Research Fellow in AI & Data Science for Climate and Health

The University of Exeter is seeking a Research Fellow in AI & Data Science for Climate and Health, based remotely. This three-year position is part of the newly established Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions. The role involves developing AI tools for research on climate change and health, requiring strong technical skills in AI and data science. Applicants should hold a relevant PhD or equivalent experience.
The post

We are looking to recruit a Research Fellow in AI & Data Science to join the recently launched Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions (Net Positive Centre). The post is available immediately for three years. This post will be part of the Net Positive Centre and will be based in the Computer Science department on Streatham campus at the University of Exeter. They will work in the Environmental Intelligence research group supervised by Prof Hywel Williams.

The Net+ Centre launched on 1st of October 2024 and is a five-year research centre funded by UKRI. It is led by the University of Exeter alongside core partners at the UK Health Security Agency, National Trust and Forest Research (and many other partners across sectors). The key aim of the Net+ Centre is to establish interdisciplinary research projects and partnerships that will deliver impactful research on climate change and health.

This Research Fellow will focus on AI and data science projects related to the Net+ Centre aims. The Research Fellow will work on various projects during the funded period, including collaboration with other researchers/partners across the Centre. Initially, the Research Fellow will develop an LLM-based tool to perform “horizon scanning” around Net+ Centre research themes: automatically collating news articles and peer-reviewed papers; using large language models and other machine learning approaches to curate and interpret these documents; generating reports and insight for the research community of new advances in this fast-moving research area. Future projects may focus on other topics and make use of different methods/datasets.

About you

This role will suit a researcher with strong technical skills in AI and/or data science and an interest in applied research. The successful applicant will possess a relevant PhD or equivalent qualification/experience in a relevant field of study (e.g. data science, AI, machine learning, statistics, physics). They will be motivated to solve problems related to the environment, health and climate. They will enjoy collaboration and working with partners to complete impact-focused research projects.

What we can offer you
• Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research;
• Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly
• Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career
• A multitude of staff benefits including sector leading benefits around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), Paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay), and a Fertility Treatment Policy
• A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon

The University of Exeter

The University of Exeter is an equal opportunity employer. We are officially recognised as a Disability Confident employer and an Athena Swan accredited institution. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented in the workforce.

From £42,882 on Grade F spine point 34, depending on qualifications and experience.