20 Oct
Life and Environmental Sciences
United Kingdom
Description
Department: Collaborative Teaching Laboratory, EPS
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Grade: Grade 4
Hourly rate: £13.82 per hour, plus holiday entitlement
Casual Contract start/end: TBC – 20/12/2024
Advert closing date: Thursday 24th October 2024, 12pm
The advert closing date may be adjusted based on the volume and quality of applications received. We recommend that candidates submit their applications promptly.
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do.
The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.
We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum, and botanical gardens.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham
Role Summary:
The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) represents a £42m investment in STEM teaching.
The CTL provides primarily undergraduate students with a transformational teaching experience in a state of the art facilities to encourage and enable inter-disciplinary working.
This position will work across nine different labs according to the timetabled needs of the team. It is a great opportunity to get a broad range of experience, as you will be supporting practicals for Biosciences, Chemistry, Geography, Engineering, Chemical Engineering and potentially other STEM subjects.
Main Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for the preparation of materials for practical classes. A very diverse range of material must be prepared using a number of different techniques.
Preparation of standard solutions and other materials for practical classes - the post holder must understand scientific notation and must be able to accurately calculate the required concentration and pH of reagents.
Ideally the post holder will be familiar with the use of a wide range of preparation equipment – including microscopes, autoclaves, centrifuges, flame photometers, rotary evaporators, spectrophotometers, recording apparatus and electrophoresis equipment. It would also be beneficial to have a good knowledge of aseptic technique, with experience of maintaining a large number of microbial species in culture collections and preparation of standard slides from live bacteria cultures.
Teaching duties
- You will provide a wide range of support in the teaching laboratories, including active participation in the delivery of practical classes, by carrying out the following tasks:
- contribute to planning the most efficient/effective means to turnaround the daily classes;
- setting up and clearing away of equipment, consumables and reagents, ensuring laboratories are suitably prepared for practicals;
- testing, maintaining and calibrating a wide range of precision instrumentation;
- preparing a variety of materials and reagents and equipment to a high degree of accuracy using a variety of techniques. You will need to accurately calculate concentrations, percentages and dilutions;
- monitoring and replenishing consumables, including preparing orders and collecting items from stores;
Health and Safety
- You will be expected to uphold compliance with all University and local Health & Safety policies, including risk assessments and manual handling, reporting any breaches or non-compliance to the relevant manager.
- You will be expected to manage the safe handling and disposal of all materials used in practical classes or research laboratories, including hazardous materials.
Administrative duties
- You may be required to assist with calibration of equipment, and with updating equipment inventories.
- Maintain stocks of consumables and, if necessary, creating purchase order requisitions.
- Receipt and correct storage of consumables and chemical reagents.
View our staff values and behaviours here
Valuing excellence, sustaining investment
We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.
The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 15 hours per week during term time. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g. PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 15 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an International student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate Authorised Absence.
You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered.
To work you will need to carry out a right to work check. These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.