Postdoctoral Researcher in Experimental Memory for Circular Battery Materials

Join our team!

We are looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to play a central role in CONTINUUM, a project that transforms heterogeneous analytical and process data into persistent experimental memory. You will develop and validate methods that connect NMR and IR spectra with sample, batch, process, and performance information, making it possible to recover relevant precedents, trends, deviations, and overlooked results. You will work in the Slootweg Group at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences in close collaboration with industrial partner BOR-LYTE and with data-science expertise at the University of Amsterdam.

This position offers a unique opportunity to combine analytical chemistry, scientific data engineering, statistics, and machine learning in a framework that supports faster interpretation of production variability and qualification of alternative or circular raw-material inputs for sodium-ion battery materials.

This is what you are going to do

• Define the CONTINUUM data architecture, metadata, and provenance requirements.
• Develop traceable pipelines to ingest, quality-control, and harmonise large NMR and IR datasets.
• Benchmark spectral retrieval, multivariate, clustering, and machine-learning methods.
• Build a demonstrator linking analytical features to sample, batch, process, and performance context.
• Validate the framework with BOR-LYTE's production data and publish the results.

This is what we ask of you

• With large, imperfect datasets, you preserve provenance and distinguish evidence from tentative correlations.
• You communicate clearly across chemistry, data science, and industrial production.
• You develop reproducible, well-documented data-processing and analysis methods.
• You work and think at doctoral level in chemistry, data science, chemometrics, or a related field.
• You have hands-on experience with scientific programming, preferably Python, and complex research data.
• You have experience with NMR or IR, chemometrics, data engineering, information retrieval, or machine learning.
• FAIR data, battery materials, production data, or industrial experience is beneficial but not required.

This is what we offer you

You will work in CONTINUUM at the interface of analytical chemistry, data science, high-tech manufacturing, and the circular economy. Methods developed at the University of Amsterdam will be validated in BOR-LYTE's sodium-ion conducting-salt production environment.

You will gain:

Experience combining analytical chemistry with data pipelines, statistics, and machine learning;

Direct collaboration on real industrial production and quality-control challenges;

Opportunities to develop scientific, software, and translational skills.

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 18 months, corresponding to the planned duration of the CONTINUUM project. The preferred starting date is 1st of December 2026.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 3,706 - € 5,760 (scale 10). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile Researcher 4 is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution.

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.

This is where you will work

You will join the Slootweg Group within the Synthesis & Catalysis / Sustainable Chemistry theme at HIMS. Our group focuses on circular chemistry, sustainable main-group chemistry, and the development of scalable and data-driven chemical processes.

Within CONTINUUM, you will work at the interface of analytical chemistry and data science, developing methods that reconstruct heterogeneous NMR, IR, process, and performance data into reusable experimental memory.

The project addresses a central challenge in circular manufacturing: using accumulated production evidence to understand process and batch variability and to qualify more variable alternative or secondary raw-material inputs.

You will collaborate closely with BOR-LYTE and with the data-science experts at the University of Amsterdam. Research is performed primarily at the University, while industrial validation uses BOR-LYTE's production environment and datasets.

The Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) is one of eight institutes of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty of Science. HIMS performs internationally recognized chemistry and molecular research, curiosity driven as well as application driven. This is done in close cooperation with the chemical, flavor & food, medical and high-tech industries. Research is organized into four themes: Analytical Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Synthesis & Catalysis and Molecular Photonics.

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

Are you excited by the challenge of turning large, heterogeneous analytical datasets into reusable chemical knowledge? Do you want to combine spectroscopy, data science, and industrial production data to accelerate circular battery-material innovation? Then join us in developing experimental memory for sodium-ion battery materials.

This is what we offer you

You will work in CONTINUUM at the interface of analytical chemistry, data science, high-tech manufacturing, and the circular economy. Methods developed at the University of Amsterdam will be validated in BOR-LYTE's sodium-ion conducting-salt production environment.

You will gain:

Experience combining analytical chemistry with data pipelines, statistics, and machine learning;

Direct collaboration on real industrial production and quality-control challenges;

Opportunities to develop scientific, software, and translational skills.

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 18 months, corresponding to the planned duration of the CONTINUUM project. The preferred starting date is 1st of December 2026.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 3,706 - € 5,760 (scale 10). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile Researcher 4 is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution.

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.

If you recognize yourself in the profile and are interested in the position, we look forward to receiving your motivation letter and CV. You can respond via the red button up to and including November 15, 2026.
Please include the following documents in your application (as PDF files):

• A motivation letter (max. 2 pages A4).
• Your CV, including the months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience, including a list of publications.
• Contact details of at least one academic reference.

We will review applications on a rolling basis and continue recruiting until the position is filled. In the event of equal suitability, preference will be given to the internal candidate.

A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure (for details: national knowledge security guidelines). If you receive an error message while applying from abroad, please try again later or contact us for assistance.

For questions about the position, please contact:

prof.dr. J.C. Slootweg, j.c.slootweg@uva.nl

Full Professor in Circular Chemistry