PhD Studentship: GREEN: Growing Rare Earth Elements in the Northeast

Award summary 

100% fees covered for four years and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate). An additional allowance will be provided to contribute towards consumables, equipment, and travel related to the project. 

Overview 

ReNU+ is a unique and ambitious programme that will train the next-generation of doctoral carbon champions who are renowned for research excellence and interdisciplinary systemic thinking for Net Zero. The ReNU+ vision is that they will become living examples of a highly skilled workforce delivering an equitable energy transition so that Net Zero is inclusive for all. 

​​ We are looking for an enthusiastic and curious PhD researcher to work on an interdisciplinary project to build U.K. green technology infrastructure by transforming legacy mine waste into a secondary source of critical minerals, required for the technologies that will decarbonised the global economy. One challenge for the UK is the absence of primary rare earth elements (REE) deposits. Additionally, the current process of extracting REE from ores is energy and chemically intense with serious environmental implications; many countries' environmental regulations prevent the processing of REE ores. Research has shown that shales adjacent to coal beds often have significant REE enrichments and efforts have focused on utilising coal waste as REE sources. The UK has hundreds of millions of tons of coal mine waste. 

​In this project, you will combine field and laboratory work to characterize REE enrichments, while optimizing REE phytoextraction using plants and microbial communities. Our previous experiments have shown the impact of plant and soil microbiome on REE uptake and translocation in plants (Soleimanifar, 2023; Soleimanifar, 2024). 

​Your aim is reutilizing an obsolete and environmentally pervasive mine waste as the resource to obtain critically minerals to achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Applicants who would like a project with a large component of field and laboratory work are encouraged; you should enjoy applying chemical and/or biology concepts to find engineering solutions to sustainability problems. ​ 

The ReNU+ CDT will be running a number of online pre-application workshops to provide guidance on the application process. To sign up please fill out the registration form. 

Number of awards 

1 

Start date  

1st October 2025 

Award duration 

4 years 

Application closing date 

3rd February 2025 

Sponsor 

EPSRC 

Name of supervisor/s 

Dr Lucia Rodriguez-Freire (Newcastle University) 

Dr Shannon Flynn (Newcastle University) 

Eligibility Criteria 

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (inc. chemistry, physics, engineering). Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.  

If you do not hold the entry requirements above but have evidence of equivalent skills and expertise, please get in touch with both the supervisor and institution director (Prof Elizabeth Gibson) to discuss further. 

Home and international applicants (inc. EU) are welcome to apply and if successful will receive a full studentship. Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.  

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme. 

How to apply 

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal 

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’. 

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study: 

• search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8208F  
• leave the ‘Research Area' field blank 
• select ‘PhD Energy Materials' as the programme of study 

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section: 

• a ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form. 
• the studentship code ReNU25_4 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field 
• when asked for a research proposal, please upload a competency assessment form instead. You do not need to upload a research proposal. 

In the ‘Supporting Documentation’ section please upload: 

• an up to date CV 

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application. You are welcome to apply to other studentships at the same time, as long as you cite the relevant code on each application (e.g. ReNU25_4 for this studentship).

Contact Details 

Dr Rodriguez-Freire lucia.rodriguez-freire@newcastle.ac.uk 

Dr Flynn Shannon.flynn@newcastle.ac.uk