The Opportunity

• Do you have a PhD in material science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials and process engineering?
• Take a lead role in the development of fundamental understanding of food extrusion systems
• Join our multi-disciplinary team for this exciting postdoctoral role

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.

We are thrilled to be able to deliver on the commitment we made in our strategy to invest in frontier science with the CSIRO Agriculture & Food Winanga-y Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme. The word Winanga-y (pronounced win-na-gnay) is a cultural asset gifted by the Gomeroi Nation in Myall Vale to CSIRO's Agriculture and Food Business Unit to name the new Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme. Winanga-y means to understand, know, remember, and think.

The CERC Fellow will develop predictive platforms that encompass flow properties and the physicochemical changes occurring during extrusion, complemented with mechanistic understanding from development and use of advanced computational models of extrusion, within an expert system for new product development, process optimisation and commercial scale up.

There is an urgent need to create mechanistic understanding, linking material properties, feed material structure and processing aspects to the final product attributes; to understand how all those complex thermo-physico-chemical reactions happen inside the extruder; and make the extrusion process less of a “black box”.

During their Fellowship, the CERC Fellow will develop an in-depth fundamental understanding of the food and feed material transformations during extrusion (e.g. the flow properties and the physical and chemical changes of the materials), build computational models able to predict complex flow, rheological and thermodynamic behaviours and an expert system (a collection of the extrusion engineering and industrial experiences and expertise with a user friendly human machine interface) to guide new product development, process optimisation and commercial scale up.

Your duties will include:

• Conducting a survey of the current state-of-the-art of food and feed extrusion science and technology, computational modelling and expert system.
• Designing a research and development plan to build the biomaterials science platform for extrusion optimisation and scale up.
• Developing and building the platform and complete the verification using industrial case studies
• Carrying out impactful research of strategic importance to CSIRO that will, where possible, lead to novel and important scientific outcomes.
• Recognising and exploiting opportunities for innovation and the generation of new theoretical perspectives, and progress opportunities for the further development or creation of new lines of research.

Location: Werribee, Victoria
Salary: AU$89k - AU$98k plus up to 15.4% superannuation
Tenure: Specified term of 3 years
Reference: 84511

To be considered you will need:

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as material science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials and process engineering. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of postdoctoral research experience.
• Experience in food manufacturing, extrusion and physico-chemical characterisation of materials.
• Design, execution, and analysis of experiments with the purpose of gaining new understanding of a physical system.
• Experience in use of computational modelling and simulation to create novel understanding of physical processes.
• High level written and oral communication skills with the ability to represent the research team effectively internally and externally, including the presentation of research outcomes at national and international conferences.

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

CSIRO is an Equal Opportunity employer working hard to recruit world-class talent that represents the diversity across our society. As part of our commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment outcomes, preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates who meet the role criteria.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

14 July 2022, 11:00pm AEST