Are you holding Master’s degree and looking for fully funded PhD positions? University of Leeds, England invites online application for multiple funded PhD Programs / fully funded PhD positions in various research areas.
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 Spin-Crossover Materials and Biomolecular Targeting
Summary of PhD Program:
Spin-crossover is a high-spin-to-low-spin transition at a 3d transition metal centre, typically induced by temperature, pressure, and coordination geometry/number changes. Iron(II) and iron(III) compounds are widely studied due to their thermally-accessible spin states (e.g., S = 5/2 and 1/2 for ferric complexes). Many of these complexes are found in biology (e.g., haem proteins) where spin-state switching is normally induced by changes in the number and types of ligands coordinated to an Fe(II) or Fe(III) centre. In materials science, spin state switching changes the volume, hardness and magnetic properties of the sample, and may also affect its colour, electrical resistance or other properties. Spin-state switches induced by pressure and temperature changes typically have a sigmoidal shaped curve linking the initial and final spin states.
Application Deadline: 18 September 2023
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chamber Studies of the Oxidation of Key Atmospheric Intermediates
Summary of PhD Program:
Product studies on the atmospheric oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are vital in quantifying the production of tropospheric ozone (air quality and climate), toxic intermediates (air quality, health) and aerosol precursors (air quality and climate). Understanding these processes improves our predictive models of air quality (e.g. the Master Chemical Mechanism – MCM) or climate, influencing abatement strategies and environmental policy.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
Follow FellowshipBard for daily updates!
3. Fully Funded PhD Position in machine learning
Summary of PhD Program:
We are looking for a highly motivated student to conduct PhD research in the field of choice modelling. Choice modelling is a key analytical tool used to understand consumer decisions and valuations and forecast choices across a range of topic areas, including transport, environmental and health economics, and regional science. Their outputs form a key component in guidance underpinning government and industry decisions on changes to policy, infrastructure developments or the introduction of new services or products. This role provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to a major cross-disciplinary research programme at the heart of the Choice Modelling Centre set up within the University of Leeds.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Contribution of Lattice Vibrations to Switchable Spin-Crossover Crystals
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will address part of this question, by correlating the switching characteristics of spin-crossover materials with their internal lattice vibrations. The student will use Leeds’ Advanced Research computing to perform electronic structure calculations of these materials using solid-state density functional theory (DFT) codes such as CASTEP, VASP and CP2K to probe and understand the vibrational and electronic properties of these materials. These calculations will be used to aid the interpretation of a range of experimental data including X-ray crystallography and powder diffraction; solid state magnetic and optical measurements; and infrared, Raman, Terahertz (THz) and neutron vibrational spectroscopy.
Application Deadline: 29 September 2023
5. Fully Funded PhD Position in psychology and econometrics
Summary of PhD Program:
We are looking for a highly motivated student to conduct PhD research in the field of choice modelling. Choice modelling is a key analytical tool used to understand consumer decisions and valuations and forecast choices across a range of topic areas, including transport, environmental and health economics, and regional science. Their outputs form a key component in guidance underpinning government and industry decisions on changes to policy, infrastructure developments or the introduction of new services or products. This role provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to a major cross-disciplinary research programme at the heart of the Choice Modelling Centre set up within the University of Leeds.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy
Summary of PhD Program:
In this PhD you will learn, utilise and develop HS-AFM height spectroscopy and localization AFM techniques with the aim to push past current experimental limits to study molecules including proteins at previously inaccessible time and length scales. To perform these experiments, you will develop new algorithms and analysis methods and apply theory and computation to obtain quantitative information about kinetic behaviour at the single molecule level. You will apply these methods to answer a number of possible biophysical and biomedical questions with researchers across multiple fields including Medicine, Biology, Physics and Chemistry.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
7. Fully Funded PhD Position in Soil-Capacitive Deionization
Summary of PhD Program:
The uncontrolled release of radionuclides into the environment is often a consequence of an incident or from degrading/aging nuclear facilities. Globally, there are many examples of migrating radionuclide plumes, with concerns that plumes could enter rivers and waters, posing a risk to the environment and human health. Isolation at source is a preferred strategy, but while several engineering solutions have been tested and some implemented, the success of those strategies remains limited. As many nuclear facilities approach end-of-life and decommissioning programs ramp-up, new methods to prevent radionuclide release at the source are highly desired. The proposed study will develop and demonstrate a new engineering barrier based on the concept of capacitive deionization (CDI).
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
10 Best AI Cover Letter Builders
8. Fully Funded PhD Position in impact of electrification and bus network improvements
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will be funded by and carried out in collaboration with York City Council and will aim to provide robust evidence on the impact of the ongoing electrification of the bus network in the city of York on bus user satisfaction and bus ridership. The electrification of the bus network in York is an ongoing process, with new fleets of electric buses planned to be deployed over the coming years. Data is being continuously collected by transport watchdogs (e.g. satisfaction surveys run by Transport Focus) and bus operators (e.g. bus times, reliability, fares…). The candidate will be expected to analyse such different sources of quantitative data linked to establish potential links between network performance and user experience.
Application Deadline: 10 September 2023
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Structure and behaviour of magnetic enzymes
Summary of PhD Program:
Molecular magnets are complex molecular systems that can exhibit ferromagnetic behaviour. The huge variety of magnetic molecular systems that have been synthesised, and the complexity of their interactions, means that they can exhibit a range of exotic and tuneable magnetic behaviours that are relevant to a range of technologies. In addition, many magnetic molecules play important biological functions. Molecules that have active sites containing two or more coupled magnetic ions can be made to change their symmetry in response to magnetic fields, due to spin-crossover and charge transfer effects. A key example of this behaviour is the magnetic enzyme Urease, which metabolises urea into ammonia, and is a leading cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancer.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Hybrid event beds in confined basins
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will help develop our fundamental understanding of how deep-water sedimentary processes respond to confinement. The project will also help develop an applied understanding of the fill and rock properties of hybrid beds in confined basins, which are hosts of conventional resources, sinks of organic carbon, and potential hosts of man-made pollutants. This project will benefit from field studies in the famous Peïra Cava Basin, SE France; decades of prior studies by the wider research team provide a rigorous stratigraphic framework for the study. Additionally the study may exploit subsurface data of confined basin-fills from the Gulf of Mexico, including seismic, well, and core data, to characterise the occurrence of hybrid beds in subsurface architecture.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in Low Precision Numerical Hardware and Stochastic Rounding
Summary of PhD Program:
This sudden change in numerical hardware (at the time of writing still ongoing), a fundamental feature of computers, presents new challenges. We need to develop methods to understand or test the numerical behaviour in order to be able to document it for each new device. It is important to understand the behaviour of software when creating new devices as well as when simulating the current ones. We also need to consider how to adapt our software to effectively use the low precision hardware, minimizing the effects of non-standard numerical operations. Finally, we should study how to combine these results to drive the standardization of low precision hardware in order to obtain consistent behaviour in the future.
Application Deadline: 30 September 2023
12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Understanding Atomic-scale Friction
Summary of PhD Program:
This project, based in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds, aims to investigate the origins of friction at the scale of the a single atom, using cutting-edge atomic resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) techniques, in the group of Dr Adam Sweetman. Friction is an intrinsic part of day-to-day existence. Although essential for some operations, it is often undesirable. By some estimates, 20% of global energy consumption is “wasted” due to unwanted friction. Despite overwhelming physical and economic interest, surprisingly we still cannot reliably predict the friction between two arbitrary surfaces using simulation techniques.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in Materials, Sustainability and Commodity Markets
Summary of PhD Program:
This fully funded Masters by Research project provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research at one of the University of Leeds’ most diverse and exciting Schools. The Masters by Research project intends to explore an important but often under researched field within the fashion and textiles industry. Materials, such as cotton and polyester, have a major impact on the costs as well as the sustainability of the fashion industry. But the production and trading of these materials are generally controlled by international commodity markets which are poorly understood by many within the industry.
Application Deadline: 13 October 2023
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in In-situ disposal of cementitious wastes
Summary of PhD Program:
This fully funded UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) PhD bursary provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research relating to waste management during the decommissioning of UK nuclear sites. The successful candidate will develop skills in waste characterisation using methods from geochemistry, environmental mineralogy and radiochemistry, utilising state of the art synchrotron and electron microscopy-based analysis. These skills are highly in demand by employers and the studentship will offer excellent springboard for a career in the UK Nuclear industry.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Terahertz Photonics
Summary of PhD Program:
Applicants are sought for a funded PhD in the area of terahertz photonics. The project is an exciting opportunity to join a large and world-renowned research group active and leading in many areas of terahertz science and technology. One area of our current research is in the fast modulation of sources for terahertz radiation, and we are currently investigating acoustic waves for this application. In this experimental PhD project you will develop new ways to modulate terahertz sources (including quantum cascade lasers) using acoustic waves. The work will mainly be performed in our world-class terahertz laboratory, and new cleanroom, in which you would make these devices using state-of-the-art equipment.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Fabrication of Soft Robots
Summary of PhD Program:
Our research will seek to enable future treatments by allowing non-destructive access to the pancreas’ intricate sensitive internal anatomy. This will be investigated through the creation of sub-mm magnetically-driven soft continuum-robots featuring high-resolution controlled multi-material construction (magnetisable materials and elastomeric materials) that can traverse and deliver treatments within the pancreas. This will be investigated by a research team of academics, research fellows and PhD researchers spanning technology themes of; manufacturing technology, robotics, and materials processing. This particular PhD position concerns the manufacturing technology research.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in photolysis
Summary of PhD Program:
DMS is oxidised predominantly by hydroxyl radical (OH) either via an addition pathway producing methane sulfonic acid (MSA) (via DMSO), or via abstraction which forms a peroxy radical CH3SCH2OO (MSP) which, until recently, was thought to primarily undergo bimolecular reactions with NO or another peroxy radical. Following subsequent reactions of these DMS intermediates, SO2 forms which, can either be oxidised by OH or undergo aqueous phase reactions in clouds to form H2SO4. The importance of DMS as a new particle source has previously been questioned, because the SO2+OH reaction is slow, and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) formed by this reaction tends to lead to growth of existing aerosols, rather than new particle formation.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
18. Fully Funded PhD Position in targeting the human microbiome in Long-COVID
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will explore the role of the human microbiome in Long-COVID and investigate how different dietary strategies, probiotics, prebiotics and polyphenols and/or whole diet approaches, can be employed to reduce Long-COVID symptoms and modify the immune and physiological pathways underpinning this debilitating disease. Studies will involve both in vitro (advanced mini-gut models and cell models) and in vivo studies in Long-COVID sufferers. This project brings together key experts in gut microbiome, immunology and nutrition from across campus at the University of Leeds, providing a multi-disciplinary training environment delivered by expert team at the School of Food Science & Nutrition and the School of Medicine. The project will take advantage of state of the art new research infrastructure in gut microbiology at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, and established patients Long-COVID networks established by the School of Medicine.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
19. Fully Funded PhD Position in chemical probes to ligand the ‘dark’ proteome
Summary of PhD Program:
In this project, we will develop connective reactions that enable the one-pot, plate-based synthesis of diverse sets of distinctive reactive fragments (RFs). The synthetic approach will contrast starkly with the typical multi-step synthesis of fully-functionalised probes; as well as the simple amide coupling chemistry that generally drives direct-to-biology experimentation. To broaden explorable chemical space, prioritised chemistries lie outside the reaction toolkit that currently dominates discovery. Furthermore, to complement existing cysteine-directed RF sets, we will deliberately exploit electrophilic “warheads” with distinctive (particularly lysine-directed) reactivity. Having established this capability, we will: (a) investigate extension of direct-to-biology experimentation beyond amide coupling chemistry; and (b) execute biological mapping of the distinctive RFs using chemical proteomics and machine learning. We will thus demonstrate that diverse RF sets, accessible via the new chemistries, can enable liganding of the “dark” proteome.
Application Deadline: Open until filled
20. Fully Funded PhD Position in CO2 and climate
Summary of PhD Program:
Are you passionate about trees and climate change? Are you interested in solving important and relevant questions regarding forest responses to global change? Do you want to perform cutting edge isotope and tree ring work? Then please apply for this fully funded PhD to work in a dynamic, cross-disciplinary team on the Leverhulme funded research project “Unlocking the full potential of tree ring oxygen isotope archives”. Both increases in atmospheric CO2 and the resulting climatic changes (e.g. warming) are affecting forests globally (Walker et al. 2020). Atmospheric CO2 increases reduce CO2 limitation of trees’ photosynthesis, possibly leading trees to downregulate stomatal conductance and thereby transpiration rates (Frank et al. 2015, Adams et al. 2020).
Application Deadline: Open until filled
21. Fully Funded PhD Position in Long-term Measurements of OH Reactivity
Summary of PhD Program:
In this project you will develop a new instrument to enable long-term measurements of OH reactivity in the atmosphere. The instrument will be based on the pump-probe technique (e.g. Sadanaga et al., 2004; Stone et al., 2016), which has been shown to have significant advantages over alternatives such as the flow tube method (Kovacs and Brune, 2001) or the comparative reactivity method (Sinha et al., 2008), particularly in urban or polluted environments (Fuchs et al., 2017). Current instruments used to measure OH reactivity which employ the pump-probe technique use laser flash photolysis of ozone in the presence of water vapour to produce OH radicals (R1-R2), and typically monitor OH radicals using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy to determine the OH reactivity from the observed loss rate of OH through subsequent reactions with trace species in the atmosphere (R3).
Application Deadline: Open until filled
22. Fully Funded PhD Position in Gold Nanomaterials
Summary of PhD Program:
In this project, we will develop new approaches for the controlled synthesis of novel 2D nanomaterials. Optical properties and morphologies will be used to create a feedback mechanism to control the production of materials with the desired optical properties of materials made using droplet microfluidics. There is the possibility of combining this with artificial intelligence approaches for the designer growth of novel nanomaterials.