Research Fellow – Oral Processing

About the role

The Singapore Institute of Technology seeks a Research Fellow to lead fundamental research on mechanical and textural characterisation of cultivated meat and novel foods. The role involves close collaboration with academic partners and industry stakeholders to develop advanced oral processing simulation methods.

Key responsibilities

• Lead projects on nanomechanical and macro‑textural analysis of small‑sample cultivated meat using tools such as AFM, micro‑indentation and texture analysers (e.g., TA.XT Plus) and confocal laser microscopy.
• Develop and apply oral processing simulation platforms—including tribology, Kramer shear cell testing and mastication simulators—to generate mechanistic insights linking texture dynamics to sensory perception.
• Integrate multimodal datasets into 3‑D PCA space for quantitative comparison of cultivated versus conventional meat, and identify key textural descriptors.
• Prepare scientific manuscripts, technical reports and grant deliverables; present findings at international conferences and stakeholder meetings.

Required profile

• PhD in Food Science, Food Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science or a closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience with mechanical characterisation of soft matter, food texture analysis, or biopolymer/tissue mechanics, preferably with cultivated or plant‑based meat analogues.
• Strong track record of scientific productivity (first‑author publications, conference presentations).
• Excellent scientific writing and stakeholder communication skills.

Required skills

• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), micro‑indentation, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), texture analysers, rheometer, low‑field NMR.
• Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) and related imaging techniques.
• Tribology, Kramer shear cell testing, mastication simulators.
• Multivariate statistical analysis, especially PCA and 3‑D PCA for complex dataset integration.