PhD Studentship: Finding and understanding mechanical weak-links in porous metamaterials and additively manufactured parts

Supervisory Team: Andrew Hamilton, Mark MavrogordatoProject description:Porous metamaterials derive their properties and functionality not only from the material of which they are made, but also from the shape and configuration of material and pores in space. Examples include polymer foams containing spherical pores due to expansion of entrapped gas during...

Supervisory Team: Dr Nuno Bimbo, Dr Mohamed Hassan-Sayed Project Description:MXenes are a new class of two-dimensional materials that have been recently discovered and have already shown great promise for a range of applications, including electrochemical energy storage, electromagnetic shielding, and energy conversion. MXenes can be made modified to possess...

Project title: Understanding loss mechanisms in rotating detonation rocket engines Supervisory Team: Ralf Deiterding, Charlie RyanProject description:The rotating detonation engine (RDE) has emerged as a feasible design to employ pressure-gain combustion in a highly compact and energy-dense rocket engine. Funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), a PhD...

Supervisory team: Ralf Deiterding, Charlie RyanProject description:The rotating detonation engine (RDE) has emerged as a feasible design to employ pressure-gain combustion in a highly compact and energy-dense rocket engine. Funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), a PhD opportunity is available to work on understanding the detailed loss mechanisms affecting the...

Supervisory Team: Ivo PetersProject descriptionCavitation damage poses a substantial threat to equipment across various industries, impacting performance, increasing maintenance costs, causing downtime, and posing safety and environmental risks. This PhD project aims to deepen our understanding of cavitation bubble dynamics near complex geometries and...

Supervisory Team: Dongyang Wang, Nikolay Zheludev Project Description:The ProjectTopological photonics is a rising field of research that implements topological ideas with optical materials. Such topological materials support unidirectional or defect-immune electromagnetic wave propagation, which is favoured by future photonic technologies. This project will...

Supervisory Team: Bharathram Ganapathisubramani and Swathi KrishnaPhD Supervisor: Bharathram GanapathisubramaniProject descriptionAircraft engines are the primary source of noise during take-off and landing. To mitigate this noise, modern engines are built with state-of-the-art porous liners that consist of a honeycomb core sandwiched between a solid plate...

Supervisory Team: David AnglandProject description:A PhD studentship is now available in the area of aircraft aerodynamics and aeroacoustics (aerodynamically generated noise). The studentship provides a unique opportunity to work on a relevant engineering problem at the Airbus Noise Technology Centre (ANTC), part of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical...

Supervisory Team: Nicholas Evans, Jeremy Webb, Janos Kanczler, Eleanor Stride, Dario Carugo (University of Oxford)PhD Supervisor: Nicholas EvansProject description:Bone disease has a cost to the UK economy of £5 billion/year. Surgeons attempt to repair bones and joints by conducting invasive surgery, including for example the implantation of prosthetics....

Bursary: The studentship includes a stipend and tuition fees.Annual Stipend: £19,237Applications are invited from highly motivated graduates wishing to pursue cutting-edge research in the areas covered by our Property, People and Community research centre. We are keen to foster the property scholars of the next generation and are interested in research...

Supervisory Team: Philippa ReedPhD Supervisor: Philippa ReedProject description:Cold spray is a repair process that can be considered an additive repair process, whereby metal powder particles are impacted at high speed in a carrier gas, at relatively low temperatures, so the repaired surface layer is formed by extreme deformation rather than melting and...

Project title: Challenging Deepfake Voices Supervisory Team: Dr. Jennifer Williams (primary), Prof Richard Guest (secondary)Project description:Fake and synthetic media are becoming a well-known issue in society, from AI regulation and AI safety to protecting democracy from election interference. This exciting PhD project investigates two technical aspects...

Project title: Application of Linear-Scaling Quantum Mechanics Methods to Hydrogen Transport Through Complex MaterialsSupervisory Team: Chris-Kriton Skylaris (80%) Jeremy Frey (20%)Project description:Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations are typically limited to tens of atoms due to the steep increase of the computational effort with the number of...

Supervisory Team: Benjamin CameronProject descriptionThis PhD is focussed on a new theoretical/computational method to measure material properties in places where they are really difficult to measure: e.g. in a shock wave, in a shear band, or at a crack tip. These are all of critical importance in many engineering problems such as car crashes, manufacturing...

Supervisory Team: Dr Seung Lee (School of Chemistry), Prof. Jeremy Webb (School of Biological Sciences and National Biofilms Innovation Centre), Prof. Paul Stoodley (University of Southampton), Dr Rob Howlin (Haleon, industry), Dr David Bradshaw and Dr Ricarda Hawkins (Haleon, industry) Project Description:A fully-funded 4 year National Biofilms Innovation...

Supervisory Team: Dr. Nina Vaidya Project description: Design and fabrication of space compatible optical and optoelectronic devices: lightweight optics and renewable energy sources like space solar arrays are one of the most crucial aspects of a successful space mission. Can novel device designs, materials, and fabrication techniques be utilized to create...

Supervisory Team: Chris-Kriton Skylaris (80%) Jeremy Frey (20%) Project Description: The computational simulation of chemical reactions in materials requires an accurate, explicit description of their electrons. This can be achieved by quantum mechanical calculations from first principles, in particular with Density Functional Theory (DFT) which achieves a...

Supervisory Team: Dr. Andrea Da Ronch Project descriptionApplications are invited for a Ph.D. studentship on Aircraft State Modelling & Separation for Fatigue Design. The scholarship is funded by Airbus Operations Ltd through an EPSRC Industrial CASE Award. The project has the potential of significantly improving the fatigue design and maintenance of an...

Supervisory Team: Claire Clarkin, Nicholas Fuggle, Jemma Kerns (University of Lancaster),Project description:Funding for this project is offered by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Complex Integrated Systems for Defence & Security (CISDnS), which will recruit motivated and inquisitive candidates across the themes of Digital, Physical and Biological...

Supervisory Team: Dr Gustavo de Almeida; Dr Sergio MaldonadoProject description:Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position on the investigation of novel design methods to improve the resilience of submerged infrastructure (i.e. bridge piers, wind turbines) subject to hydrodynamic action (e.g. currents and waves).Many critical submerged...