Makepeace Group

Join the group!

We're always looking for enthusiastic and engaged people to join our team of researchers. Take a look below for listed opportunities. We're also happy to talk to exceptional candidates about scholarship and fellowship opportunities; get in touch with Josh in the first instance.

In our group, we strive to provide an inclusive research environment, and so welcome applications regardless of gender, race, sexuality, (dis)ability, religion and background.

Current Positions

Research Fellow in Energy Storage

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974

Contract Type: Fixed Term contract up to December 2026

Closes: 22/05/2024

We are seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work as part of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship research programme focussed on energy storage applications on metal-nitrogen-hydrogen materials. The programme looks to demonstrate the application of these materials as catalysts for the production of hydrogen from ammonia, solid state electrolytes, battery cathode materials and porous materials. The project is led by Dr Josh Makepeace and will be based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. The position will involve synthesis of metal-nitrogen-hydrogen materials and application of them in the context of next-generation batteries, including all solid state formulations.

For more information, see the full job advertisement here

PhD Studentships

We aim to recruit 1-2 PhD students each year. Our current opportunities include:

Permeation of Hydrogen Isotopes into Fusion Reactor Materials

This project is co-sponsored by UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) / Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) Hydrogen-3 Advanced Technology (H3AT) Research Centre. The fuel for future fusion reactors is the fusing of deuterium and tritium, two hydrogen isotopes. Deuterium can be readily extracted from sea water, but tritium, being radioactive, is very scarce. Hence an important requirement of future fusion reactors is that they are tritium self-sufficient; tritium must be generated in the breeder blankets surrounding the torus at a rate higher than it is burned-up in the fusion reactor.

However, tritium in these breeder blankets is able to permeate into the coolant, and other structures. This leads to a large loss of tritium, and potentially serious environmental contamination. Therefore, tritium permeation must be minimised. This project aims to better understand the permeation of hydrogen isotopes into fusion reactor materials, including but not limited to: models of behaviour which best describe how permeation takes place through a/several composite layers, the effect of grain boundaries, microstructures and inclusions, and surface limited permeation regimes.

The project will make use of expertise and facilities at the University of Birmingham, such as hydrogen sorption measurements and alloy synthesis and processing. Other external facilities such as atom probe tomography, neutron diffraction and neutron reflectometry will help facilitate a greater understanding of surface and sub-surface hydrogen isotope behaviour at surfaces.

The candidate should have a 1st class Undergraduate or Masters degree (or equivalent) in Materials Science, Chemistry or related discipline. A background in microstructural characterisation and/or mechanical testing would be advantageous.

To Apply please provide Josh with: (1) A curriculum vitae (CV), (2) A Cover Letter summarising your research interests and suitability for the position, and (3) The contact details of two Referees.