Postdoctoral position in Materials Science with focus on automated materials exploration

at the Division of Solar Cell Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University

Full-time temporary position for two years starting as soon as possible or as agreed upon

Join us!

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering aims to be an environment for successful and valuable research and education with a focus on materials science solutions for important societal challenges. Our department is an exciting workplace with research in a broad technology-related area, from basic research to large-scale applied research, and with close contacts with students through the department's involvement in engineering and master's programs. Our research and teaching are conducted within seven divisions with different research focus.

Read more about us here

About the division

The Division of Solar Cell Technology is part of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ångström Laboratory. The research within the division of Solar Cell Technology is dedicated to fundamental understanding as well as development of effective and low-cost solar cells based on thin film technologies. The focus is on materials containing chalcogens such as sulfur and selenium, e.g. (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) and Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTS), but also inorganic perovskites, such as ZrBaS3. Read more about the division here

Project description

This project focuses on developing autonomous workflows in a self-driving laboratory (SDL) for the exploration of new energy materials. The SDL integrates sputtering, reactive thermal processing, and hyperspectral imaging to fabricate and characterize combinatorial thin-film libraries across a broad chemical and thermodynamic space. The project’s core challenge is guiding exploration within the experimental space, to uncover synthesis–property relationships for targeted materials. This will involve combining materials science expertise with machine learning approaches, both existing and newly developed, to design and execute multi-stage experimental workflows with distinct objectives. A central outcome will be the demonstration of the first PVD-based SDL governed by knowledge-driven (not only data-driven) exploration strategies. The project will involve working closely with a team including PhD students in machine learning, automation and materials science, an environment of thin film science and engineering experts, and with collaborations in AI, data science and SDL development.

Duties
You are responsible for selecting and applying workflow control software and integrating this with the SDL operations, involving interfacing with Python codes developed by others in the group (for machine learning, analysis etc.). Based on this, you are able to creatively develop, execute and test experimental sequences and evaluate their performance in reaching various scientific objectives in reaching various scientific objectives (such as choosing most efficient synthesis recipes, or rapidly fitting process models), including studying their reproducibility and robustness over time. This will be supplemented by external materials characterization (e.g. compositional and structural analysis). Ultimately, optimized and robust workflows for generating new knowledge about thin film materials will be demonstrated and described in publications. You also support the evolving SDL development and may be involved in related hardware design, programming and robotics tasks. Robust data management following FAIR principles is integral, and thus an additional task is to help integrate the developed workflows with the NOMAD database, supported by collaboration in the FAIRMAT project.

In addition to research, some participation in supervision of doctoral students, master's and project students as well as communication of research results through scientific articles in well-established scientific journals and presentations at international conferences are also included as important aspects of the employment. Some participation in undergraduate teaching may also be included. You are also expected to contribute to applications for external research funds

Requirements
To qualify for an employment on a postdoctoral position you must have a doctoral degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree. The degree needs to be obtained by the time of the decision of employment. Those who have obtained a PhD degree three years prior to the application deadline are prioritized for the employment. The starting point of the three-year frame period is the application deadline. Due to special circumstances, the degree may have been obtained earlier. The three-year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labor unions, etc.

Read more about the Postdoctoral position, rules and regulations at the Swedish Agency for Government Employers here (Only in Swedish) 

For this position, you must have:

• A PhD degree in Materials science, materials chemistry, materials physics or equivalent degree in a closely-related area.
• Practical experience in machine learning or other forms of automation applied to experimental science.
• Demonstrated proficiency in coding, preferably using Python.
• Very good oral and written skills in English.

Additional qualifications
The following aspects are strongly meriting:

• A solid background synthesis and characterization of thin film materials
• Experience with workflow software and self-driving labs
• Demonstrated experience in design, testing and validation of hardware or software, applied in experimental science

We attach great importance to your personal qualities and you must be self-motivated and proactive and have the ability to independently plan and run projects. You must also be pedagogical, structured and able to work effectively both individually and in a group, as well as be able to easily collaborate and communicate with people in different subjects.

Special emphasis is be placed on your documented experience of publishing scientific works in high-quality journals and giving presentations at scientific meetings.

Instructions for application

• A letter describing yourself, your goals and why you are a suitable candidate for this position.
• CV (max 2 pages)
• List of publications
• Copy of three publications of special relevans
• Copy of the PhD, master's degree (or equivalent) and course grades and other merits
• Short description (max 300 words) of your doctoral thesis
• If avaliable, an electronic version of your doctoral thesis (or weblink).
• Names and contact information (e-mail and telephone) to two reference persons who have agreed to act as reference for you. Please also describe the relationship with that person.

The application should preferably be written in English. During the application period, we continuously read applications and call for interviews.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position of 2 years according to central collective agreement. Full time position. Starting date 01-09-2025, or as agreed upon. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Jonathan Staaf Scragg, Associate Professor, jonathan.scragg@uu.se

Please submit your application by 11 of August, 2025 UFV-PA 2025/1949

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