Research Fellow Battery Materials Recycling - School of Metallurgy and Materials Grade 7

Job Description

School of Metallurgy and Materials

Location:

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049, with potential progression to £48,822 once in post.

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2028

Closing date: 24th March 2026

The post is a fixed term Research Fellow position funded by the research grant “Recycling and Reuse of EV batteries (ReLiB)” that is provided by the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research and skills development. The Faraday Institution vision is to bring together scientists and industry partners on research projects to reduce battery cost, weight, and volume;

to improve performance and reliability (The Faraday Institution - Powering Britain’s Battery Revolution).

The overall aim of the ReLiB project (ReLiB – Sustainable Management of Lithium‑ion Batteries) is to understand the conditions required to ensure the sustainable management of lithium‑ion batteries when they reach the end of their useful life in electric vehicles. This will enhance the overall efficiency of the supply chain and ensure that the UK has the facilities required for safe, economic and environmentally sound management of the materials contained in lithium‑ion batteries.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham will be investigating separation technology efficiency, and characterisation of separated lithium‑ion battery fractions, in addition to closing the loop of these material streams through manufacturing efforts and electrochemical testing.

To help us achieve our ambitious goal we are looking to recruit a post‑doctoral staff member within the Metallurgy and Materials department. The post holder will be investigating relevant safe shredding and sorting techniques, as well as support black mass valorisation efforts and contribute to re‑manufacturing recycled Li‑ion battery streams produced from the project, on a reel‑to‑reel scale.

The successful candidate will be responsible for: safely shredding cells using a bespoke instrumented, stabilised shredder; recording data for LCA including mass and energy balances, energy and resource consumption and emissions; characterising cells and recyclates; separating and purifying recyclates including black mass to improve value and recyclability. The goal is to strive for direct recycling streams targeting materials suitable for relithiation and direct recycling, and effectively benchmark performance of these recycling routes to determine and evaluate processing characteristics on the material streams.

A truly interdisciplinary project within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, this post will work closely with other researchers in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy and Materials as well as collaborators at other universities, central facilities such as Diamond Light Source and in industry.

As part of this role the post holder will work within the Energy Materials Group and contribute to writing future bids; operating within area of specialism. They will analyse and interpret research findings and results; contribute to generating funding; and contribute to licensing or spin‑out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and public understanding of the discipline.

• Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids
• Operate within area of specialism
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results
• Contribute to generating funding
• Contribute to licensing or spin‑out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar
• Work as part of a multidisciplinary team with other battery recycling project researchers within the University of Birmingham and at other partners.

• Operating a bespoke instrumented shredder for safe cell shredding, to provide collaborators with material, and develop an understanding of the relationship between shredding conditions, safety, and recyclability
• Characteri…