Postdoc in Polymer Chemistry towards Green Materials from Lignin

We are looking for a motivated postdoctoral researcher in polymer chemistry with a focus on green materials from lignin. You will work on developing new green chemical modifications of lignin for biocomposites in collaboration with research groups at Linköping University and KTH. The project, which is connected to the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, offers a unique opportunity to contribute to sustainable material solutions from forest resources. Your research will play a crucial role in shaping the environmentally friendly materials of the future.

Work assignments 

Your research will be to develop new green chemical transformations on Lignin and Lignin-derived platform molecules, for applications towards high performance biocomposites. Your particular focus will be on method development.

Questions that may be explored during your postdoc include:

• How to selectively modify technical Lignin under green conditions
• How does the reaction system influence the Lignin backbone
• What platform molecule from Lignin could be converted to high-performance polymers

In particular, you will:

• Optimize chemical reactions
• Evaluate kinetics and structure with NMR
• Design new polymerization concepts
• Apply the system in green biocomposite processing

Your postdoc work will be crucial towards the development of new green transformations for applications in green material design, as well in the development of new synthetic concepts for applications in materials science, both within the respective groups, and in the larger LOE and KTH environment.

As postdoc, you will principally carry out research. A certain amount of teaching may be part of your duties, up to a maximum of 20% of working hours.

Qualifications

To be qualified to take employment as postdoc, you must have been awarded a doctoral degree or have a foreign degree that is deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree.  This degree must have been awarded at the latest by the point at which LiU makes its decision to employ you.

It is considered advantageous if your doctoral degree is no older than three years at application deadline for this job. If there are special reasons for having an older doctoral degree – such as taking statutory leave – then these may be taken into consideration.

We are searching for a person with a PhD degree in area of Polymer Chemistry or Organic Chemistry with focus on method development, merit is given to documented interest in advanced NMR characterization, either though scientific publications or documented coursework. The personal qualities that we are looking for are, structured, organized and a deep interest in fundamental research. Fluency in English, both verbally and in writing is a requirement.  

Great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities and suitability.

The workplace and research area

The postdoc position will be based at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics (LOE), belonging to the Department of Science and Technology, at the university’s Norrköping Campus. The LOE is renowned for its world-leading research on electronic devices based on organic electroactive materials. Its primary theme involves the coupling of ions and electrons as signal carriers for applications in printed electronics, organic energy- and electrochemical devices, and organic bioelectronics. Currently, the research staff of the Laboratory includes about 150 researchers (professors, senior and junior scientists, and PhD students). Read more at www.liu.se/loe

The postdoc project is with Assist. Prof. Peter Olsén, and Prof. Lars A. Berglund at KTH.  Assist. Prof. Peter Olsén group focus on Green Synthetic Chemistry Methodology Development for Functional and Sustainable Biobased Polymeric Materials, (‪Peter Olsén - ‪Google Scholar, Peter Olsén (researchgate.net), Green Polymer Chemistry (GPC) - Linköping University (liu.se)) whereas Prof. Lars A. Berglunds research group at KTH focus on Biocomposite Research ( https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=s8NSQyMAAAAJ&hl=sv) . As such, the project targets going from the initial chemical concept all the way to the final biocomposite application.

The Postdoc position is associated with the Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC), which is a joint research center including groups from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, and Linköping University with base funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. WWSC is a research center with a focus on new materials from trees, aiming to create knowledge and build competence that has the potential to form the basis for an innovative future value creation from forest raw materials.  You will get an overview of the research field within renewable materials from wood and gain knowledge of topics not directly connected to your current research. Read more at www.wwsc.se

The employment

This employment is a temporary contract of two years with the possibility of extension up to a total maximum of three years. The employment is full-time.

Starting date by agreement.

Salary and employment benefits

The university applies individual salaries. A typical starting salary for Postdocs is around 41000 SEK/month (3600 Euro/month). 

More information about employee benefits is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button. Your application must be received no later than November 8, 2024. 
 
Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered. 
 
In the event of a discrepancy between the English translation of the job announcement and the Swedish original, the Swedish version shall take precedent.