The University of Bath is inviting applications for the following PhD project commencing in October 2021.
Funding is available to candidates who qualify for ‘Home’ fee status. Following the UK’s departure from the European Union, the rules governing fee status have changed and, therefore, candidates from the EU/EEA are advised to check their eligibility before applying. Please see the Funding Eligibility section below for more information.
The successful candidate will join our "U-care" project. U-care targets the generation and delivery of deep-ultraviolet light (200-220 nm wavelength) to solve critical problems in healthcare, including antibiotic-resistant "super-bugs" and the need for cellular-precision cancer surgery. Its interdisciplinary team of about 35 researchers at Bath, Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh universities will include photonic physicists, engineers, biologists, and clinicians at the front line of patient care.
Bath's role is to conceive, design, make and test a new generation of optical fibres to transmit the light, which is challenging because deep-UV light is strongly absorbed by most materials. We can overcome this by incorporating microscopic structures with precisely-engineered air holes, but challenges remain because they must be small in proportion to the light's short wavelength.
As the PhD student, you will study these problems and several possible solutions. Although this is likely to require numerical simulations of fibres with unusual designs, you will focus mainly on experiments: the fabrication of new fibres, the measurement of their optical properties, and the construction of prototype optical devices, all in our state-of-the-art fibre fabrication facility and optical laboratories. You'll be able to own the whole "fibre life-cycle", from concept to application.
At Bath, you'll work (and be supported and trained) alongside an experienced post-doctoral researcher on U-care, a broader team of students and postdocs working on healthcare photonics, and academic supervisors with many years' experience of world-leading fibre-optics research. You'll focus on your own research while engaging with the wider project; you can expect to travel for joint experiments with collaborating scientists in other disciplines and institutions. You'll discuss your research and others' at weekly meetings of Bath's Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials, and at U-care project meetings here and in Edinburgh. You can also expect to travel to international conferences to present your successful results.
Candidate Requirements:
Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a First Class or good Upper Second Class Honours degree (or the equivalent) in Physics or a closely-allied science or engineering subject. A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous. Applicants should have a strong interest in photonics and its healthcare applications and be excited by the prospect of their research having a real impact on the big challenges in medicine.
Non-UK applicants must meet our English language entry requirement.
Enquiries and Applications:
Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Professor Tim Birks, email [Email Address Removed].
Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Physics.
More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found on our website.
Funding Eligibility:
In order to be considered for funding, you must qualify as a ‘Home’ student. In determining ‘Home’ student status, we follow the UK government’s fee regulations and guidance which, when available, will be set out by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) on their website. At the time of advertising this project, the fee regulations for 2021/22 are still to be clarified, but we expect (subject to confirmation) that the main categories of students generally eligible for ‘Home’ fee status will be:
- UK nationals (who have lived in the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland continuously since September 2018)
- Irish nationals (who have lived in the UK or Ireland continuously since September 2018)
- EU/EEA applicants with settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme (who have lived in the UK continuously since September 2018)
- EU/EEA applicants with pre-settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme (who have lived in the UK, EU, EEA, Switzerland or Gibraltar continuously since September 2018)
- Applicants with indefinite leave to enter/remain in the UK (who have been resident in the UK continuously since September 2018)
EU/EEA citizens who live outside the UK are unlikely to be eligible for ‘Home’ fees and funding.
Additional information may be found on our fee status guidance webpage, on the GOV.UK website and on the UKCISA website.
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