cockcroft PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships for UK Students

Super-macro-particles to improve in Particle-in-cell codes

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

Particle-in-cell (PIC) codes are essential for the numerical simulation of charged particles in both conventional accelerators and plasmas. Read more

Supervisor: Dr J Gratus

University of Liverpool Cockcroft Institute

Understanding and Controlling Beam Losses in High-Power X-ray Free-Electron Lasers

Light sources based on electron accelerators have long been of crucial importance for scientific and engineering research in fields ranging from medicine and life sciences to the properties and structure of materials. Read more

Supervisor: Prof A Wolski

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

FLASH VHEE Radiotherapy Machine System Design

Supervisor: Prof R M. Jones

A studentship is available from October 2024 on the development of a unique machine to deliver FLASH radiotherapy. To achieve this goal we anticipate strong collaboration with STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory and CERN. Read more

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

A Hybrid Plasma Accelerator for Therapeutic Electron Beams

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

Would you like to join us at the University of Manchester to change the future of particle accelerators?. Using the available studentship, you will explore combining mature electron production technology with new plasma-based acceleration. Read more

Supervisor: Dr O Apsimon

University of Liverpool Cockcroft Institute

High power laser plasma acceleration – making accelerators smaller, cheaper, better

Applications are invited for a fully funded studentship from Oct 2024 in laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (LWFA). Read more

Supervisor: Dr L Corner

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

Lancaster University School of Engineering

Fully-funded PhD in Sustainable High Power RF Amplifiers for Muon Colliders

A student is sought for a PhD study on the development of high efficiency RF amplifiers for the Muon Collider design study at CERN. Read more

Supervisor: Prof G Burt

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

Development of sustainable Superconducting RF for UK-XFEL

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

A student is sought for a PhD study on the development of thin film coated superconducting RF cavities for the UK X-ray Free Electron Laser (UK-XFEL) design study. Read more

Supervisor: Prof G Burt

Exploring the shortest particle accelerator bunches with laser and terahertz techniques

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

Applications are invited for a fully funded studentship starting Oct 2024 in ultrafast laser-based diagnostics for particle accelerators. Read more

Supervisor: Dr M Hibberd

The Ghost Collider: developing particle accelerators with no beam transients

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

Present and future high-energy electron-positron colliders are limited by two effects. the energy required to accelerate the beams and the electromagnetic beam-beam disruption. Read more

Supervisor: Dr R Apsimon

Enhancing Superconducting Properties of SRF Thin Films by Laser Processing

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

Superconducting niobium cavities are the most crucial components in particle accelerators to provide the acceleration to the desired particles via RF energy with low losses. Read more

Supervisor: Dr G Xia

Laser-driven ultrafast electron diffraction

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

Lancaster Physics department and partners in the Cockcroft Institute are world leading in the use of femtosecond lasers and non-linear optics for manipulating electron beams. Read more

Supervisor: Dr S Jamison

University of Liverpool Department of Physics

Beam gas curtain monitor for the High Luminosity LHC

The QUASAR Group, based at the Cockcroft Institute, has pioneered the development of a supersonic gas jet as a non-invasive beam profile monitor. Read more

Supervisors: Prof C Welsch, Dr H Zhang

30 April 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

University of Liverpool Department of Physics

Optical fiber-based RF-breakdown detection and prediction

The QUASAR Group, based at the Cockcroft Institute, in collaboration with the beam instrumentation company D-Beam Ltd, have pioneered the development and commercialization of optical fiber-based beam loss monitors for particle accelerators. Read more

Supervisors: Prof C Welsch, Dr J Wolfenden

30 April 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

Lancaster University Physics Department

Laser-driven ultrafast electron diffraction

Lancaster Physics department and partners in the Cockcroft Institute are world leading in the use of femtosecond lasers and non-linear optics for manipulating electron beams. Read more

Supervisor: Prof S Jamison

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