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  4. Research Assistant/Associate in CFD for Exascale Computing 2025
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Applications are invited for a Research Assistant/Associate to support the re-engineering efforts of the UKCTRF’s SENGA+ numerical simulation suite to utilise the OPS Domain Specific Language. You will have the opportunity to work with many project partners and other universities on the EPSRC ExCALIBUR project. The aim is on advancing the capabilities of these codes both in terms of performance portability for massively parallel heterogeneous systems and applying them to achieve several key grand challenge problems in wind energy generation, green aviation, air quality leading to reach UK’s net-zero combustion goals.

The Team

This opportunity places you at the heart of the cutting-edge software development in the UK and pioneering simulations of turbulent reacting flows. You will be embedded in an inclusive, multi-national team based at Newcastle University who are involved in simulation and modelling of various aspects of turbulent reacting and multiphase flows. Colleagues in our research group have cutting-edge expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics and multiphase turbulent flows.

We are looking for candidates who have a strong background in developing parallel applications for High Performance Computing systems. You will use this experience to contribute to the design, analysis, implementation, optimization and deployment of parallel algorithms and software for multi-core and many-core architectures on large-scale cluster systems. To be highly successful in this role you will be an enthusiastic and task/goal-oriented individual who can communicate effectively.

Key Accountabilities

  • Contribute to delivering the Newcastle work package of the Turbulence at the Exascale project. The specific deliverables for this post will be
  • Advancing the Capabilities of the OPS DSL system, including the development of a robust and extensible front-end for the DSL APIs and upgrade OPS’s automatic code generation framework implementing advance transformations required to obtain optimized target parallelisations. A key part of the work will consist of development/extension of novel code-generation and translator tool-chains (working with production compiler frameworks such as LLVM)
  • Support the Re-engineering efforts of the UKCTRF’s SENGA+ numerical simulation suite to utilize the OPS DSL
  • Support the maintenance of the re-engineered applications in line with developments in the wider EPSRC ExCALIBUR project
  • Benchmark and measure performance and scalability of research codes developed as part of this project on multi-core and many-core systems including large-scale clusters such as ARCHER2 and UK Tier 2 GPU clusters
  • Publication of research papers arising from this work, particularly targeting top-tier conferences and journals
  • Management of open source (and proprietary) software development processes and repositories in collaboration with external academic and industrial collaborators
  • Incorporation of best-practices in software engineering for open source (and proprietary) software developed as part of this project
  • Update and maintain open source (and proprietary) software documentation, help develop training material for the high-level domain specific libraries and support of end-users (supporting bug fixes and providing guidance)
  • Setup continuous integration (CI) systems for robust software development
  • Engaging with the day-to-day activities of HPSC group including group seminars, team meetings and workshops
  • Liaising with, and presenting to, external industrial partners on the results of this research
  • Attend, and contribute to, project meetings at project partner sites in the UK
  • Depending on experience, system administration/management of HPC hardware in the HPSC group
  • Together with other team members, and collaborators, establish and maintain open source software websites, allowing publicity and access to results

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

  • Experience of software development with ability to develop and deliver high quality software
  • Excellent programming skills in one of C/C++ or FORTRAN, demonstrated in developing large-scale applications
  • Experience in working in the area of High-Performance Computing
  • Knowledge of multi-core and many core architectures
  • Experience in parallel programming in at least two of the following – MPI, OpenMP, CUDA, OpenCL/SYCL
  • Knowledge of compilers and their design/development, for example gained as part of a good honours degree or master’s degree
  • Experience in good software engineering practices
  • Ability to initiate, develop and deliver high quality research, and to publish in peer reviewed conferences and journals
  • Good effective communication and presentation skills
  • Ability to write research reports and papers in styles accessible to academic audiences

Attributes and Behaviour

  • Commitment to working postively as a member of a multi-skilled research team
  • Ability to negotiate and prioritise multiple, competing responsibilities and to work to deadlines
  • Commitment to continued professional development
  • Understanding of and commitment to good practice in equality, inclusion and diversity

Qualifications

  • Honours degree in Aerospace/Chemical/Mechanical engineering, Computer Science or applied Physics/Mathematics
  • A PhD (or close to completion for Research Assistant level) in Aerospace/Chemical/Mechanical engineering, Computer Science or applied Physics/Mathematics

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

To apply, please upload a CV and letter of application which outlines how you can evidence the requirements set out in ‘The Person’ section of the job description found here.

We follow the Researcher Development Concordat. We enable all staff to fulfil their research potential regardless of career stage.

This is a full-time fixed term position until 31 October 2025.

Please contact Professor Nilanjan Chakraborty at nilanjan.chakraborty@ncl.ac.uk for informal enquiries.

Interviews will be held on 13 November 2024.