Candidates interested in fully funded PhD positions can check the details and may apply as soon as possible. Interested and eligible applicants may submit their online application for PhD programs via the University’s Online Application Portal.
1. Fully Funded PhD Position in Novel laser sources in the mid-infrared spectral region for security and sensing applications
Summary of PhD Program:
This studentship is part of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Photonics in which the University of Strathclyde is a partner. The project will address the urgent requirement for new photonics tools in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region to police stricter greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards and to progress imaging capabilities in poor visibility for security applications. The majority of the so-called fingerprint absorption bands for GHGs are in the mid-IR spectral region. This is also the region where some windows of high atmospheric transmittance exist, making it suitable for laser radar (LIDAR) operation in poor visibility.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in Monitoring coastal systems: high-resolution techniques for environmental change detection
Summary of PhD Program:
This project focuses on using advanced monitoring technologies to study coastal dunes and shoreline dynamics, which are critical habitats and buffers against coastal hazards. By utilising high-resolution remote sensing technologies, this project will provide a detailed evaluation of sediment transport, shoreline morphology, and dune system dynamics over a 20–30 year timescale. It will generate actionable insights to support conservation and sustainable management of Scotland’s coastal regions.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
3. Fully Funded PhD Position in MicroLED-based lab-on-chip platform
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will research and develop a novel lab-on-chip platform for the detection of analytes with potential uses in bio-medicine, defence and security, and environmental monitoring. The platform will combine two innovations: (i) microsize LEDs to interrogate the sensing assays and (ii) colloidal nanomaterials, and related structures, for enhancing the sensitivity of the assays. You will have access to state-of-the-art laboratory infrastructure and scientific expertise.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Secret weapons or molecular junk? Determining the influence of bacteriophages in enterococcal infections
Summary of PhD Program:
Bacteriophages (phages) exert important effects on the bacteria that they infect, including influencing the ability to colonise different niches, employ pathogenic processes, exchange DNA, or resist further phage infection. Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium are important opportunistic pathogens with increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. This project seeks to identify phage-associated factors contributing to bacterial fitness, virulence and evolution in these priority pathogens.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
5. Fully Funded PhD Position in Development and Comprehensive Assessment of Leprosy Vaccine Candidates
Summary of PhD Program:
We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic PhD student to join an interdisciplinary project focused on developing leprosy vaccines. Leprosy is a chronic, neglected, and stigmatised disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium lepromatosis. It leads to skin lesions and permanent peripheral nerve damage, resulting in loss of sensation, paralysis, and deformities that can make everyday tasks onerous. The disease is endemic in regions of the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia, with over 200,000 new cases reported worldwide each year.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in Sideband Suppression on High Power Microwave Antenna
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will be concerned with the management of antenna sidelobes for applications in high power microwave systems. High power microwave transmitters increasingly are required to operate in complex environments where other nearby electronics, typically operating at much lower power levels, may be subject to undesirable interference. All antenna will form sidelobes, undesired secondary beams typically at rather lower power than the primary beam, but potentially still of moderate absolute power. Since these beams may make quite large angles to the intended primary beam, there is risk of problematic exposure to relatively nearby components.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
7. Fully Funded PhD Position in Advance diversity techniques for underwater optical communication and sensing (EngD)
Summary of PhD Program:
This project seeks to exploit advances in spatial and wavelength diversity transceivers together with optical design and advanced signal processing to develop robust underwater photonic communication and sensing systems. A system engineering approach will be taken to integrate these systems into practical devices with a view to deployment and demonstrations in challenging real-world underwater environments.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
8. Fully Funded PhD Position in High-performance ultrashort pulse laser sources for advanced applications in sensing, imaging, and precise timing
Summary of PhD Program:
The Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (Fh-CAP) seeks for a post graduate student to fulfil an EngD research position in ultrafast solid-state laser technology. The Fh-CAP provides professional research and development services for industry and is part of the larger Fraunhofer network that is Europe’s largest application orientated not-for-profit research organisation. The studentship will explore novel approaches to the design and engineer a high-performance and low-SWaP mode-locked laser systems for their further use in quantum sensing and imaging as well as precise positioning, navigation and timing apparatus such as optical clocks.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Propagation of RF/microwave signals in plasma
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will focus on the Propagation of RF and Microwave Signals in non-linear and dispersive plasma media. Plasma is a complex environment for EM waves, presenting cut-offs and resonances where energy can be reflected and absorbed, a range of subtle electromagnetic and electrostatic waves which exist only in the plasma state which can mediate non-linear energy exchange with marked sensitivity to the intensity, polarisation and propagation direction of the waves, especially when subject to external magnetic fields, whilst the dispersive and non-stationary nature of the media can result in refraction and temporal spreading of signals.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Carbon assessment of transforming CO2 and waste plastics into sustainable fuels and chemicals
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will explore the technical routes of converting CO2 and waste plastics into chemicals and materials. Typical pathways of converting CO2 into fuels and converting waste plastic into platform chemicals will be investigated. The overall aim is providing a carbon mapping strategy for CO2 and waste plastic conversion. Quantum Mechanics based atomistic simulations (adopting Density Functional Theory) will be carried out to explore reaction mechanisms of CO2 and plastic conversion over catalysts surface, this will be followed by experimental validation to test the valorisation processes.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2025
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in Statistical methods for causal inference in routine prescribing data: Application in long-term risk of psychiatric disorder and psychotropic medication use after SARS-CoV-2 infection in Scotland
Summary of PhD Program:
This project is in the field of pharmacoepidemiology, public health and medical statistics. The aim is to examine the long-term effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection (including but not limited to long COVID) in mental health, especially psychiatric disorders and related medication use in Scotland population. Statistical methodologies and different epidemiological study designs will be explored to compare the robustness and reduce potential biases.
Application Deadline: 25 April 2025
12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Beyond Commensalism: Investigating the Virulence Mechanisms of Streptococcus mitis in Bacteraemia
Summary of PhD Program:
Dr. Helina Marshall’s lab at the University of Strathclyde seeks a motivated student for a PhD project exploring the virulence mechanisms of Streptococcus mitis, a commensal bacterium linked to serious infections like bacteraemia and endocarditis in immunocompromised patients. The project will use genomic, phenotypic, and taxonomic methods to study S. mitis isolates. The candidate will receive training in microbiology, whole genome sequencing, and molecular techniques.
Application Deadline: 17 April 2025
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in Development and characterisation of aqueous electrolyte candidates for a thermally stable redox flow battery application
Summary of PhD Program:
Co-funded by Mhor Energy Ltd, the focus of this project is to discover and develop new electrolyte materials alongside approaches for analytical monitoring that can significantly enhance the performance of redox flow batteries (RFB’s). This is an exciting opportunity that combines research in spectroscopy, molecular synthesis and energy storage with hands-on industry experience, including an industrial placement and additional support from industrial supervisors throughout the project.
Application Deadline: 4 April 2025
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Machine learning-based synthetic diagnostic and surrogate model of laser-accelerated ions
Summary of PhD Program:
This project seeks to overcome these challenges by developing cutting-edge machine learning (ML) tools to predict and control ion beam properties in real time. Using advanced neural network models trained on experimental and simulation data, the research will enable high-quality ion beam generation and control. These advancements will enable the production of high-quality, stable ion beams tailored for a range of innovative applications.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Understanding value co-creation from a systems perspective: the role and impact of the third sector
Summary of PhD Program:
The enduring and escalating crisis in public services has been recognised as demanding preventative, outcomes-focused reform (Christie, 2011). The Scottish policy response has called for collaboration and social prescribing (i.e. linking people into support in the community) to spread costs and tackle complex social problems such as social inequality. However, the focus has typically been on relationships between statutory partners, with far less consideration of the full system of actors involved, including the third sector (Strokosch and Roy, 2024). Furthermore, studies on social prescribing have not offered sufficient detail to demonstrate the third sector’s role and impact (Bickerdike et al, 2017).
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Photo-chemical adaptive integrated circuits for next generation neuromorphic computing
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will investigate new neuromorphic functionalities in photonic integrated circuits. The programme will hybridize state-of-the-art semiconductor integrated devices with photo-chemical switches, targeting tunability and all-optical information storage. Those devices will be used to build hardware-based photonic neural networks demonstrating synaptic plasticity and self-learning. This project is part of a funded, international collaboration with groups in Germany and Italy.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in Power-Dense Power Electronic Conversion Technologies for Laser Energy Transfer Systems
Summary of PhD Program:
The project is to contribute to a major research initiative intended to develop generation-after-next technologies for applications in defence and security, and this project will be co-funded by Raytheon UK. Isolated DC-DC Power Electronic Converters are a key enabling technology for High-Power Laser Energy Transfer Systems. Designing these converters to meet demanding and potentially conflicting efficiency, stability, dynamic performance, thermal and fault-tolerance requirements is particularly challenging. Furthermore, in all aerospace requirements, it is essential that both the gravimetric and volumetric power density of the power converter designs are maximised in order to have a minimal detrimental impact on the overall host-vehicle platform range and operational envelope.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
18. Fully Funded PhD Position in Financial Policy Uncertainty and Bank Undervaluation in Europe: Broader Economic Implications
Summary of PhD Program:
Through participation in research seminars, workshops, and other learning activities, you will engage with diverse disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, as well as various methodologies. Progress will be reviewed annually. Over the three-year PhD programme, you’re expected to attend academic conferences, contribute to teaching within the School, and work towards publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
19. Fully Funded PhD Position in Corporate communications & government procurement
Summary of PhD Program:
We seek a highly motivated PhD candidate to join this project that explores the interaction between corporate communication and government procurement process. You will be working under the guidance of two experienced researchers specializing in politics and finance. This project involves manual collection and processing of large datasets, and utilizes advanced econometric models alongside text analysis techniques.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
20. Fully Funded PhD Position in The impact of media ownership structure on news coverage
Summary of PhD Program:
This project explores the impact of media ownership on the content and tone of news coverage, with a particular focus on how institutional investors, such as hedge funds, influence news outlets and affect information dissemination. By examining these dynamics, the project aims to provide insights into the broader implications for financial markets, public opinion, and decision-making.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
21. Fully Funded PhD Position in Insightful Siting: Incorporating the Value of Information in Location Decisions
Summary of PhD Program:
This project develops dynamic methodologies for multi-stage location decisions that incorporate the value of information. Using Scottish Water’s sensor placement challenge as a case study, we aim to optimise decision-making by integrating risk, uncertainty, and real-time data, providing adaptable, sustainable solutions for public services, supply chains, and infrastructure management.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
22. Fully Funded PhD Position in Leveraging behavioural insights and digital technologies to improve workplace safety
Summary of PhD Program:
This research project focuses on leveraging Virtual Reality (VR) and Serious Gaming (SG) to study and enhance the understanding of risk-taking behaviours in manufacturing environments. The aim is to develop immersive tools that provide accurate, real-world insights into decision-making, enabling the design of effective safety interventions. This innovative approach seeks to advance workplace safety through cutting-edge technology and behavioural analysis.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
23. Fully Funded PhD Position in Future Shifts: Growing good work opportunities for people with learning disabilities and autism known to adult social care services
Summary of PhD Program:
Working age adults with learning disabilities and/or autism (LDA) have the lowest rate of paid employment of any disabled group, yet most working age adults with LDA want to work given the right support and job. Supported Employment offers a potential solution but important qualitative and quantitative gaps in understanding and evidence exist. This PhD research focuses on filling those key knowledge gaps and driving positive real-world impacts.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
24. Fully Funded PhD Position in Central Banks’ Inflation Gamble: Good Luck versus Good Models
Summary of PhD Program:
This project sets forth an innovative research agenda involving the development and application of advanced Bayesian machine learning techniques for modelling and forecasting inflation. The proposed applications will utilise “big data” and involve data that is more granular than what is typically used. Here, “more granular” refers to the aim of directly modelling inflation subcomponents (rather than just the aggregate), while “big data” entails using many macroeconomic covariates.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
25. Fully Funded PhD Position in Technologies for optogenetic neural interfacing
Summary of PhD Program:
In this PhD project we aim to develop next-generation neural interfaces that combine multi-wavelength control of neurons with electrophysiological recording. The student will join a well-resourced team of researchers, including physicists, engineers and neuroscientists with collaborations across the US and Europe.
Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
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