light PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

Awaiting Funding Decision/Possible External Funding

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This supervisor does not yet know if funding is available for this project, or they intend to apply for external funding once a suitable candidate is selected. Applications are welcome - please see project details for further information.

The School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary is one of the UK’s elite research centres, according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

Nanomaterials as White Light Emitters for Low Cost Lighting

University of Bradford
Faculty of Life Sciences

Research Group: Chemistry and Biosciences

Dr S Hickey, Dr W Martin

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

White-light emission (WLE) from semiconductor nanostructures is presently a research area of intense interest especially where the primary objective is to replace conventional light sources by environmentally friendly materials in order to minimize energy costs and therefore the global energy consumption for lighting.

A source of quantum light for atom magnetometry

University of Birmingham
School of Physics and Astronomy

Dr V Boyer

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

When using classical light, optical measurements and light-based sensing methods are limited by the unavoidable quantum fluctuations in phase and amplitude, also known as shot noise.

Biophysics of light-induced motility in microalgae

University of Warwick
Department of Physics

Dr M Polin

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

At a glance. The project focusses on the mechanisms by which motile microalgae (prominent e.g. within phytoplankton) sense, elaborate and respond to light.

Transcription factors mediating light input to the Arabidopsis circadian clock

Royal Holloway, University of London
School of Biological Sciences

Dr P Devlin

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

The circadian clock is tightly tied to the light environment. Transcriptional feedback loops are able to generate a self-sustaining rhythm of approximately 24 hours which impinges on almost every aspect of physiology in higher organisms.

Production of carotenoids from Dunaliella salina: Process development with red-light for large scale production

University of Greenwich
Faculty of Engineering and Science

Dr Y Xu, Dr P J Harvey

Application Deadline: 30 September 2019

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

9-cis β-carotene has been implicated to play a central role in protecting against diseases including retinal dystrophies, chronic plaque psoriasis and atherosclerosis, and can be produced in high concentration by the halotolerant green microalga Dunaliella salina, especially in the presence of red light.

Light emitting two-dimensional materials for silicon emitters

University of York
Department of Physics

Research Group: Condensed Matter Physics

Dr Y Wang, Prof T Krauss

Application Deadline: 30 September 2019

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Silicon photonics has been widely recognized as the potential technology to achieve broadband, high-density, high-speed data interconnections for next generation computing.

Biogenesis of chloroplasts and development of leaves under light control

Royal Holloway, University of London
School of Biological Sciences

Dr E Lopez-Juez

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Research in our lab addresses two of the fundamental biogenesis processes that make plants essential for humanity. the development of leaves and the biogenesis of chloroplasts in leaf cells.

PhD in Physics and Astronomy - Atomic spin polarisation in vector light fields - building a portable one-shot magnetometer

University of Glasgow
College of Science and Engineering

Dr S Franke-Arnold

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

The Optics Group at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics would like to announce the opening of a 3.5 year PhD studentship commencing on 1st October 2019.

Computational Biomedical Imaging: building a better light-sheet microscope

University of Glasgow
School of Physics and Astronomy

Dr J Taylor, Prof A Harvey

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

A PhD studentship is available in the Imaging Concepts Group at Glasgow University, researching computational imaging for light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM).