Are you holding Master’s degree and looking for fully funded PhD positions? University of Liverpool, 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 Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This project seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms by which gut bacteria metabolise complex carbohydrates and how this influences their interaction with the host. You will employ an integrated strategy of protein biochemistry, bacterial genetics, metabolomics, and tissue culture to uncover the fundamentals of these metabolic processes seeking how they can be exploited to maximise human health and treat diseases.
Application Deadline: 27 February 2024
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in gene expression regulation in eukaryotic parasites
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will compare the gene expression profiles of parasites and related non-parasites under various cellular conditions using state-of-the-art transcriptomic and proteomic methods. The data we produce will be used to estimate gene co-expression networks to test the hypothesis that gene regulation has become simpler and less connected in parasites. There are four stages. (1) Transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of stress responses in different parasites and their free-living relatives; (2) Identifying protein-protein interactions involved in stress responses. (3) Gene knock-out of key stress responders in different species. (4) Gene replacement to explore evolutionary hypotheses of parasite gene loss.
Application Deadline: 27 August 2023
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3. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
Low and zero thermal expansion materials are used in many industries where size stability under high temperatures is critical e.g., aerospace, precision manufacturing, sensors. New classes of material are needed to meet intensifying future demands. There are considerable barriers to discovering the required materials. The underlying physics is complex and difficult to predict from first principles, and the space of possible materials is large and equally complex, especially when a combination of properties is needed, i.e., in this case zero thermal expansion and high machinability and durability. Machine learning methods have been successfully applied to many complex problems, and recent work has demonstrated such methods may also be viable to predict new functional materials with desirable properties.
Application Deadline: 17 March 2024
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Physical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to develop new materials for optoelectronic applications on glass to contribute to the net zero agenda. New materials are required to maintain the pace of efficiency and performance improvements in thin film PV devices, energy saving glazing, electronic displays, lighting and other emerging markets. Previous work in collaboration with NSG has used computational chemistry and deep (machine) learning to predict new material compositions with high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity.
Application Deadline: 31 December 2023
5. Fully Funded PhD Position in Maths and Computing
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will study and apply existing optimisation methods and propose methods and mechanisms for novel ones. In particular, focus will be given to black-box optimisation methods capable of handling difficult complex problems that are difficult or impossible to model directly. Examples include grid, coordinate and pattern searches, metaheuristics, model-based methods, surrogate models, evolutionary optimisation methods such as genetic algorithms or ones utilising natural gradient and information geometry, and Bayesian optimisation. Many of them relay heavily on the use of various machine learning and statistical mechanisms to adapt to the optimisation landscape and automatically collect data where applicable.
Application Deadline: 17 March 2024
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will explore the application of existing computer science methods and algorithms, as well as developing novel ones, to automate the processing of features and their combinations to predict various properties of materials. This may involve developing models to identify new chemistries or regions of the periodic table where these properties may occur, and/or identifying new ways to improve the properties in existing materials.
Application Deadline: 17 March 2024
7. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will combine synthetic solid-state chemistry, advanced structural analysis and measurement of physical and electrochemical properties of new lithium solid electrolytes, enabling the successful candidate to develop a diverse experimental skillset in materials chemistry and battery chemistry. The focus will be on the discovery of new materials and structures with enhanced performance, accelerated by working with computational design experts. Owing to the multi-faceted nature of this dynamic project, the student will work closely with computer scientists, inorganic (electro)chemists, physicists, engineers, and material scientists, as part of the EPSRC Programme Grant “Digital navigation of chemical space for function”, to discover new solid electrolytes for all-solid-state Li metal batteries.
Application Deadline: 31 December 2023
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8. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD studentship will combine high throughput experimental methods in the synthesis and characterisation of catalysts with automated methods of large dataset analysis to accelerate the discovery of new heterogeneous catalysts for transformations critical to the net-zero economy, such as methanol synthesis from CO2 and green hydrogen production. Libraries of catalysts will be prepared following typical reaction methods, such as impregnation and precipitation, which will be implemented using advanced robotic platforms. The characterisation of products will be done in parallel mode using predominantly diffraction, spectroscopy and thermal analysis techniques.
Application Deadline: 29 March 2024
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to design and develop a Mobile Robotic System which will autonomously and safely navigate within an agriculture setting to monitor and respond to key sensor data of moisture and temperature to optimise particular farming tasks to support farmers and reduce risks of contamination and/or infection. Developing an autonomous system capable of operating in harsh changeable environment such as in agriculture settings, is a significant research challenge. The dynamic cluttered setting and the uneven and changing terrain are major challenges to an autonomous vehicle to safely map and navigate its way around a farm and complete set tasks.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2023
10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will develop novel validation methods to build confidence in computational models that predict performance of engineering structures. Computational models are vital for exploring and developing future infrastructure, such as zero-emission aircraft or supplying clean energy. Before a virtual design is brought to life, its computational models must be validated to demonstrate confidence in the safety and performance of the design. The confidence in the models is particularly important when they are used to inform decisions that could have socio-economic consequences.
Application Deadline: 31 December 2023
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
Are you a motivated student with a strong interest in biomaterials and tissue engineering and applying this to treat a specific eye disease? Then look no further! This PhD project focuses on developing a new conjunctival substitute based on artificial materials that mimic tissue structures on which we can grow conjunctival surface epithelium. This artificial conjunctiva has the potential to overcome the limitations of current reconstructive techniques and will have impact in preventing patient suffering including blindness, pain and double vision.
Application Deadline: 21 March 2024
12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This project is in the field of Digital Signal Processing to separate low observable moving targets from a sea clutter background, in static and moving maritime surveillance radar, which frequently see Sea Clutter return peak amplitudes that are far greater than those from small targets of interest. By observing scenes for 10s to 100s of seconds, multi-scan processing allows detection and tracking of targets 10 to 20dB ‘sub-clutter’, even within the clutter spectrum. This project will study improvements achievable by extracting further detail from the radar data.
Application Deadline: 9 September 2023
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
The aim of this technical project is to leverage the power of language models and machine learning algorithms to optimize the analysis and utilization of veterinary clinical notes and citizen science survey data in order to enhance data access and insight into canine health and welfare. The project will focus on extracting and standardizing important variables from unstructured PDF veterinary records, expanding the scale of studies through ML-generated inference, and creating pipelines for rapid evaluation of emerging health and welfare challenges. Additionally, the project will develop early warning systems to alert Dogs Trust and other stakeholders to records requiring individual support or follow-up.
Application Deadline: 31 August 2023
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
The student will be responsible for applying the suite of computational and modelling already developed in the lab to new manifestations of mechanochemistry, for identifying new patterns of reactivity and structure/reactivity relationships, and to provide mechanistic and molecular descriptions of experimentally-observed processes. The student will also be responsible to contributing to the developing new modelling approaches. Such studies require the use of the Gaussian suite at remote HPC resources and extensive Matlab coding. All group members are also offered practical assistance with developing their own projects from identifying a compelling scientific problem, through the project design, implementation and dissemination.
Application Deadline: 1 September 2023
15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This fully-funded PhD project provides a unique opportunity to pursue research in advanced experimental fluid mechanics. The project will study the behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids and, in particular, their behaviour in laminar, turbulent and transitional mixing flow conditions. Starting with an analysis of a yield stress fluid contained within a rotating endwall geometry, the project will use start-of-the-art simultaneous 2D3C Particle Image Velocimetry and Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence to study turbulent flow patterns to enhance our understanding of the fundamental flow physics of non-Newtonian fluids in nature and various industrial processes, including the mixing of wastewater sludge and the flow of cement slurries.
Application Deadline: 13 February 2024
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
In this project, we want to systematically study how the charge transport (i.e. conductance) and photonic behaviour (i.e. light-emission) of single-molecule junctions are altered by the nanoelectrode shape. The research programme will entail contribution from device modelling (using FDTD methods), nanofabrication (using thermal scanning probe lithography techniques, tSPL) and optoelectronic measurements (using bespoke mechanically-controlled break-junction equipment, MCBJ).
Application Deadline: 14 February 2024
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
The project is to contribute to a major Ministry of Defence (MOD) research programme intended to develop generation after next technologies for applications in defence and security, and this project will be co-funded by Thales. The project will be concerned with developing automated tracking systems for airborne objects in challenging environments. The project will allow the student to acquire expertise in image processing, sensing with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) cameras, video tracking, and sensor data fusion.
Application Deadline: 31 August 2023
18. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
The student will be responsible for designing and undertaking detailed kinetic and mechanistic investigations of mechanochemical reactivity in solution and bulk polymeric materials. These studies usually require techniques such as sonication, high-resolution size-exclusion chromatography and mechanical characterization of bulk materials. Such studies will be done in close coordination with computational and modelling work, results of which may inform on the design of physical experiments. All group members are also offered practical assistance with developing their own projects from identifying a compelling scientific problem, through the project design, implementation and dissemination.
Application Deadline: 1 September 2023
19. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to develop joint models for longitudinal biomarkers and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The project will investigate whether using multiple biomarkers increases performance and will provide a proof-of-concept of how personalised surveillance schedules could be introduced based on the model. The project will involve development of novel statistical techniques, and their application to large cohorts of patients with liver disease.
Application Deadline: 31 August 2023
20. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
The specific project objectives underpinning this aim are to:
1. investigate and determine at lab scale, the precise mechanisms involved in particle agglomeration, breakage and regrowth, and the interactions between turbulence scales and water chemistry for the broadest range of water types.
2. determine the most appropriate method of simulating the flocculation process in water treatment using a modelling strategy that will consider the use of computational fluid dynamics, discrete element modelling and population balance modelling for laboratory scale applications.
3. simulate flocculation processes at full scale and to validate these models with appropriate field data.
4. develop criteria for successful, optimised flocculation for a wide range of raw waters, coagulant types and doses, and flocculators that will be universally applicable and will facilitate a reduced water treatment carbon footprint.
Application Deadline: 13 February 2024
21. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will develop the next generation of LFTs that simultaneously detect multiple biomarkers for AAD and will include the following objectives to tailor the material properties and surface chemistry to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of LFTs.
Objective 1: Materials selection- Investigating membrane materials and the nanoparticle labels in LFTs. Do alternative polymers or novel nanoparticle labelling methods improve LFTs?
Objective 2: Fabrication- Investigate novel fabrication techniques to create new membranes with the optimum characteristics
Objective 3: Application- Apply optimized LFTs for detection of specific biomarkers indicative of AAD.
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
22. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
The student will be responsible for designing and undertaking detailed kinetic and mechanistic investigations of mechanochemical reactivity in solution and bulk polymeric materials. These studies usually require techniques such as sonication, high-resolution size-exclusion chromatography and mechanical characterization of bulk materials. Such studies will be done in close coordination with computational and modelling work, results of which may inform on the design of physical experiments. All group members are also offered practical assistance with developing their own projects from identifying a compelling scientific problem, through the project design, implementation and dissemination.
Application Deadline: 1 September 2023
23. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to understand and experimentally develop materials for advanced drug delivery technologies, namely polymer-based microneedles (MNs), capable of precise and targeted delivery of therapeutics in treatment of aortic diseases. To date, the majority of MN research has focussed on transdermal applications. Here, polymeric materials will be designed with robust, scalable fabrication approaches to (i) yield mechanically stable, biodegradable, and biocompatible MNs with dimensions and geometries suitable to penetrate aortic tissues, and (ii) control the release of model therapeutics. The role of polymeric material mesostructure on the physical properties of the materials, corresponding microneedles and their functionality for therapeutic delivery in vascular microenvironments will be explored. From these results, key design principles for MNs, from the molecular to microscopic, will be established and the foundations laid for translational research to address significant clinical challenges in treating CVDs.
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
24. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
New materials hold great promise in addressing global challenges that our society faces today. For instance, green hydrogen as a sustainable transport fuel requires the development of materials for better electrolysers to accelerate the transition to clean transportation. Similarly, the realisation of better catalysts will minimise the impact of manufacturing the chemicals and materials that society needs. However, discovering these transformative materials is a challenging and time-consuming task that requires diverse expertise and is plagued by the need for trial-and-error. We need a better way, which means we need to develop better tools.
Application Deadline: 31 December 2023
25. Fully Funded PhD Position in Physical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
You will study concepts for using a laser to drive the creation of a large flux of protons or light ions which are captured and formed into a beam by strong-focusing plasma lenses. A laser-driven source allows protons and ions to be captured at energies significantly above those that pertain in conventional facilities, thus evading the current space-charge limit on the instantaneous dose rate that can be delivered.
Application Deadline: 30 September 2023
26. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
Developmental Dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a problem of the hip in babies. Babies can be born with a hip that is completely out of the socket (‘dislocated’), or one that wobbles in and out (‘subluxes’). If untreated, DDH is strongly linked to early hip arthritis and the need for a hip replacement in early adulthood. If identified in the weeks after birth, 90% if babies can be treated with a removable brace, that the child typically wears for 6-8 weeks over their clothes. If identified later, the child often needs invasive surgery to put the hip back in position. There is a national screening programme that aims to identify DDH, through clinical examination and, when needed, ultrasound. Every baby born in England has the details of the screening assessment entered onto a national computer system (called Smart4NIPE).
Application Deadline: 31 August 2023
27. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
The project relies on the generation and analysis of multi-omic data from patients’ samples and patients’ derived organoids (PDO) in vitro including single-cell analysis. Finally, both genetic (CRISPR) and pharmacological manipulations will be used as a strategy to validate the relevance of the metabolic nodes identified in PDO and to test their impact on invasion and sensitivity to chemotherapy in vitro.
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
28. Fully Funded PhD Position in Earth Sciences and Geography
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will build on this focus through the following aims:
To better understand how such balances are and might be formed in the construction industry, what the trade-offs are and how this may vary for different kinds of problem/solution.
To consider how and where these lessons may be transferred into other sectors.
To identify mechanisms that could be put in place to better understand and monitor this balance and to establish a cross sector approach to zero carbon, plastic reduction measures and material re-use.
Application Deadline: 10 October 2023
29. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
In this project you will address two biomechanical functions of the human foot that are often affected during ageing: (1) impact absorption during heel strike and (2) dynamic foot deformation (toe spreading) during mid-late stance.
(1) The heel has an anatomical shock absorber – the heel pad – but its shock absorbing qualities decline with age. You will be addressing if a shoe can offset this decline in biological shock absorption. Shoe cushioning has conventionally been substantial in athletics and shoes for older people. However, results are mixed at best. You will for the first time assess the effect of small amounts of cushioning as found in minimal shoes.
(2) The metatarsal and toe areas of the foot naturally spread under load but this may be affected by footwear and ageing, with a substantial proportion of the ageing population suffering from hallux valgus or bunions. You will quantify foot deformation as a function of age and quantify these movements within the shoe.
Application Deadline: 18 September 2023
30. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
Randomised trials (RTs) are the gold standard for evaluating new interventions. This is due to randomisation preventing selection bias and balancing out any known/unknown confounders that may cause systematic differences between trial arms. RCTs are not always feasible however, and it is increasingly common for researchers to access the growing accessibility routine datasets to evaluate the effect of non-randomised exposures to treatments. Such approached are therefore subject to selection bias and confounding. One approach to address this is using propensity score weighting (PSW) which aims to create a weighted population where the covariate distributions are similar between exposure groups being compared.
Application Deadline: 17 September 2023
31. Fully Funded PhD Position in Biological and Medical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
Approximately 30% of UK households own a dog, even higher in North America and Australia. It is commonly reported that dog ownership is associated with greater physical activity, lower blood pressure and stress levels, as well as making owners feel happy. However, evidence suggests that owning a dog can negatively impact depression and anxiety levels of owners, in particular due to having to manage behaviour problems. There is a subset of people whose experience of owning and walking a dog is particularly challenging, and these are likely the owners of reactive dogs. Describing a dog as ‘reactive’ is a non-scientific term for animals who are deemed to overreact to stimuli commonly found in their environment. The most common form of reactivity appears to be towards other dogs, which this project will focus on, as this has received less scientific attention than aggression towards people.
Application Deadline: 10 September 2023
32. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
This project leverages physical infrastructure and domain expertise unique to Liverpool. Following the design, build and test of wind tunnel flow conditioning devices that achieve any desired inflow conditions, up to and including `extreme’ scale events, a comprehensive set of physical experiments will be undertaken in a state-of-the-art wind tunnel facility [1] on test models representative of land, sea and air vehicles. These data will serve as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) validation cases and insights gained from analysis will lead to empirical models informing improved platform designs.
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
33. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
There is an increasing demand for smart electronic systems to be integrated into everyday wireless products. The day is fast approaching when, enabled by 5G, the functionality of a smartphone will be replaced by a network of wearable, handheld, structurally integrated devices with embedded artificial intelligence to realise the Internet of Things (IoT). Large-area electronics will be behind the creation of this IoT as it drives the transformation of electronics into flexible devices. Our Industrial Partner, Pragmatic Semiconductor (PS) is a leading developer of large-area electronic logic and memory on flexible substrates and part of the strategic roadmap for this technology is the realisation of so-called CMOS which offers low-power and greater circuit functionality.
Application Deadline: 4 September 2023
34. Fully Funded PhD Position in Social Science and Health
Summary of PhD Program:
The PhD project, co-supervised by Prof. Julian Pine at University of Liverpool and Prof. Caroline Rowland at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, will focus on analysing the informativeness of the input that children receive in at least two different cultures/languages, and the role of this input in the acquisition of morphosyntax. The project will involve analysing naturalistic data from spontaneous interactions between caregivers and children, and testing children in the lab using different behavioural experimental methods.
Application Deadline: 4 September 2023
35. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will focus on designing conceptually new metal-mediated selective C-H functionalisations of arenes without directing groups. The project aims to achieve this goal by exploring the unique reactivity of transition metal complexes that coordinate arenes in a rare eta-4 mode. This coordination mode bends the aromatic ring and enables the arene to undergo a range of unconventional aromatic C-H (e. g. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 11564) and C-C bond activations (e. g. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019,141, 6048; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 3266), which have an excellent potential for the development of synthetically useful arene functionalisations. The project will involve synthetic and mechanistic studies, which will be supported by DFT computations in collaboration with our UoL colleagues.
Application Deadline: 15 September 2023
36. Fully Funded PhD Position in Engineering and Planning
Summary of PhD Program:
The project is interdisciplinary in two dimensions because it brings together experiments and simulations as well as solid and fluid mechanics. The integration of concepts and technology across these boundaries brings a level of adventure to the project which is countered by building on well-established research in solid mechanics on quantitative comparisons of measurements and predictions using orthogonal decomposition[i],[ii] leading to validation metrics based on relative error[iii] and assessment of measurement of uncertainty[iv]; and in fluid dynamics using experimental techniques to understand turbulent flow regimes[v],[vi],[vii]. IAEA considers the use of CFD and associated validation data in various nuclear design issues and has identified gaps in verification and validation procedures[viii]. The goal of the project will be to develop techniques that allow volumetric, time-varying, flow data from both measurements and predictions to be represented as feature vectors that can be compared using the validation metrics already established in solid mechanics for dynamic events.
Application Deadline: 30 June 2024
37. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Sciences
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will focus on the synthesis of redox mediator (RM) families and will initially target derivatives of TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl) and aromatic amines. Both these families provide a wide scope for design to optimise the efficacy of the RM functionality within Li-O2 cells in order to lower the voltage gap. Li-O2 cells will be fabricated using benchmarked carbon paper electrodes as the air-cathode and lithium metal. Fundamental electroanalytical chemistry through to advanced operando techniques (for example Raman microscopy and differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy) on full cells will be carried out to characterise the nature of the electrochemical reactions.
