Research Scientist, Responsive Soft Materials & 3D Microfabrication

Your tasks

You will lead hands-on development of stimuli-responsive soft materials, principally liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), and their fabrication into 3D micro-structures by two-photon lithography. You will own the work from chemistry, through printed structure, to measured performance.

You will work closely with engineers across mechanical, process and device disciplines to turn lab results into robust, repeatable processes. This is a bench-heavy role for an early-career PhD scientist who wants their research to end up in real hardware.

• Design, synthesise and formulate LCEs and related responsive polymer networks, using reactive-mesogen and photo-curable chemistries suited to photo-patterning.
• Develop two-photon lithography (direct laser writing) processes for LCE and other soft resins: photoinitiator and resin formulation, writing parameters, development, and feature fidelity at micron and sub-micron scale.
• Control and verify molecular alignment in printed micro-structures, using surface anchoring, applied fields or mechanical methods.
• Characterise thermal, mechanical and actuation behaviour (e.g. DSC, DMA, polarised optical microscopy, SEM, micro-scale force measurement) and relate it to chemistry and process.
• Run designed experiments, map process windows, and document results so others can reproduce them; hand off mature processes to engineering colleagues.
• Help specify, set up and qualify equipment, materials and safe-handling practices for the soft-materials work.
• Keep rigorous lab records and contribute to invention disclosures.