King's College London

About us

King’s College London is a globally renowned university ranked among the top 40 institutions worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2025. The Centre for Telecommunication Research (CTR) at the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES) has a long history of performing world-class research in wireless communication research.

• CTR was established in 1994, as one of the first centre of excellence for telecom in the UK.
• CTR has made extensive research contribution and portfolio in 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G mobile communications, networking, and applications.
• Scientific contribution as well as standard, innovation and proof-of-concept.
• Active collaboration with national and international industry.
• Some of the first-in-the-world concept 5G demonstrations.

About the role

Applications are invited for one position as research associate in digital olfactory sensing and communications. The positions are full-time at King’s College London, and fixed term for 24 months (2 years). The post is due to start on 1st of Oct. 2026 or shortly after.

The role will be part of a £1.3 million ERC fellowship of Prof. Deng on “Real-time Chemical signal processing for microfluidic molecular communications: design, theory, prototype, and application (REACTION)” with description in this link, contributing to the vision of  Internet of Smells. In this role, you are expected conduct interdisciplinary research at the intersection of sensor technologies, artificial intelligence, chemistry, electronics, and communication systems to enable the digital capture, transmission, and reproduction of odors.

You will be a conscientious, innovative scientist who has successfully completed a PhD (or equivalent) in the topics related to smell sensing and detection. Experience in olfactory sensors, including but not limited to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, optical based sensors, ion mobility spectrometers, metal-oxide sensors, are preferred.

At King’s, you will join a research-leading and multi-disciplinary team, including Prof. Yansha Deng. You will be based at the Centre for Telecommunications Research (CTR) at the Department of Engineering. The successful candidate will also be expected to collaborate with the project partners and members of the research group.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until Nov. 30th 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

The roles will involve carrying out research in digital olfactory sensing and communications, with the objective of developing new digital olfactory devices with the capability of gas-phase scent profile detection, transmission, and recreation for the Internet of Smells. The successful candidate will be able to develop skills in the exciting and emerging field of digital olfactory sensing and airborne molecular communications.

The role may involve irregular hours, with intense periods of activity leading up to deadlines such as publications or deliverable milestones.

The key challenges on which the applicant will focus can be briefly defined as the following:

• Work closely with the Principal Investigators (PIs) to ensure that the aims and objectives of the project are achieved in a timely and effective way.
• Write papers for publication in journals and for presentation at conferences, seminars and other research meetings.
• Participate in relevant events within the institution or externally, in order to build contacts to facilitate the exchange of information and advance thinking.
• Support events, conferences and workshops run by the project to develop the project outputs and research agenda.
• Contribute to the development of further research proposals.

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

Essential criteria

Education/qualification and training:

1.      BSc in related area.

2.      PhD awarded in relevant topics of smell sensing and detection or related area (or near completion).

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting the award of their PhDs will be considered. Should the successful candidate be awaiting the award of their PhD, the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spinal point 30 with the title of Research Assistant until confirmation of the award of the PhD has been received. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6, spine point 32.

Experience:

3.      Ability to demonstrate a record of peer-reviewed high-quality journal publications.

4.      Publications demonstrating his/her experience in digital olfactory sensing and communications.

5.      Knowledge in smell detection and real-time sensing.

6.      Experimental experience in digital olfactory sensors.

Personal characteristics/other requirements:

7.     Ability to attend regular meetings with project partners, and work collaboratively and independently.

8.     Good interpersonal / team working skills.

Desirable criteria

1.    Knowledge of airborne molecular detection and communication system.

2.    Experience in basic AI algorithms.

3.    Strong background in interdisciplinary research, and collaborative innovation.

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.

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.