Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Mathematical Sciences

The Role

Applications are invited for a two-year full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate position beginning around October 2025 (although there is some flexibility in this date, in both directions). The position is funded by NSF-EPSRC grant 'Stochastic Shape Processes and Inference', in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, Ohio State University, and Florida State University. The successful applicant will work primarily with the UK PI Prof Ian Jermyn (Durham) and Co-I Prof Karthik Bharath (Nottingham), but will also have the opportunity to collaborate with US PI Prof Sebastian Kurtek (Ohio) and Prof Anuj Srivastava (Florida) and their teams. The project concerns methods for the statistical modelling of shapes changing in time, and involves mathematical and statistical techniques from statistical shape analysis, Riemannian geometry, time series and stochastic processes, and Bayesian statistics.

Key responsibilities:

• To carry out research within the framework of the project, under the direction of the Principal Investigator, and in collaboration with the Principal Investigator, the Co-Investigator, and other project members.
• To contribute to the development of research objectives and proposals.
  To liaise with research colleagues and internal and external contacts to further the research objectives.
• To work with the Principal Investigator and other project members, as appropriate, to identify promising research directions, to develop new research methods, to implement those methods in computer code, and to evaluate their performance on various data sets and applications.
• To take part in regular meetings, both in-person and online with UK colleagues, and online with US colleagues, and to present reports to such meetings on research progress.
• To write and publish high quality outputs, including papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals and papers for presentation at conferences and workshops, under the direction of the Principal Investigator.
• To prepare and deliver presentations on research outputs/activities to audiences which may include: research sponsors, academic and non-academic audiences.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To plan and manage own research activity, research resources in collaboration with others, and contribute to the planning of research projects.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses or by participation in undergraduate or postgraduate teaching programmes or by membership of departmental committees, etc..

The post is fixed term for two years commencing on the start date, as this is the duration of the grant funding for the post.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by October 1, 2025.

Contact Information

Department contact for academic-related enquiries

Professor Ian Jermyn. Email: i.h.jermyn@durham.ac.uk .

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.