The role

As part of the bilaterally-funded AHRC-DFG project ‘Roman Melting Pots: Tracing food residues and cultural diversity in a frontier zone’, we are seeking to recruit a research technician to join our international team. You will be based in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology in the University of Bristol, working under the supervision of Dr Lucy Cramp, and will play a vital and exciting role in the project, undertaking extraction and biomolecular analysis of archaeological lipids from Roman pottery. 

What will you be doing?

Following lipid extraction from archaeological pottery, you will use methods of gas chromatography, GC-mass spectrometry and compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis. As well as undertaking sample preparation and documentation, laboratory analysis and data reporting, you will help support the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the laboratory and its instrumentation, health and safety, sustainability initiatives and training of new lab users and visitors. You will be a valued part of an international team, with project principal investigators and other team members based at the University of Exeter (Professor Martin Pitts) and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany (Dr Simon Hammann), and multiple project partners from the non-academic heritage sector. 

You should apply if

You will have a background in analytical chemistry or biomolecular archaeology and experience of biomolecular and/or stable isotope analysis of lipids, ideally with experience of working with archaeological materials. You will be able to manage and prioritise your day-to-day tasks and will have an exceptionally rigorous approach to laboratory procedures and ensuring data quality.  

You will enjoy working as part of a wider team, including supporting and training others, and have experience of engaging with Health and Safety policies and procedures. You will be comfortable trouble-shooting day-to-day laboratory and analytical issues and use your initiative to suggest and implement solutions where necessary. This is an excellent opportunity for an individual who wishes to apply skills in analytical chemistry to archaeological materials as part of an exciting project that seeks to understand cultural diversity in Roman Britain through dietary practices.