equality PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

The University of Manchester Photon Science Institute

Development of spin qubits in a two-dimensional material for quantum networks and quantum sensing

Optically-active impurity spins in wide-bandgap materials are a resource for quantum technologies, such as quantum sensing and quantum networks1,2. Read more

Supervisors: Prof R Curry, Dr H Stern

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Advancing Sustainable Concrete Production through Industrial Solid Waste Utilization and Carbon Sequestration

This project will focus on the utilisation of industrial solid wastes in concrete formulations by implementing advanced carbonation techniques and further developing methods to enhance reaction mechanisms. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Understanding deformation of 3D printed cement-based composites involving alternative binders

To ensure the practical viability of 3D printed structures in engineering applications, the mitigation of crack formation under diverse loads and environmental conditions is imperative. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Analysis of the evolution of cementitious materials

The chemical reactions within the binder component, and the changes in microstructure and phase composition during this process, are important factors that affect the performance of concrete. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Waste Utilisation for Sustainable Resource Recovery and Carbon Capture

This project will involve the development of a novel approach that combines waste utilization and carbon capture technologies to address pressing environmental concerns and promote sustainable resource management. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Photon Science Institute

Laser spectroscopy of isotopes for nuclear environments

Measurements of isotopes and isotope ratios are important in many areas of science and engineering including the nuclear industry, nuclear forensics, environmental sciences and also in medicine. Read more

Supervisors: Prof P Martin, Prof K Flanagan

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Photon Science Institute

Fuel Retention and Release Mechanisms in Breeder Blanket Materials for Nuclear Fusion Devices

With climate change driving a desire to move towards a low-carbon/carbon-free energy landscape, power generated from nuclear fusion offers a high-capacity, baseload electricity generation for the future. Read more

Supervisors: Prof P Edmondson, Dr K Moore

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Simulation of tissue regeneration processes by lattice Boltzmann method

Summary. Wound healing is a fundamental biological process essential for the maintenance of tissue integrity and overall health. However, the mechanisms underlying wound healing remain complex and multifaceted. Read more

Supervisors: Dr A De Rosis, Dr A Harish, Dr W Wang

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Numerical analyses of subglacial lakes dynamics by lattice Boltzmann method

Nestled beneath the vast ice sheets of polar regions, subglacial lakes have long remained shrouded in mystery, hidden beneath kilometres of ice. Read more

Supervisors: Dr A De Rosis, Dr G Giustini

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Modelling of floating offshore wind farms

On its road to decarbonisation, the UK has set very ambitious targets of offshore wind deployment for 2030 of 50 GW, of which about 5 GW will be of floating wind turbines. Read more

Supervisors: Dr P Ouro, Prof T Stallard, Prof P K Stansby

31 August 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Thermal hydraulics modelling of low-pressure, light water-cooled Small Modular Reactors

The Low-Pressure Water Reactor (LPWR) is a 300MW(e) pool-type water-cooled Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design in which the nuclear core is located at the bottom of a deep underground shaft instead of inside a pressure vessel. Read more

Supervisor: Dr G Giustini

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Improved solution algorithms for efficient and robust Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation software is at the core of present-day engineering practice as well as academic research in virtually any… Read more

Supervisor: Dr G Giustini

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Flight mechanics and stability in birds during extreme manoeuvres of take-off and landing

During take-off birds accelerate primarily through from the ground reaction force, with aerodynamics playing a lesser role. In landing things are quite different; birds use mainly aerodynamic drag on the wings to decelerate, with the legs bringing them finally to rest after touchdown. Read more

Supervisor: Dr B Parslew

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Fur and Feathers: colour, structure and flow control

The objective in this exciting cross-disciplinary project is to investigate the potential of a bio-inspired coating of flexible devices to passively modify energetic modes of an unsteady crossflow and to assess, for the first time, the role of colour in determining mechanical properties. Read more

Supervisor: Dr A Revell

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

A new twist on catalysis: folded oligomers with organometallic termini

A key feature of biological systems is the storage and transmission of information across multi-nanometre distances, which maintains the complex chemical networks and functions within cells. Read more

Supervisor: Dr S Webb

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Materials

Nanobody-conjugated graphene based electromechanical biosensors

A nanobody corresponds to a fragment of an camelid antibody (VHH) containing a single monomeric antibody domain. Read more

Supervisor: Dr A Vijayaraghavan

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Materials

Development of a wafer-scale graphene MEMS manufacturing process

Graphene is the ideal membrane material for micro/nano electromechanical systems (M/NEMS) due to its high stiffness and strength, high elasticity, high electrical and thermal conductivity and low areal mass. Read more

Supervisor: Dr A Vijayaraghavan

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Last chance to apply

Hybrid explicit-implicit time integration schemes for smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a method for numerical solution of fluid mechanics problems. In this method fluid continuum is approximated by a number of interacting particles. Read more

Supervisors: Dr M Mihajlovic, Dr G Fourtakas

28 April 2024 PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Distributed active reinforcement learning for multi-agent planning and control

With the rapid development of network-connected systems, coordination and cooperation among the subsystems/agents have become increasingly important and powerful in many control and robotics applications. Read more

Supervisor: Dr Z Li

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Computer Science

Data Lake Exploration with Modern Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Data Lakes are emerging as data management infrastructures for storing data in various schemata and structural forms. Read more

Supervisors: Prof N Paton, Dr J Chen

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

University of Warwick School of Engineering

Computational Mechanics

Warwick Monash Alliance. Supervisors: Dr Emmanouil Kakouris (School of Engineering, University of Warwick, United Kingdom). and Dr Vinh Phu Nguyen (Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Australia). Read more

Supervisor: Dr E Kakouris

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Computer Science

Design principles for glancing at information by visually disabled users

We wish to explore the principles for the provision of glances at information to be used by those with visual disabilities. A glance, gist or brief look is an important aspect of interaction with the world via the visual system. Read more

Supervisors: Dr R Stevens, Dr C Jay

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Materials

Viral-surface interactions studied by vibrational sum-frequency spectroscopy

The recent COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular fomite transmission of the virus, led to a lot of interest in how viral particles attached to surfaces, their survival times on different materials and how they transferred to hosts. Read more

Supervisors: Dr A Thomas, Dr R Lindsay

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

Engineering Ice-Binding Proteins

Ice-binding proteins are produced by extremophiles to help them survive in the worlds coldest places. They have many potential applications, from the storage of cells/tissue to transport infrastructure. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

High-throughput biomaterials discovery

Polymer biomaterials have revolutionised a range of areas from drug delivery, to antimicrobials, to cellular cryopreservation. There are 1000’s of possible monomer combinations, molecular weights and architectures to be explored, and even small differences can dramatically change their properties. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

New strategies to cryopreserve cell-based therapies

In the past decade, cell-based therapies have emerged to transform the treatment of disease, particularly cancer. Whilst potent, these therapies are challenging to deliver in practise as must be stored frozen (cryopreserved). Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

Degradable and resorbable polymeric cryoprotectants

Extremophiles have evolved to survive in the world’s coldest environments, through the production of specialised macromolecules, such as antifreeze proteins and ‘ice nucleating proteins. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

Taking Light Induced Electron Paramagnetic Resonance In Cell for Biological Structural Determination

Studying the structure of proteins and other biological systems is an important step in understanding their function. Most structural studies are conducted in environments that are far away from native conditions, such as those found inside a cell. Read more

Supervisors: Dr A Bowen, Dr J Rowbotham, Dr I Riddell, Dr D Heyes

Year round applications PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The University of Manchester Department of Chemistry

NMR approaches for understanding mass transfer in microbial biofilms and sessile microbial communities

Biofilms are structured sessile communities of microorganisms with relevance in many areas of life. They are almost omnipresent in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Read more

Supervisors: Prof M Nilsson, Prof A McBain

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only