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Prof S Fielding, Prof J Girkin
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in theoretical and computational soft matter and biological physics to work with Dr Suzanne Fielding in the Department of Physics at Durham University.
Depending on the interests of the applicant the project could be mainly computational or combine numerics with analytical work; and would focus on one of two distinct yet related research areas:
The first concerns "active" soft matter, maintained far from equilibrium by internal energy sources: swarms of self-propelled microbes; the matrix of the biological cell in which molecular motors render the network capable of mechanical motion (e.g. in cell division or crawling); and growing biological tissue. The main aim is to forge a physical understanding of active dynamics and rheology taking place in the complex environments that are relevant to biological systems.
The second concerns the non-equilibrium dynamics and rheology (flow
properties) of complex fluids such as polymers, colloids, emulsions and surfactants, which undergo flow instabilities and non-equilibrium phase transitions when subject to a strong applied flow field. The work draws on concepts of fluid dynamics, statistical mechanics, nonlinear dynamical systems theory and chaos.
The start date is October 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Further details about Dr. Fielding's research group can be found at http://www.dur.ac.uk/suzanne.fielding/; and about the department at http://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/.
Depending on the interests of the applicant the project could be mainly computational or combine numerics with analytical work; and would focus on one of two distinct yet related research areas:
The first concerns "active" soft matter, maintained far from equilibrium by internal energy sources: swarms of self-propelled microbes; the matrix of the biological cell in which molecular motors render the network capable of mechanical motion (e.g. in cell division or crawling); and growing biological tissue. The main aim is to forge a physical understanding of active dynamics and rheology taking place in the complex environments that are relevant to biological systems.
The second concerns the non-equilibrium dynamics and rheology (flow
properties) of complex fluids such as polymers, colloids, emulsions and surfactants, which undergo flow instabilities and non-equilibrium phase transitions when subject to a strong applied flow field. The work draws on concepts of fluid dynamics, statistical mechanics, nonlinear dynamical systems theory and chaos.
The start date is October 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Further details about Dr. Fielding's research group can be found at http://www.dur.ac.uk/suzanne.fielding/; and about the department at http://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/.
Funding Notes
The studentship is funded by a grant ("RHEO-ACTIVE: Geometry, instability and activity in complex and biological fluids") from the European Research Council for a period of 42 months, covering tuition fees and a stipend of £13,590 per year.
Applicants should have or expect to attain a good (first or upper second class) honours degree in physics, mathematics or a related subject.
Applicants should have or expect to attain a good (first or upper second class) honours degree in physics, mathematics or a related subject.
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