The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU)is a collaborative doctoral training programme run by the Universities of Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham. In addition to undertaking an individual scientific research project at one of the three partner Universities, doctoral candidates will engage with added value training opportunities, for example in business, innovation and internationalisation through a 4-year training programme that has been designed to maximise the benefits of a cohort approach to doctoral training. The start date is 1st October 2022.
Sunlight is an abundant source of clean and economical energy. One-hour of sunlight can satisfy a year’s energy demand across the entire world. Inspired from natural photosynthesis, the proposed project develops a bionic leaf that provides a hybrid approach to the conversion of solar energy into fuels and chemicals by integrating microbes with synthetic light harvesters. In such hybrid systems, microbes perform thermodynamically and kinetically challenging chemical reactions with high rates and selectivity, whereas light harvesters act as substrates for microbes or functional components to carry out light absorption, charge transfer and product separation. The project also investigates the microbial life on the photoexcited light harvesters by employing gene expression analysis, live/dead assay and BioRad protein assay. Finally, the project elucidates the fundamental electron transfer mechanism from light harvesters to microbes using advanced spectroscopic techniques.
The following key skills will be gained during this project,
1. Microbiology: Culturing of anaerobic microbes, protein extraction, genome analysis
2. Material synthesis: Semiconductors, quantum dots
3. Analytical skills: Transient absorption spectroscopy, NMR, HPLC
4. Characterization: TEM, SEM, XRD, XPS
The project is jointly supervised by Northumbria university (Dr Shafeer Kalathil), Newcastle university (Dr Elizabeth Gibson) and Johnson Matthey (Dr Martin Hayes). The PhD student will be part of the world’s first Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE, http://bbe.ac.uk/). This is an £8M initiative between Northumbria and Newcastle Universities funded by Research England. The project will benefit from access to world-class facilities associated with the HBBE. These include: (i) dedicated large new research labs / workshops (ii) a dedicated fermentation facility; (iii) a state-of-the-art Multi-Omics Lab capable of advanced analyses via cutting-edge DNA sequencers, including a PacBio Sequel, an Illumina Nextseq 550 System, an Oxford NanoPore GridION, and mass spectrometers. Newcastle university provides advanced spectroscopic facilities such as transient spectroscopy and microscopy.
This project is supervised by Dr Shafeer Kalathil. For informal queries, please contact [Email Address Removed]
The application closing date is 6 February 2022. Please note that interviews, should they be arranged, will be online rather than in person due to COVID-19.
Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:
· Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
· Appropriate IELTS score, if required. You can apply without proof of English Language proficiency however it is preferable that candidates have met the English Language requirements by the application deadline date.
· Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere or if they have previously been awarded a PhD.
For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
Please note that applications must include all of the following to be considered:
- A research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), and include the advert reference (e.g. ReNU22/…).
- You must upload with your application at least 2 reference letters
- You must read our privacy notice about how we use your data and acknowledge this by including in your personal statement the following phrase : ‘ I confirm I have read and agreed to the privacy policy in https://renu.northumbria.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-ReNUPrivacyNotice_01_03_21.pdf‘.
Deadline for applications: 6 February 2022
Start Date: 1 October 2022
Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff and students. We welcome applications from all members of the community.
Funding Notes
Home and International students (inc. EU) are welcome to apply. The studentship is available to Home and International (including EU) students and includes a full stipend at UKRI rates (for 2021/22 full-time study this is £15,609 per year) and full tuition fees. Also significant additional funding to cover research costs and local, national and international travel (conferences and exchanges).
Applicants should be aware of the following additional costs that you may incur as these are not covered by the studentship.
· Immigration Health Surcharge https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application
· If you need to apply for a Student Visa to enter the UK, please refer to the information on https://www.gov.uk/student-visa. It is important that you read this information very carefully as it is your responsibility to ensure that you hold the correct funds required for your visa application otherwise your visa may be refused.
· Check what COVID-19 tests you need to take and the quarantine rules for travel to England https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19
· Costs associated with English Language requirements which may be required for students not having completed a first degree in English, will not be borne by the CDT. Please see individual adverts for further details of the English Language requirements for the university you are applying to.
We have a limited number of International awards available. Note that up to 5 offers of a PhD place will be made for the ReNU CDT projects advertised by Northumbria University.
* please note: to be classed as a Home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:
• Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
• have settled status, or
• have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• have indefinite leave to remain or enter.
If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student. Further information about how EPSRC classifies international fee status please see Annex B of https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/UKRI-170821-TrainingGrantTermsConditionsGuidance-Aug2021.pdf
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