Postdoc in data science and technique development for mechanistic analysis in electrocatalysis

Department of Chemistry
Faculty of Science
University of Copenhagen

The Department of Chemistry invites applicants for a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in experimental data science.

Project:

Open science, based on transparent and useful public access of research data, is expected to accelerate developments in electrocatalysis (eg water splitting and CO2 electrolysis) and other energy conversion and storage technology, as required to meet global challenges. However, effectively harnessing the promise of open science requires better tools for organization, analysis, and visualization of experimental data. This postdoc project is to implement and develop open-source tools for experimental data acquisition, organization, and analysis. Special attention will be given to in-situ techniques where data collected from two separate instruments, such as a potentiostat and a spectrophotometer, must be combined and analyzed together to provide insight into the elementary steps of an electrocatalytic cycle.

The post-doc will (i) design data science tools for predicting better electrocatalytic materials from experimental and literature data, (ii) build and maintain laboratory data infrastructure, and (iii) help develop new in-situ techniques and methods for analyzing the data they produce.

Some of the postdoc’s initial work will be developing the in-situ experimental data tool, ixdat (see https://ixdat.readthedocs.io), a python package developed and supported here and used by many groups around the world. The postdoc will continue development of ixdat including building a powerful database backend and adding coverage for additional in-situ techniques as we develop them.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for candidates within the field(s) of data science, experimental electrochemistry, physical chemistry, catalysis, and/or spectroscopy. Applicants can have a background from Computer Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Nanotechnology, Materials Science and Engineering or Renewable Energy. Applicants should have experience with data science using python and/or SQL, be comfortable thinking quantitatively, and work well in a group setting. A solid grasp of thermodynamics and experience in experimental materials sciences or energy sciences are a plus.

Our group and research- and what do we offer?

Supervision will be with asst. Professor Soren B. Scott as part of the Energy Conversion Interfaces Group. In the Energy Conversion Interfaces group, in addition to fundamental insight and development of electrocatalysis, we also consider open-source software and its dissemination through publications, documentation, workshops and tutorials to be an important research output, as it benefits the community of researchers in energy and material sciences. Our group is within the Nano Chemistry Section, and we collaborate closely with the other groups in the section, especially those of Prof. Jan Rossmeisl (Theoretical Catalysis), assc. Prof. Kirsten Jensen (Nanomaterial Structure), and asst. Prof. Rebecca Pittkowski (Nanoparticals in Electrocatalysis). Our research facilities include modern laboratories housing potentiostats, spectrophotometers, x-ray diffraction, gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy among other equipment. Additional techniques including electrochemistry – mass spectrometry are available through our CAPeX partners at DTU.

The position includes teaching duties.

Further information on the Department of Chemistry is linked at https://chem.ku.dk/. Inquiries about the position can be made to Assistant Professor Soren B. Scott, sbs@chem.ku.dk, phone: +45 51627117.

The position is open from 1 May 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Terms of employment

The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

The application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include

• Curriculum vitae
• Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
• Complete publication list
• Letters of reference (if available)

The deadline for applications is 16 February 2025, 23:59 GMT +2.

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.

You can read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

We will aim to hold interviews in the week of March 3-7, 2024.