Research Associate in Planetary Atmospheric Science

Research Associate in Planetary Atmospheric Science

University of Leicester

The successful PDRA will join the Planetary Science Group at the University of Leicester. The School of Physics and Astronomy is home to four interconnected research groups: planetary science, earth-observation science, astrophysics, and space projects and instrumentation. We work across two sites, on campus at the University of Leicester, and at Space Park Leicester. The Planetary Science Group studies everything from planetary surfaces, to atmospheres, ionospheres, and magneto spheres, and is involved in a range of missions, including Bepi Colombo, SMILE, Exo Mars, Juno, JWST, and JUICE.

The University of Leicester has been changing the world, and changing people’s lives, for 100 years. When you join us, you’ll become part of a community of Citizens of Change, which includes not only our staff and our current students but also thousands of Leicester graduates around the world.

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Leicester, United Kingdom

Academic

Planetary and Solar System Sciences (PS)

Full time

Experienced

£39,906 to £46,049 per annum

PhD

5 November 2026

6 October 2026

Infrared observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have rapidly become a cornerstone in the current era of Solar System exploration. The Planetary Science Group within the School of Physics and Astronomy is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) in planetary atmospheric science. The PDRA will join a team led by Professor Leigh Fletcher, and will be supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant known as JWSTVoyager.

This project aims to study the origins, atmospheres, and variability of the four giant planets using a combination of JWST, ground-based, and Juno observations. This work will ultimately prepare the team to work with data from Europe’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and ESA’s JUICE mission to Jupiter in the 2030s.

The JWSTVoyager programme seeks to compare the atmospheres of the four giant planets, including (but not limited to) investigations of their bulk elemental and isotopic composition as a window on planetary origins; exploration of the ubiquitous banded structure of the giant planets and how the belts and zones differ from world to world; and studies of temporal variability within giant planet atmospheres, from the smallest-scale storms to large-scale circulation patterns.

The PDRA will have access to existing (and forthcoming) observations from JWST, coupled with cutting‑edge data processing tools. The PDRA will work to invert infrared and microwave spectra with a suite of radiative transfer and retrieval tools (NEMESIS), using these to derive climatological parameters (temperatures, winds, composition, and clouds), which can then be used to address the core themes of JWSTVoyager.

As the PDRA will be embedded within a wider research team, the specifics of the research project can be aligned with the…