Research Associate

Department

School of Physics, Engineering and Technology

Salary

£37,694 - £46,049 per year

Grade

Grade 6

Contract status

Fixed term

Hours of work

Full-time

Based at

University of York campus

Posted Date

11/09/2026

Apply by

27/09/2026

Job Reference

15338

Documents

• Job Description 15338.pdf (PDF, 405.62kb)
  
  

Role Description

The School of Physics, Engineering and Technology brings physicists and engineers together to push the frontiers of knowledge, foster innovation and meet the grand challenges facing society. Our aim is to deliver world-leading research in both fundamental and applied areas whilst developing new technologies that work for the public good, in an environment where everyone can thrive.

As a School, equality, diversity, and inclusion are central to our culture and we strive to provide a working environment which allows all staff and students to contribute fully, to flourish, and to excel. We aim to ensure that there is a supportive and egalitarian culture at all levels and across all staff groups and offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, campus facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds. We are proud to hold Juno Champion and Athena Swan silver awards, which recognise our commitment to creating an equitable and fully inclusive environment in which staff and students can thrive. We aim to inspire young people to engage with science and engineering through our outreach work.

The communications research group and iTwins-lab have a strong track record on wireless communications projects focussing on Open RAN for next generation radio access networks. The project is a large multi-partner project that requires close collaboration with industry.

Role

In this project, York's contribution will focus on development of xApps and rApps for the RIC to support different forms of high-density deployment, along with development of sustainability aware xApps/rApps, integration with renewable energy sources, and/or transport focused AI-based routines for user mobility modelling and prediction. The successful candidate will need to clean, analyse and document the given data sets; develop machine learning algorithms for O-RAN dense network planning; develop/use simulation environment for O-RAN network performance testing; support and contribute to test and trials on our O-RAN testbed.

Skills, Experience & Qualification Needed

You will have:

• PhD in EE, CS, engineering or equivalent experience
• Knowledge advance machine learning algorithms
• Knowledge of Open Radio access networking and relevant wireless standards
• Ability and experience to write up research work for publication in high profile journals and engage in public dissemination
• Competency to conduct individual and collaborative research projects
• Ability to identify sources of funding and contribute to the process of securing funds, with collaborators if required
• Competency to make presentations at conferences or exhibit work in appropriate events
• Networking, programming and experimentation skills
• Experience in Wireless networks modelling and simulation in Matlab or Python and simulation tools e.g. NS3
• Experience of using ML for wired or wireless network optimisation
  
  

Interview date: To be confirmed

For informal enquiries: please contact Dr Hamed Ahmadi ([HIDDEN TEXT]) or PET-Admin on [HIDDEN TEXT].

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University.

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum (essential) criteria for each position will be offered an interview. Read more about the University of York's commitments under the Disability Confident scheme.