Academic Associate UAS Mechanochemical Process Development

The School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg (HEIA-FR), a member institution of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), offers bilingual study programs at the BSc and MSc levels. HEIA-FR invites applications to fill the position of:

Mission and Scope of Activities

The project – Mechanochemistry is a leading route to solvent-free sustainable chemical manufacturing. In this joint project, WAB, FHWN, Syngenta and HEIA-FR join forces to develop a new bead-reactor technology based on Dyno®-mill systems and to demonstrate its potential for fine chemicals. Your mission – You will lead the synthetic and process-development core, bridging lab discovery and industrial application. You will design, run and interpret transformations in mechanochemical bead reactors, from lab to pilot scale.

In this context, you will establish advanced metrics as decisive benchmarks and generate the datasets needed for predictive scale-up models, delivering validated scaling rules and a reproducible lab-to-industry transfer methodology.

Benchmark representative mechanochemical transformations and industrially relevant targets

Run design-of-experiments campaigns on the new Dyno®-mill technology

Characterize products and map process parameters to critical quality attributes

Contribute to predictive modelling and identify scale-invariant parameters and transferable operating windows

Scale up to pilot plant with the industrial partner, verifying robustness and reproducibility

Consolidate results in a standardized scale-transfer workflow and guidelines for industrial adoption

Interact with the consortium, present at conferences, and uphold lab safety and good scientific practice

Your profile

Master's degree in chemistry or chemical engineering with experience in organic synthesis

Strong interest in pursuing interdisciplinary research involving synthesis, process development, characterization, and chemical engineering

Ability to conduct cutting‑edge R&D with initiative, creativity and a problem‑solving mindset

Rigorous, autonomous and well‑organized experimental work, with careful data documentation

Enthusiasm, resourcefulness and teamwork skills; readiness to be on the look‑out for improvements and ability to approach and solve problems in a creative way

Excellent English oral and written communication skills, basic communication skills in French and/or German is a plus

Additional information

Activity rate: 80 – 100 %

Job starting date: 1 May 2027 or to be agreed