Postdoctoral Research Associate

UE07: £41,064 - £48,822 per annum 

CSE / School of Mathematics        

Full-Time: 35 hours per week
Fixed term: 20 Months

Applications are invited for the post of Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mathematical General Relativity in the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. The post is available with a tentative start date between 1st October 2026 and 1st May 2027 for a 20 months fixed-term, full-time contract. 

The position is funded by the Royal Society and the School of Mathematics to work with Dr Jan Sbierski on aspects of singularities in general relativity.

The Opportunity:

Mathematical general relativity in Edinburgh is spread across the analysis group, with Jan Sbierski and Pieter Blue, and the mathematical physics group with Tim Adamo, José Figueroa-O’Farrill, Jelle Hartong, James Lucietti and Joan Simon, as well as postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. In addition to working in collaboration with the grant-holder (Sbierski), the successful candidate will be encouraged to develop and pursue their own research agenda and may also want to undertake a small amount of teaching in the School of Mathematics. This position also comes with a generous travel budget and funds for laptop purchase.

Applicants should have a PhD in mathematics or mathematical physics with a background in general relativity, partial differential equations and/or Lorentzian geometry, as well as a track record of research excellence.

Click here for a copy of the full job description.

How to apply

Please apply online and submit a CV, a brief research statement, and a cover letter indicating in particular the desired start date. In addition, please ask two referees to contact [email protected] directly with a reference for you prior to the advert closing date.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect: 

• A competitive salary. 
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. 
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits. 

Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also a Stonewall Proud Employer, actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality. 

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and particularly encourage applications from candidates currently underrepresented in the School of Mathematics. 

Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)

The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role.  This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant.  
Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 24 August 2026.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone. 
Interviews will be held on the 3 September 2026.

The School of Mathematics

The University of Edinburgh's School of Mathematics is one of the world’s leading mathematical sciences departments, home to world-class researchers and to an innovative educational environment for both undergraduates and postgraduates. We are proud to have a highly international faculty and students from around the world. As a School we value both the breadth and depth of our research and teaching.

We have around 110 permanent faculty and around 45 research fellows and research associates, who cover a broad range of research topics in pure and applied mathematics, operational research and statistics. The School has an enviable record of attracting prestigious fellowships and currently hosts, for instance, 6 ERC grant holders and 7 Royal Society University Research and Dorothy Hodgkin Fellows. In the 2023 Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects we are ranked 18th among the world’s best Mathematics departments.  Together with the Departments of Mathematics and Actuarial Mathematics & Statistics at Heriot-Watt University, we form the Maxwell Institute; our joint submission to REF2021was ranked 3rd in the UK for Mathematical Sciences by research power, based on the quality and breadth of our combined research.

The School delivers a world-leading educational experience for its students and is constantly exploring new evidence-based ideas in mathematical education in order to provide a stimulating learning environment. There are excellent possibilities for imaginative curriculum development, including online activities, and course design and delivery. The School teaches pure and applied Mathematics, operational research and statistics. We have approximately 1000 undergraduate students, around 210 MSc students, and our Graduate School has close to 160 PhD students.

Edinburgh is home to the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, one of the UK’s two major conference centres in the mathematical sciences and operated jointly by the University with Heriot-Watt University. Over the past 30 years the centre has established a superb reputation for hosting workshops at the highest scientific level on all mathematical topics, attracting many of the best mathematicians in the world to the UK.

The School is located in the James Clerk Maxwell Building which is situated on the King's Buildings campus, approximately 3 kilometres south of the city centre. 

Further information about the School, our research and our teaching is available on the School of Mathematics Website (https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk) (Opens in new browser tab)