Job Description

The Chemistry Department at University College London is the oldest in England, and today is one of the best in the UK, being ranked 3rd in the UK for its world-leading research in REF2021. We are located in Bloomsbury, at the heart of London, and offer an exciting and vibrant environment in which to study in one of the UK's top universities. The Department of Chemistry at UCL is committed to supporting excellence in both research and teaching. The department offers undergraduate BSc and MSci programmes in Chemistry and currently teaches ~750 undergraduates registered in Chemistry as well as students who select Chemistry on the Natural Sciences programme and first year Chemistry for life scientists.
The department also offers a number of Postgraduate Taught Masters courses with about 80 students per year and has an overall PGR student school of about 200 students. The Chemistry Department has over 60 members of academic staff carrying out world-leading research. We specialise in the areas of organic synthesis, chemical biology, computational chemistry, nanotechnology, inorganic and materials chemistry, physical chemistry and chemical physics. The department has an annual research income of around 15 million, derived from many sources including the Research Councils (EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, and NERC), European Commission and a wide range of charities and industrial partners in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Details about our research can be found on the departmental website
About the role
This post is available to join an exciting new research team developing novel electronic structure theory at University College London. The objective of this research is to develop accurate and low-scaling computational methods to predict open-shell ground and excited electronic states in molecules. This project builds on our group's recent advances in low-spin open-shell mean-field theory by investigating the inclusion of electron correlation through effective many-body interactions and the integration with density functional approximations. This project will combine pen-and-paper theory with the design and implementation of computational algorithms, and will include applications to ground-state properties and the electronic spectra of open-shell molecules.
The appointee will also share responsibility for designing and maintaining research software within the group, and assisting the development of future funding proposals.
The appointment is for 24 months, starting as soon as possible. The candidate will join the Molecular Quantum Theory Group led by Dr Hugh Burton in the Department of Chemistry at the Bloomsbury Campus of University College London.
Information about the group can be found at
About you
The postholder will be required to carry out research into:

• Prediction of excited-state energy surfaces and spectra using open-shell mean-field theory o Quasiparticle theory of open-shell diradicals and polyradicals
• Integration of open-shell mean-field theory with density functional approximations Key Requirements The successful candidates will have a PhD degree (or be about to be awarded a PhD) in an area of Theoretical Chemistry, Physics, or a related subject.

The successful candidates will be required to work in a collaborative team and have effective written and verbal communication skills in English.
Customer advert reference: B04-06403