Research Fellow; Cycle Assessment of Battery Recycling - School of Metallurgy and Materia

Job Description

Position Details

School of Metallurgy and Materials

Location:

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2028

Closing date: 5th March 2026

This post will be part of the Faraday Institution’s ReLiB project, on the recycling of lithium-ion and next generation batteries. The ReLiB consortium has successfully embedded Life Cycle thinking, highlighting the need for tracking environmental and economic impacts across the project and developing a common understanding of the requirements for quantifying inputs and outputs from all steps within ReLiB processes. This momentum will continue to drive the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno Economic Analysis (TEA), with regular workshops being held to remind ReLiB researchers of the need for these assessments and to teach them new sustainability concepts.

Direct recycling processes, such as those developed by the ReLiB consortium, are well suited to the recovery of battery production scrap: a growing waste stream in the developing battery manufacturing industry. The effective recovery of this waste materials is a key goal for sustainable development of the battery industry and the ReLiB team are making good progress in developing these techniques, however the environmental impacts and cost of the recovery processes themselves must be assessed to ensure their suitability.

In this role, you will analyse the types of production scrap that emerge from production processes and identify effective recycling routes for each, drawing on those already developed by the ReLiB team or within the literature. You will perform LCA/TEA calculations on the scrap recycling processes developed within the ReLiB consortium, providing comparisons between alternative processes and considering the suitability of each process to end‑of‑life (EoL) battery materials.

In the future, it is expected that scrap rates will diminish as EoL streams grow and synergies between scrap and EoL recycling must therefore be maintained, so that a smooth transition is possible. You will define future scenarios for scrap and EoL waste streams, prioritising the compatibility of scrap recycling processes for EoL streams.

In addition, you will assess the impacts associated with not recovering scrap or other related waste streams, in order to highlight recycling benefits.

• Work within specified research grants and projects.
• Initiate and conduct original research which has measurable outcomes and is reflected in a growing national and often incipient international reputation.
• Plan, design and co‑coordinate research activities and programmes.
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results.
• Publish results of own research.
• Contribute to the development of research strategies.
• Contribute to the supervision of PhD students.
• Contribute to generating funding.
• Contribute to the Department/School through management/leadership.
• Develop and make substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement activities, widening participation, school outreach or similar activities at Department/School level or further within the University.

To plan and carry out research, using appropriate methodology and techniques. This may include:

• Deciding, in consultation with the principal investigator and others as appropriate, the most appropriate way of undertaking the specified research activities.
• Developing research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, within the scope of the research, defined below.
• Contributing to deciding what information to include in a bid for research funding and how to present the bid to maximise the likelihood of securing the funding.

• Work closely with the ReLiB scientists to measure their life‑cycle inventories, provide LCA calculations and suggest ways to make their processes even more sustainable.
• Assess the scale and content of waste streams from future battery production facilities, with a particular focus on…