Postdoctoral Research Associate in Organic Chemistry and Nickel Catalysis at Durham

The Role and Department

You will be working as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) in the Franchino group, within the Department of Chemistry at Durham University. The post is available for 8 months, with the first 5 months based in the Franchino Lab in Durham Chemistry and the following 3 months seconded at Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., a multinational company headquartered in Parma, Italy. The ideal starting date is Monday 01/06/2026. The salary is grade 7, spine point 30 (£38,784 per year before taxes).

Durham University, in the North of England, has been a world top 100 university for the last ten years (QS World University Rankings). Our Chemistry degree is among the best ones in the UK: 5th in the Complete University Guide 2026, 9th in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025, and 8th in the Guardian University Guide 2025.

Durham University is one of the UK’s most historic universities, sitting in a beautiful, hilly city whose Romanesque Cathedral is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As a PDRA in Durham, you will become part of a dynamic, friendly and international community, and benefit from cutting-edge facilities.

The Department of Chemistry is well equipped, with state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities, and is located in the Science Campus, a short walk away from Durham old town.

The Franchino laboratory has recently been refurbishment to the highest standards, so you will work in an efficient and modern environment. Alongside equipment for synthetic (in)organic chemistry, our lab benefits from dedicated new gloveboxes, HPLC instruments, microwave synthesizer and high-throughput experimentation setups. Additionally, group members have access to departmental NMR, MS, XRD, EA and spectroscopic support units, mechanical, electrical and glassblowing workshops, and the University supercomputer Hamilton.

The Franchino group is an enthusiastic and inclusive team, which as of January 2026 comprises two PDRAs, three PhD students and two MChem students, with three different nationalities. We work on ligand design and synthesis, transition-metal catalysis (including its combination with H-bond donor catalysis) and mechanistic studies of metal-catalysed reactions. We strive to follow the highest scientific and ethical standards. At the same time, we promote a supportive culture that fosters knowledge exchange, learning, creativity and scientific excellence. The PI, the group, the Department and university-wide initiatives (e.g., the Durham Centre for Academic Development) will offer you the tools you need to succeed in your research project and work towards your long term career ambitions.

The University provides a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming, where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. We actively encourage applicants with diverse career paths and backgrounds, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religious beliefs. The Chemistry Department holds an Athena Swan Silver Award. The Franchino group is keen on increasing diversity, and actively seeks to attract and nurture the best and most motivated co-workers, regardless of their protected characteristics and country of origin. Applications from women and underrepresented groups are especially encouraged.

The Role

You will be working as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) in the Franchino group. This collaborative project, funded by the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account, will be conducted at Durham Chemistry and Chiesi Farmaceutici in Parma. You will prepare and test new phosphine ligands that could enable nickel, a cheap and abundant metal, to replace toxic, expensive and scarce palladium catalysts in cross-coupling reactions (Chemistry Nobel prize 2010) and in related C–C and C–heteroatom bond-forming transformations. Such reactions are among the top 5 transformations performed in pharma, as they stitch together key fragments towards the synthesis of drug candidates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

During the initial five months in the Franchino Lab (Durham, UK), you will make and characterise new phosphines and their nickel complexes, using Schlenk techniques, the glovebox, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and other techniques that might be deemed suitable. You will then test the new ligands in Ni-catalysed C–C and C–X bond-forming reactions, employing a variety of coupling partners and taking advantage of our high-throughput experimentation facility as appropriate (96-well reaction plates, tumble stirrer/heat block, multichannel pipettes and centrifuge hosted in a glovebox).

During the next 3 months in Chiesi (Parma, Italy), you will test our new ligands, as well as ligand libraries available at Chiesi and/or commercial ones, in Ni-catalysed reactions of interest to the company to prepare for instance medicinal chemistry libraries and drug candidates.

Key responsibilities

  • To conduct a research project under the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI, Dr Allegra Franchino) and her collaborator (Dr Paolo Ronchi, Chiesi), working productively both on your own and in collaboration with others, as appropriate.
  • To plan and manage your research activity effectively and safely, with minimal input from the PI, share research resources in collaboration with others and contribute to the ideation and planning of research projects.
  • To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the PI and offering creative or innovative solutions.
  • To work with the PI and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify areas for research, develop new research methods and ideas, and extend the research portfolio.
  • To understand and convey material of a specialist or highly technical nature through written presentations and oral discussions.
  • To prepare and deliver presentations on research activities to both academic and non-academic audiences.
  • To prepare high-quality outputs, including weekly and termly research reports for the PI, and drafts of papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals as appropriate.
  • To actively participate to problem sessions, group meetings, training, induction events, workshops and other meetings as required, both at Durham and at Chiesi.
  • To liaise with departmental and university support units as appropriate for the progression of the project, follow all rules and guidelines in place in the group, the Department, the University and the company, including the NDA and collaboration agreement related to this project, making all necessary internal and external contacts to develop this project successfully.
  • To engage in continuing professional development attending relevant training and development courses.   
  • To contribute to fostering a collegial, supportive and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.

This post is fixed term for 8 months, as funding from the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account covers this period only.

You will ideally be in post by Monday 1st June 2026. For the first 5 months (01/06/2026 to 31/10/2026), you will be based in the Franchino Lab in Durham Chemistry. For the last 3 months (01/11/2026 to 31/01/2027) you will be seconded at the R&D Laboratories of Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., in Parma, Italy. During your secondment, you will be supervised remotely by Dr Franchino and in person by Dr Paolo Ronchi, the Head of the Translational Chemistry and Innovation Technology Unit, within the Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design Technologies group of Chiesi.

Your salary will be grade 7, spine point 30 (£38,784 per annum before taxes). You will receive a monthly salary from Durham University for each of the eight months of the project. Your travel expenses from Durham to Parma to start your secondment will also be covered.

You will be employed to work on a research project led by the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr Franchino. Whilst this means that you will not be carrying out independent research in your own right, the expectation is that you contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of your own ideas, the adaptation, development and creation of research protocols.

Application deadline: 5 March 2026

For more information and to apply visit https://durham.taleo.net/careersection/du_ext/jobdetail.ftl?job=26000113