The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.
The University is dedicated to supporting an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment – to create better futures, together. The diverse backgrounds, characteristics and opinions within our community are our great strength and are key to our pursuit of delivering educational excellence, enterprise, research and professional services. We welcome applications from people from diverse backgrounds and minoritized groups as they are currently under-represented within our community.
We recognise the value of a fulfilling and balanced work and personal life which promotes wellbeing. We seek to support colleagues in achieving this balance and have family-friendly policies, flexible working arrangements and many roles can be suitable for dynamic working arrangement. This includes considering applications to work on a part-time, flexible and job share basis wherever possible.
Loughborough University is a UKVI Sponsor. Some individuals may require sponsorship to enable them to apply for a visa to provide them with the right to work in the UK. Please note certain roles are not eligible for sponsorship. For further information and eligibility please visit the UKVI website.
School of Social Sciences and Humanities - Geography and Environment
Fixed-Term until September 2023
Loughborough University is seeking to appoint a Research Associate: Modern Energy Cooking in Institutional Settings, for the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, working in close collaboration with the existing MECS team and MECS programme partners. The post holder will be required to travel to work with partners across the UK and overseas when it becomes safe to do so.
1.8 billion people have access to electricity but still cook with biomass. Load shedding, weak grids, affordability of electricity, accessibility of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), tradition, perceptions, energy governance, and a lack of suitable cooking appliances all act as barriers to scaling up the use of electricity or gas for cooking – clean cooking. The Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme (MECS), is a £39.8 million, 5-year programme funded by UKAid through the Department for International Development, led by Loughborough University.
We already know that increasing access through renewable energy generation is becoming more affordable and opening new windows of opportunity. New business models and smart monitoring are improving the reliability of LPG distribution, appliances can be made more energy efficient but still cook favourite foods so they taste right, and cooking with electricity is becoming increasingly affordable with issues of reliability and sustainability being overcome. We want to build on these opportunities and the new knowledge emerging from the MECS programme to break out of business-as-usual approaches and rapidly accelerate the transition from biomass to clean cooking on a global scale. The MECS programme is organised into four core workstreams: UK universities and innovators, southern partners, a challenge fund and scale-up. These four workstreams come together to achieve the ultimate ambition of the programme which is to change the narrative on clean cooking.
The Research Associate will support the delivery of the Modern Energy Cooking Services programme with a specific focus on clean cooking in institutional settings. The workstream is split into 3 core work packages: 1) understanding transition pathways for MECS in institutional settings; 2) demonstrate technology, innovation and delivery models; 3) capacity building and scale up. The Research Associate will be expected to lead on work packages 1 and 2 and support on 3. MECS works across 15 priority countries. For the institutional work stream, activities are likely to be focused on 3-5 countries.
Informal enquiries should be made by email to Dr Anh Tran. A.Tran@lboro.ac.uk
Application Closing Date: 14 December 2020
It is anticipated that interviews will take place during the week commencing 4 January 2021
Please follow this link for further information about MECS.
Please follow this link for details about the role