Research Assistant

About This Role

This research post involves developing knitted wearable systems for sensing and energy harvesting. The Research Officer will design, fabricate, and test knitted structures using a CNC knitting machine, focusing on textile architectures for energy harvesting, and will work with a multidisciplinary team to create functional prototypes.

Responsibilities

• Design and fabricate knitted structures using a CNC knitting machine for wearable sensing and energy harvesting applications
• Develop and optimise knit architectures, yarn selections, stitch patterns, and structural parameters to improve mechanical performance and energy harvesting capability
• Characterise knitted fabrics under controlled laboratory and body-worn conditions, including mechanical, structural, and functional testing
• Support the development of textile samples for triboelectric, piezoelectric, and related wearable transducer systems
• Investigate the influence of knitting parameters on fabric properties such as stretch, durability, porosity, comfort, and transduction performance
• Collaborate with electronic engineers to ensure knitted structures are compatible with sensor integration, signal acquisition, and power harvesting systems
• Work with computational modellers to relate textile design variables to experimental performance
• Contribute to research outputs, including journal publications, conference presentations, and stakeholder engagements

Requirements

• Bachelor ’s degree or higher in Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Textile Engineering, or a closely related discipline
• Practical experience in fabrication, prototyping, and experimental characterisation of engineered materials or structures
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work across disciplinary boundaries
• Experience using laboratory instrumentation and/or mechanical testing methods for material or textile characterisation

Nice to have:

• Hands-on experience with textile manufacturing, knit design, or CNC knitting processes