OCE Postdoctoral Fellowship - CO2 Sequestration

CSIRO Process Science and Engineering is seeking to appoint a highly motivated graduate who will be responsible for developing an understanding of the conditions that promote low-temperature mineral carbonation reactions and the decomposition of readily precipitated hydrated Mg-carbonate minerals to form durable, geologically stable mineral hosts for CO₂.

You will have responsibility for the design and execution of predominantly in situ experimentation utilising the unique X-ray diffraction (XRD) facilities and environmental control systems at CSIRO Clayton and Monash University. This will involve:-

• Development and application of appropriate experimental and diffraction data collection methods at both CPSE and the powder diffraction beamline at the Australian Synchrotron (adjacent to the CSIRO and Monash University sites).
• Development and application of data analysis techniques which may be non-standard.
• Design and implementation of in situ sample environments for both laboratory and synchrotron studies.
• Taking responsibility as Principal Investigator for beamtime applications at synchrotron facilities. 

You will be expected to communicate the outcomes of your research through presentation of results at national and international conferences and publications in relevant scientific journals. There will be high expectation that details of any newly developed material characterisation methodology will be communicated to other groups in CSIRO and Monash University.

You will be mentored by senior scientists as part of CSIRO’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program which aims to train early career scientists for a research role.

Location: Clayton, Victoria

Salary: AU$75K - $82K per annum plus up to 15.4% Superannuation

Tenure: 3 year term

To be successful you will have:

• A PhD, or will shortly satisfy the requirements for a PhD degree, in Physical Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Materials Science/engineering or related disciplines.
• Experience in fields related to minerals and materials characterisation.
• A willingness to undertake experimentation at advanced radiation sources, especially synchrotron and neutron diffraction facilities.
• Demonstrated ability in experimentation. This may include designing and implementing sample reaction vessels as well as the collection and analysis of data.
• Demonstrated originality, creativity and innovation in solving problems and introducing new directions and approaches.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to publish the results of scientific research in scientific journals.