission's Human Capital Mobility scheme (which is due to end very soon). Proposals are invited for research in any area broadly in line with existing fields of interest in the Centre.
Applicants must be post-doctoral, and not from the UK, but from another country within the European Union. The fellowship will start in (approx) October, once the Commission has agreed the appointment, and run for 12 months. Note that signed forms must be with the Commission by 7th June, so rapid action is essential.
Applications are invited for a three-year postdoctoral research assistantship funded by EPSRC and based in the Department of Theoretical Mechanics. The project is a collaboration with the Department of Chemical Engineering at UMIST, Manchester, and will involve developing models for micromixing and reaction in laminar flow, using ideas from modern dynamical systems theory, and applying them to flows of interest in chemical engineering.
Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain in the near future, a PhD in Applied Mathematics or a related discipline. Experience in fluid mechanics, nonlinear dynamical systems or numerical methods is desirable.
Salary will be within the Research Assistant range 14,317-21,519 pounds sterling per annum.
Applications, which should consist of a curriculum vitae and details of two referees, should be made to: Dr Stephen M Cox, Department of Theoretical Mechanics, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD.
There is no application form.
Applications are invited for a 3-year EPSRC funded postdoctoral research assistantship to work with Dr. R.M. Roberts (Warwick) and Dr. J.A. Montaldi (Nice) on "Relative Equilibria of Symmetric Hamiltonian Systems". The aims of the project include developing a bifurcation theory for relative equilibria and applying it to a number of mechanical systems of physical interest. Applicants should have, or shortly expect to receive, a PhD in a relevant area of mathematics. The post will be available from 1st September 1996.
The appointment will be made on the RA 1A scale (14,317 - 21,519 pounds pa).
Further particulars and an application form are available from the Personnel Office, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL (Tel: 01203 523627), quoting ref: 39/A/95 (please mark clearly on the envelope).
Closing date for receipt of applications: 24th May 1996.
The project will involve an application of nonlinear dynamics and chaos to a real-worldEngineering problem in the oil industry. Violent, self-supporting lateral vibrations in oil well drillstrings are known to cause millions of dollars worth of damage each year to complex drilling apparatus. A simplified differential equation model has shown the basic mechanism for the onset of these vibrations. Depending on the rotation speed of the drillstring and other critical parameters, this model is known to feature chaotic solutions. The aim of this project is to develop a more realistic model and to analyse its dynamics in order to suggest control strategies for the vibrations. A mixture of theoretical and numerical methods will be used. It will also involve collaboration with industry, notably Schlumberger and possibly Shell or BP. Interest in differential equations and some experience with scientific computing and/or numerical analysis would be useful.
This project has guaranteed funding from the Applied Nonlinear Mathematics
Programme of the EPSRC.
Fractal dimension of medical images
This is an interdisciplinary project between the university of Bristol and the Bristol Royal Infirmary. The purpose of the project is to use methods from nonlinear dynamics to produce models of various diseases in the lungs, based on information taken from medical images produced by a method known as magnetic resonance. The work will be a mixture of mathematical modelling using analytic techniques and comparison with field data. No medical knowledge is needed but some familiarity with reaction-diffusion equations would be useful. This is an excellent opportunity to get involved with a real medical problem which at the same time poses tremendous mathematical challenges.
Funding for this project is guaranteed through a grant from Bristol Royal Infirmary.
Climate modelling and observations form the basis for important economic decisions. For example, the possible imposition of Carbon Taxes has grave economic consequences. It is thus vital that climate models are as accurate as possible. It is becoming clear that the Agulhas system (the area of ocean off South Africa, between the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean), and the rings of fluid spawned from it may play a significant role in the global heat budget and so in determining climate. Observing and modelling these Rings and their generation is an important but challenging task. A current project "Agulhas Rings - their propagation and generation" has been funded by NERC to develop at UCL a series of ocean models that should retain far finer eddy details and more rapidly-varying topography than present models. The project will deliver eddy statistics to enable direct comparison with altimetry from the Remote Sensing group of the Rennell Division of the Southampton Oceanography Centre.
Applications are invited for a 3-year CASE research studentship supported by NERC World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Special Topic funding to join this collaboration between the Rennell Division of SOC and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group at UCL.
The successful applicant will spend year one at SOC working with Peter Challenor, the Head of Satellite Remote Sensing, learning techniques for analysing altimetry data and producing eddy statistics. The second and third years will be spent between UCL and SOC comparing these statistics with output from currently available models like OCCAM and collaborating on the new models developed at UCL. This intercomparison of models and data is a vital component of both.
Two EPSRC funded PhD studentships will be available from September 1996 in the Physics Department at the University of Manchester. The studentships will be for research in the new Nonlinear Dynamics Group (see the news section, this issue) which will be established under the direction of Professor Tom Mullin. The topics of the research will be concerned with
Applicants should have, or expect to get, a first or upper second class degree in Physics. British students will receive full funding and EU students tuition fees only. Initial enquiries should be made directly to Tom Mullin (mullin@vax.ox.ac.uk)
A Ph.D. studentship is on offer in the Department of Civil and Transportation Engineering at Napier University, Edinburgh.
Accurate prediction of pollutant dispersion is an important area of environmental research. The proposed programme of research will concern itself with the use of fractal geometry in the characterisation of the natural fractal structure of particle paths in fluids. Such characterisation will aid in the development of enhanced numerical models for the prediction of turbulent diffusion. The study will involve the abstraction of fractal characteristics (namely the Hurst exponent, H, and fractal dimension, D) from satellite tracked ocean surface drifter trajectories. These characteristics will then be used as input data for numerical simulations of non-Fickian, fractal diffusion.
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Last Updated: 3rd May 1996.