Research Assistant (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Candidate)

Research Assistant

Department/Division/Faculty: Research Assistant

Campus/Location

South Kensington Campus

Job Family/Level

Research Job Family, Research Assistant ( salary scale) Research

Responsible to

Professor Riccardo Sapienza

Line management for

NA

Key working Relationships

Primarily, project investigator (and potentially, (Internal): Research Associates and PhD students associated with the project

Key Working Relationships

SPARK project partners (External)

Contract type

Fixed time-36 months from 1 February 2027 Purpose of the Post Imperial College London is recruiting two Doctoral Candidates (DCs) to work in the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network (DN) “SPARK” (HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN-01-01), devoted to spatiotemporal metamaterials and structured light fields. The DN will provide multidisciplinary training culminating in PhDs awarded by Imperial College London.

The goal of SPARK is to train a top-class cohort of 15 DCs, that will become the future R&D staff within the area of spatiotemporal metamaterials and light fields. We will create and consolidate links between strategic industry partners and leading academic partners includi ng Eindhoven University of Technology (coordinator), Umeå University, INESC MN (Lisbon), Université de Namur, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Imperial College London by means of common engagement in research and training courses. This will result in the new understanding of nature and creation of new photonic technologies based on spatiotemporal metamaterials and structured light.

A crucial feature of the programme will be the close interaction with partners in both industry and academia and projects will involve a high degree of teamwork and interdisciplinary research, including secondments at a partner organisation.

In particular the two DCs at Imperial will each work on an experimental project while they are expected to work closely within Imperial and the whole network. The titles of the two projects are

Imperial College London

• Project DC4: Time -Varying Metamaterials for Light – Professor Riccardo Sapienza (r.sapienza@imperial.ac.uk) This project aims to experimentally demonstrate space epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) systems, where nanostructuring governs the spatial response and femtosecond temporal modulation controls the spectral properties. The modulation at femtosecond timescales, to observe light diffraction from moving refractive and to realise a dynamical metasurface with a fully controllable optical response. Expected results include time modulation of the optical response (e.g. reflectivity) of ~50% with 10 fs response time, the demonstration of synthetic motion in ENZ metasurfaces, and the establishment of a dynamic control scheme for light at the speed of optical oscillations. The DC will undertake a six secondment at Eindhoven University of Technology (Prof. H. Caglayan) for ellipsometry and characterisation, and a three-month industrial secondment at Applied Materials (AMAT) for ENZ material development and testing.
• Project DC9: Space-Time Beams for and from Space Sapienza (r.sapienza@imperial.ac.uk)

This project aims to experimentally generate and characterise space time metamaterials. The objectives are to develop complex helical light fields for excitation, and to observe synthetic motion with circular acceleration and the corresponding synchrotron radiation. Expected results include the observation of non-separable space–time beams via hyperspectral imaging and the theoretical modelling of synthetic motion. The DC will undertake a six

Pública de Navarra (Prof. I. Liberal) for theory development, and a three

–time metamaterials based on metal–dielectric objectives are to achieve strong refractive-index

-index fronts, -month academic

Time Metamaterials – Professor Riccardo

–time beams interacting with space–

-month academic secondment at Universidad

-month industrial secondment at

Nireos for advanced spectroscopy techniques. The project will be closely linked to the experiments and theory performed across the SPARK network.

Key Responsibilities

Research Duties

• To take initiative in the planning of research for the project
• To prepare and present findings in oral and poster formats
• To draft publications and prepare them for submission to refereed journals
• To contribute to writing bids for research grants
• To help supervise masters students as agreed
• To help supervise PhD students and masters students as agreed
• To prepare material for presentation in oral and poster formats
• To attend relevant workshops and conferences as necessary Other Duties: To undertake appropriate administration tasks Imperial College London

• To attend relevant meetings
• To undertake any necessary training and/or development
• To voluntarily undertake limited teaching duties in joint
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as directed by line manager / supervisor

Where Imperial or funder conditions necessitate, you will be required to complete timesheets for your work on projects in a timely manner.

Person Specification

Requirements

Candidates/post holders will be expected to demonstrate the following: agreement with the Department of Physics Essential (E)/ Desirable (D) Education Master’s degree in physics, Engineering or equivalent and have an interest in E experimental nanophononics, ultrafast optics and metamaterials.

Experience

Evidence of outstanding promise and originality in research, demonstrated by a E good publication record in quantum information science, commensurate with the candidate’s career stage, as well as a strong interest and the ability to learn about the others.

Knowledge

Experience of undertaking a Masters research project (or equivalent) in a E relevant experimental field is essential

Skills & Abilities

Ability to identify, develop and apply new concepts, techniques and methods

E

Ability to work independently and collaboratively

E

Creative approach to problem-solving

E

Good verbal communication skills, the ability to deal with a wide range of people

E and to interact successfully with others to learn and teach new skills Ability to present research with authority and coherence

E

Ability to write scientifically, clearly and succinctly for publication

E

Ability to organise and prioritise own work with minimal supervision

E

Computing skills appropriate to the programme of work

E Imperial College London

Ability to motivate and guide the work of others

D

Ability to encourage research culture in others

D Further Information

Please note that job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, and the post-holder may be required to undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

Our values are at the root of everything we do and everyone in our community is expected to demonstrate

Imperial

• Respect
• Collaboration
• Excellence
• Integrity
• Innovation

Employees are also required to comply with all Imperial policies and regulations.

We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender reassignment, sex, or sexual orientation. You can read more about our commitment

.

Imperial is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see and-innovation/about -imperial-research/research -evaluation/ Imperial believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes which are ultimately aimed towards finding new treatments and making scientific and medical advan reasonably practical alternatives to their use. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in our care are treated with full respect, and that all staff with this work show due consideration at every level.

.

on our webpages https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research ces, and where there are no satisfactory or involved Find out more about animal research at Imperial

[07.09.2026] Imperial College London