Post-doctoral Fellow – School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering

About the role

The Post-Doctoral Fellow (Level A) will contribute to the research effort of UNSW and develop research expertise through defined projects relevant to their field. This position is part of a project to develop high‑efficiency chalcogenide thin‑film solar cells and related tandem solar cells. The role reports to Scientia Prof. Xiaojing Hao and has no direct reports. It is a full‑time (35 hours/week) fixed‑term contract for 12 months, based at the Kensington campus in Sydney, Australia. UNSW offers a career where you can thrive, be challenged and do meaningful work. UNSW is a large organisation with a diverse and talented community, driven to be thoughtful, practical, and purposeful. The Faculty of Engineering is a national and international leader, the largest in Australia, graduating the highest number of engineers and maintaining the largest research expenditure. Through excellence in fundamental and applied research, the Faculty aims to be ranked among the top engineering faculties worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to UNSW’s research effort in photovoltaics.
• Develop research expertise through pursuit of defined projects related to chalcogenide thin‑film and tandem solar cells.
• Perform fundamental research, device fabrication, and performance optimisation.
• Carry out electrical, optical, and morphological characterisation of compound semiconductor materials and thin‑film solar cell devices.
• Develop advanced characterisation techniques, either adapting existing methods or combining technologies for complex measurements.
• Undertake high‑quality academic research and conduct independent work with limited supervision.
• Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of the discipline and publish results.

Skills

• PhD in Photovoltaic Engineering, Materials Engineering, Physics, or a related field, with research directly relevant to next‑generation solar cell design and characterisation.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills in chalcogenide thin‑film solar cells and tandem solar cells, spanning fundamental research, device fabrication and performance optimisation.
• Extensive hands‑on experience in basic characterisation of compound semiconductor materials, thin‑film solar cell devices, including electrical, optical, and morphological techniques.
• Proven experience in developing advanced characterisation techniques for thin‑film solar cells and tandem solar cells, either using existing methods to characterise new properties or combining different technologies for complicated characterisation.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake high‑quality academic research and conduct independent research with limited supervision.