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University of Leeds
Research that matters
Challenge yourself and become an expert in your field as part of a thriving research community of over 4,000 postgraduate researchers at the University of Leeds.
- World top-100 University | QS World University Rankings 2025
- 90% of University of Leeds research has a quality rating of “world-leading” or "internationally excellent” | REF 2021
- Founding member of the prestigious Russell Group
We need researchers at all levels, with exciting new ideas and approaches. Start your journey into postgraduate research at Leeds.
Become the expert
Enhancing your subject knowledge is a key motivator for studying a Masters. Our postgraduate courses will challenge you to question and discover. Watch our recorded subject talks to find out more about your course and life at Leeds. There are over 90 talks for you to explore, covering all Masters subject areas.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Day
Saturday 16 November
Join us live to learn more about studying your postgraduate degree at a world top 100 university (QS World University Rankings 2025). Our programme of live events, led by experts from our postgraduate community, opportunity to learn about funding your degree, furthering your career, and making Leeds your home.
Our specialists from admissions, careers, accommodation, funding and scholarships will be available to answer your questions. You'll also have the opportunity to chat to our current postgraduate researchers throughout the day.
Research excellence
We’re at the forefront of knowledge across a wide range of disciplines. Our postgraduate researchers are an integral part of this, discovering exciting new ideas and approaches. The world faces large and complex problems. Here at Leeds, we bring together researchers from different disciplines and backgrounds to combine excellence and create an environment where world-leading research can flourish. Our research tackles the big issues affecting today’s world. Imagine chemotherapy treatment with fewer side effects, self-repairing cities, and easing global water scarcity.
Learn about our latest research
Develop your personal and professional profile
As a researcher at Leeds, you’ll build networks and connections to share and further your research. We’ll encourage you to make the most of the collaborative opportunities all around you. We offer specialist training opportunities to help you develop new skills and expertise to help you realise your professional goals.
Hear about Delanyo's experience as a research student at Leeds:
Leading research facilities
We are home to some of the UK’s leading research centres, all based at the University. These include:
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, Centre for Cultural Value
- The Centre for Immersive Technologies
- M&S Company Archive to name a few.
Our Special Collections are a unique resource for primary research we are the only library with five collections awarded ‘designated status’ by Arts Council England. Our outstanding facilities provide an excellent platform for your research and enhance your academic experience, whatever your specialism.
A welcoming community
At Leeds you’re joining thriving and welcoming community of researchers from around the world. You’ll find a host of opportunities to connect with others academically and socially. Our dedicated Leeds Doctoral College supports you throughout your postgraduate research journey. It brings together all the support services and opportunities to enhance your research, your development, and your overall experience.
Learn about Leeds Doctoral College
Equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Leeds is fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. As part of our commitment to postgraduate diversity, we offer a number of fully funded postgraduate research scholarships for UK students from under-represented groups, including those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. You can also get in touch with our Postgraduate Graduate Research Diversity Team who provide a wide range of support for postgraduate researchers from under-represented groups throughout their study.
A vibrant city
Leeds has all you would expect from a major city and is surrounded by beautiful, accessible countryside. Our campus is located just a few minutes’ walk from Leeds city centre, giving you all the benefits of studying at a campus university and living close to a lively cosmopolitan city.
Funding and scholarships
We have a number of postgraduate scholarships available to UK and international students: we recommend you take a look at our funding directory to see the latest opportunities available to you.
We also have several externally funded research opportunities including our Doctoral Training Programmes. If you’re a former student of the University of Leeds you could be eligible for a 10% alumni tuition fee bursary.
Find out more
Email: study@leeds.ac.uk
Register your interest with University of Leeds
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Academic Units
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Anuradha Pallipurath)Particle properties by design
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof David Hodgson)Fringe with benefits? Does particle segregation help or hinder carbon storage and sequestration projects in distal deep-marine sedimentary successions
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Zinedine Khatir)Gas flow Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the upper airway and Computational Fluid Dynamic modelling of airflow during Above Cuff Vocalisation
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Mamatha Nagaraj)Liquid crystals for augmented reality and virtual reality applications
The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures brings together a range of disciplines from the traditional arts and humanities subjects to the visual and performing arts. As one of the largest and most diverse arts and humanities faculty in the UK, our research projects range widely by period, geography and theme but are united by their focus on innovation, academic rigour and global reach.
Our Schools
-School of Design
-School of English
-School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies
-School of History
-School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
-School of Media and Communication
-School of Music
-School of Performance and Cultural Industries
-School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
-Institute for Medieval Studies
-Inter-disciplinary Ethics Applied
Research Profiles:
- Research degrees in the School of Design
- Research degrees in the School of English
- Research degrees in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies
- Research degrees in the School of History
- Research degrees in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
- Research degrees in the School of Media and Communication
- Research degrees in the School of Music
- Research degrees in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries
- Research degrees in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
The Faculty of Biological Sciences (FBS) at the University of Leeds (www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk, and www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/research) is one of the largest in the UK, with over 150 academic staff and over 400 postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students. The Faculty is ranked 4th in the UK (Nature Journal, 457 (2009) doi :10.1038/457013a) based on results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). The RAE feedback noted that "virtually all outputs were assessed as being recognized internationally, with many (60%) being internationally excellent or world-leading". The feedback also commended the quality of postgraduate training. FBS offers superb facilities and a high quality research training environment for all areas including agriculture, animal and plant sciences, biochemistry and molecular biology, bioinformatics, ecology and evolution, genetics, microbiology, neurosciences, pharmacology and physiology, and structural molecular biology. Its research grant portfolio totals some £60M and funders include charities, research councils, the European Union and industry.
FBS is made up of three schools (Molecular and Cellular Biology; Biomedical Sciences; Biology). There are also a number of Research Centres (the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, and the Centre for Plant Sciences) and major research groupings that cover such diverse areas as Biomembranes, Biomechanics and Comparative Physiology, Infectious Diseases/Molecular Microbiology, Ecology, Evolution and the Environment, Molecular and Cell Biology, Muscle, Neurosciences, Plant Research (including Agriculture) and Structural Biology. There are strong interdisciplinary connections between the constituent Institutes and Centres and with the research schools within the Leeds General Infirmary and St James' University Hospital.
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr M K Lancaster)Ageing to Arrhythmias
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr E W Hewitt)Alpha-synuclein amyloid in Parkinson's disease: using Nanoinjection as a tool to study alpha-synuclein amyloid toxicity inside neurons
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr A Divine)Behavioural and Psychological Approaches to Physical Activity and Health Promotion
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Alex O'Neill)Broadening the spectrum of antibacterial drugs to tackle multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr A.J. Smith)Cardiac and skeletal muscle progenitor cells - driving regeneration ability by tryptophan metabolites
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Ioannis Delis)Developing “intelligent” information technologies using neural markers of multisensory decision-making and learning
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Katie Simmons)Developing adjuvants to improve the antibacterial efficacy of fusidic acid: a novel approach to Antimicrobial Resistance?
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Alexander Garvin)Disrupted SUMO signalling in epithelial cancers, implications for genome stability and response to therapy.
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Alex O'Neill)Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr M.R. Herod)Employing molecular virology to investigate hepatitis E virus replication
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof David Brockwell)Engineering Developable Biopharmaceuticals
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Camilla Nykjaer)Enhancing Maternal Health through Physical Activity
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr J Boyes)Epigenetics and Cancer: Determining how Mistakes in V(D)J Recombination Trigger Leukaemias and Lymphomas
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Simon Goodman)Evaluating the potential consequences of climate heating for Caspian seals and ecosystem services in the Caspian Sea
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Samit Chakrabarty)Exploring Sensorimotor Function and Developing Rehabilitation Strategies using Experimental and Computational Approaches
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(PhD Supervisor: Assoc Prof Elizabeth Duncan)How do environmental cues affect reproduction?
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr B.M. Filippi)How GABA neurones in the DVC control glucose metabolism
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Jessica Kwok)How to regulate plasticity in the brain
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Martin Stacey)Investigation of host-virus interactions
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Aysha Divan)Live cell imaging of epithelial cancer cell proliferation for therapy
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr G Mcconkey)Manipulation of neuroimmune responses and behaviour by infectious agents
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr N.A. Riobo-Del Galdo)Mechanistic basis of Hedgehog signalling regulation by ITM2A
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Jamie Johnston)Neural circuit changes underpinning olfactory learning
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Nikita Gamper)Neuron-glia communication in peripheral somatosensory system and its role in nociception and pain
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr S Ponnambalam)New molecules and mechanisms in angiogenesis
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof F. Sobott)Novel mass spectrometry tools for higher-order structure of siRNA and sgRNA
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Sarah Astill)Optimising functional independence across the life and healthspan using neurostimulation
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr J D Lippiat)Pharmacology of ion channels in human genetic disorders
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Peter Urwin)Plant Nematology
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Rene Frank)Seeing inside the brain of Alzheimer’s disease by cryoET
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Chris Hassall)Spatio-temporal drivers of insect biodiversity and conservation
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof A.L. Breeze)Structural and mechanistic studies of fibroblast growth factor receptor signalling
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Ian Wood)Targeting protein acetylation to reduce microglia activation in neurodegenerative disorders
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Alex O'Neill)Towards new antibacterial drugs to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria: identification and characterization of novel natural product antibiotics
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Chiara Gorrini)Uncovering the links between the environmental sensor, AHR, and the development of breast cancer
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Niluka Goonawardane)Uncovering the viral and cellular components that dictate the neurological outcome of tick-borne encephalitis virus infection
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Natasha Yelina)Understanding the mechanisms of crossover recombination control
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Andrew Macdonald)Using a novel anal epithelial cell culture model to better understand the human papillomavirus lifecycle and anal cancer progression
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Natasha Yelina)Where to cross over? Interrogating meiotic crossover positioning via chromosome engineering
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Xiaodong Jia)AI-Assisted Characterisation of Triboelectrification of Powders
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Paul Beales)Building artificial cells for clinical diagnosis of pathogen infections
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Junfeng Yang)Characterisation of dissolved hydrogen diffusion and bubble nucleation in waste suspensions
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Richard Barker)Combined Experimental and Modelling Approach towards the Prediction of CaCO3 Growth on Subsea Infrastructure
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Thomas Chamberlain)Digitally directed optimisation of mixed metal oxide catalysts for hydrogenations of heteroaromatics and downstream functionalisation
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Joseph Barker)Exploring Magnetism and Spin Currents in Systems Approaching the 2D Limit
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Adam Nelson)High-throughput discovery of lysine-directed probes for protein kinases
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Liuquan Yang)In-situ tribological design and investigation for nuclear fusion applications
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Sophie Williams)Integrated experimental system for assessing innovations in hip replacements
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Sven Schroeder)Intelligent Catalyst Technology for a Net-Zero Fuel Economy
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Ana Heitor)Investigating porosity changes and stress mechanics of corroding nuclear wastes under confined expansion
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Chunwei Xia)Large Language Model for System Software
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Mamatha Nagaraj)Liquid crystals for augmented reality and virtual reality technologies
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Zinedine Khatir)MADEMOISELLE – Multi-Disciplinary Design Optimisation of Mixer Settler for Liquid-Liquid Extraction
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Richard Mann)Opinion dynamics of rational agents
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Tim Hunter)Pneumatic transport of wet granular wastes under vacuum
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Dicle Kortantamer)Purpose-led leadership model with embedded sustainability for nuclear decommissioning
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(PhD Supervisor: Assoc Prof David Harbottle)Rheology Mapping of Complex Fluids: Challenges in the processing of nuclear waste
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Zheng Wang)Robust Large Language Models for Intelligent Software Development
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Keeran Ward)Sustainable Membrane Technologies for Nuclear Wastewater Treatment
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Dimitrios Kontziampasis)Zapping Nuclear Waste: Plasma Science for a Cleaner Future
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr P Brockway)Impacts of green growth and degrowth pathways using societal exergy analysis: country-level case studies
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Michael Rappolt)Understanding the Micelle Architecture of Mild to Harsh Surfactant Blends
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof R Lawton)Developing and refining a conceptual model for de-implementing low-value safety practices
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr S Papa)Metabolic reprogramming in cancer: starving tumors of essential nutrients to promote cell death
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Hemant Pandit)Sensor technology, Recovery, Rehab and Safety in Patients After Knee Replacement
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Katie Spencer)Understanding and addressing healthcare system readiness to deliver policy that tackles the deprivation gap in cancer survival
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(PhD Supervisor: Dr Antreas Kalli)Understanding how force is sensed in cells by the Piezo1 mechanosensitive channel
The School of Geography, University of Leeds is ranked in the World's Top 20 Geography departments in the QS World Rankings by Subject (2018). In the 2014 REF over 75% of our research was classed as "world leading" or "internationally excellent". With over 80 academic and research staff and over 100 PhD researchers, we work at the forefront of global research agendas, leading the way in finding solutions to major social, political and environmental challenges. This exciting and impactful research takes us to some of the remotest places on Earth, including the high mountains, both poles and the depths of the tropical rainforests, as well as to the world’s major urban conurbations in the global north and south.
We have a strong track-record of collaborations with academic institutions, businesses, NGOs and governmental bodies around the world. We also work extensively with other schools and centres across the University of Leeds, with leadership roles in cross-faculty initiatives such as the Priestley International Centre for Climate, Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, water@leeds, Cultural Institute and strong links with the Leeds Social Sciences Institute, Cities theme, and Leeds Migration Research network.
Project List:
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(PhD Supervisor: Prof Nik Lomax)Dynamic microsimulation for health