Research Fellow in VFA Biosensing

The University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research. We are ambitious and have a bold vision of what we want to achieve - shaping ourselves into one of the best universities in the world, which we are achieving through the talents and endeavour of every employee. Our culture empowers people to achieve this aim and to collectively, and individually, make a real difference.

This Research Fellow position will contribute to a new project developing a biosensor-based approach for monitoring volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in anaerobic digestion.

The successful candidate will:

- Develop and test a pH-controlled silicone membrane separation approach to selectively transfer VFAs from complex digestate samples into a cleaner aqueous phase.
- Investigate the effect of key interfering species, particularly bicarbonate and chloride, on VFA separation and recovery.
- Support the development and optimisation of microbial fuel cell biosensors for monitoring acetate, propionate, butyrate and VFA mixtures.
- Carry out laboratory experiments, sample preparation and analytical measurements, and interpret the resulting data.
- Progress from controlled synthetic solutions towards validation using real anaerobic digestate.
- Work closely with the academic team and contribute to project reporting, data analysis and future research outputs.

The role would suit someone with strong practical laboratory skills and a background in areas such as chemistry, chemical engineering, analytical chemistry, electrochemistry, membrane/separation processes or related experimental research.