King's College London

About us

King’s College London is one of the UK’s most prestigious universities, located at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic cities. With a rich history of excellence in research and teaching, King’s offers a stimulating academic environment, access to world-class facilities, and a diverse, international community.

The Department of Mathematics at King’s is a lively and supportive environment, known for its strength in both pure and applied mathematics, and its commitment to interdisciplinary science. With its established reputation in mathematical physics, the department offers a welcoming community of scholars working at the forefront of mathematical research. Researchers benefit from regular seminars, workshops, and collaborations within and beyond the department, making it an ideal setting for those looking to engage deeply with challenging mathematical problems and to develop as independent researchers.

About the role

The successful candidate will work closely with Dr Rosalba Garcia-Millan to contribute to the Carl Zeiss Stiftung grant: "Coupled renormalised integrals for snow and proteins".

This position offers an exciting opportunity to develop a mathematical framework to study coupled particle-and-field stochastic processes following a path integral approach that combines Doi-Peliti and Martin-Siggia-Rose field theories. This method will be applied to model complex stochastic processes in biophysics (formation and evolution of protein aggregates) and weather physics (formation and evolution of clouds) that can be described as the interplay between discrete and continuous degrees of freedom, in collaboration with Prof Michael te Vrügt and Prof Peter Spichtinger, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.

This role is ideally suited for researchers with expertise in one or more of the following areas: Doi-Peliti field theory, statistical field theories, or Renormalisation Group techniques. The Research Associate will engage in both independent and collaborative research, contributing to the development of the mathematical techniques of the project, actively participating in research dissemination activities, and promoting a vibrant research environment within the group.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 29 Feb 2028.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria 

1.      PhD qualified in Statistical Physics or related area, or PhD near completion

2.      Experience in path integral formalisms

3.      High level analytical skills

4.      Evidence of outstanding promise and originality in research, with a good publication record, commensurate with career stage

5.      Experience in disseminating research through both formal and informal presentations

Desirable criteria

1.      Experience in Doi-Peliti field theory

2.      Experience in coding and analysing numerical simulations

3.      Post-doctoral experience

4.      Teaching experience

Downloading a copy of our Job Description 

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

*Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held during the first week of June.