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28 PhD Degree-Fully Funded at University of Exeter, England

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University of Exeter, England invites online Application for number of  Fully Funded PhD Degree at various Departments. We are providing a list of Fully Funded PhD Programs available at University of Exeter, England.

Eligible candidate may Apply as soon as possible.

 

(01) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Ecosystem assessment of the Tristan da Cunha Islands fisheries, Ecology and Conservation PhD (Funded) Ref: 5068

Tristan da Cunha is a remote group of islands in the South Atlantic, situated approximately 2,700km from South Africa and 3,700km from South America, and is part of the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Tristan da Cunha’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 754,000km2 and includes 687,000km2 marine protection zone (MPZ) where all fishing is prohibited. However, local sustainable fishing is permitted within inshore fishing zones (around the islands’ coastal waters) and in several seamount fishing zones, with the Tristan rock lobster (Jasus tristani) fishery playing an important role in the Territory’s economy.

This PhD project will support the delivery of key actions outlined in the Tristan da Cunha Marine Management Plan 2021 – 2026 aimed at improving capacity to sustainably manage the island’s fisheries resources. This will involve extended periods (up to 3 months per annum*) on Tristan da Cunha working in partnership with the Fisheries Department to: (1) develop a long-term monitoring framework to establish baselines on the status of key fisheries species; and (2) evaluate the spatial distribution, and economic/ecological impact of marine invasive species, including on the Tristan rock lobster. The student will work in conjunction with supervisors and project partners to shape the research questions and survey protocols to address these objectives, using tools such as baited remote underwater video systems, eDNA, fisheries data analysis, ecological studies and GIS.

Deadline : 12th April 2024

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(02) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The Osborne Harvey PhD Studentship in Marine Turtle Conservation: Unravelling the causes and consequences of life history variation in green turtles (Funded) Ref: 5084

The University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation is inviting applications for the Osborne Harvey PhD Studentship generously funded by alumnus of the University of Exeter Mr Neil Harvey and Ms Sally Osborne to commence on 23 September 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.  For eligible students the studentship will cover Home or International tuition fees plus an annual tax-free stipend of at least £19,237 for 3.5 years full-time, or pro rata for part-time study.  The student would be based in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation in the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy at the at the Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

Deadline :12th April 2024

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(03) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Management and Business for Black British researchers Ref: 4551

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We are offering a 1-year MRes plus the 3-year doctoral scholarship for Black British researchers. We are keen to receive applications from UK home fee status applicant who identifying as Black (Black or Black British African, Black or Black British Caribbean, Black or Black British other or Mixed Black or Black British)

Deadline : 20th June 2024

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(04) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Economics Ref: 5014

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We have a very generous funding scheme to support the most outstanding students who wish to complete a PhD in Economics. Successful applicants first receive funding to complete one of the University of Exeter Business School’s Research Masters (MRes), which provides a rigorous foundation in the skills that are required to conduct high quality research. Students who meet the PhD entry criteria will then receive funding for full-time study in one of the University of Exeter Business School’s PhD programmes.

Deadline : 24th April 2024

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(05) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Finance Ref: 5015

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We have a very generous funding scheme to support the most outstanding students who wish to complete a PhD in Finance. Successful applicants first receive funding to complete one of the University of Exeter Business School’s Research Masters (MRes), which provides a rigorous foundation in the skills that are required to conduct high quality research. Students who meet the PhD entry criteria will then receive funding for full-time study in one of the University of Exeter Business School’s PhD programmes.

Deadline : 24th April 2024

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(06) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Management and Business. Ref: 5016

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We have a very generous funding scheme to support the most outstanding students who wish to complete a PhD in Management and Business. Successful applicants first receive funding to complete one of the University of Exeter

Business School’s Research Masters (MRes), which provides a rigorous foundation in the skills that are required to conduct high quality research. Students who meet the PhD entry criteria will then receive funding for full-time study in one of the University of Exeter Business School’s PhD programmes.

Deadline : 24th April 2024

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(07) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Economics for Black British researchers Ref: 5017

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We have a very generous funding scheme to support the most outstanding students who wish to complete a PhD in Economics. Successful applicants first receive funding to complete one of the University of Exeter Business School’s Research Masters (MRes), which provides a rigorous foundation in the skills that are required to conduct high quality research. Students who meet the PhD entry criteria will then receive funding for full-time study in one of the University of Exeter Business School’s PhD programmes.

We are keen to receive applications from UK home fee status applicant who identifying as Black (Black or Black British African, Black or Black British Caribbean, Black or Black British other or Mixed Black or Black British).

Deadline :24th April 2024

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(08) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The University of Exeter Business School MRes + PhD Scholarships in Finance for Black British researchers Ref: 5018

The University of Exeter Business School trains world-class researchers who will shape how we understand and respond to the most important societal challenges.

We have a very generous funding scheme to support the most outstanding students who wish to complete a PhD in Economics or Finance. Successful applicants first receive funding to complete one of the University of Exeter Business School’s Research Masters (MRes), which provides a rigorous foundation in the skills that are required to conduct high quality research. Students who meet the PhD entry criteria will then receive funding for full-time study in one of the University of Exeter Business School’s PhD programmes.

We are keen to receive applications from UK home fee status applicant who identifying as Black (Black or Black British African, Black or Black British Caribbean, Black or Black British other or Mixed Black or Black British)

Deadline : 24th April 2024

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(09) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Dunhill Medical Trust Doctoral Training Programme for Ageing Research: Blood pressure and rehabilitation in ageing. PhD Studentships Ref: 5094

Rehabilitation in hospital typically includes a programme of exercise and education to help improve health and reduce disability. Having low blood pressure might stop people aged over 70 from taking part in rehabilitation or from getting the same benefit as those without low blood pressure. This might lead to longer hospital stays, higher risk of falling and need for more care on discharge from hospital.
This PhD will explore the impact of low blood pressure on rehabilitation in hospital settings.
The programme of work will focus on understanding whether blood pressure is associated with engagement and outcomes in hospital rehabilitation and whether wearable technology can be used to guide personalised blood pressure management and rehabilitation. This PhD would be well suited to a student with a background in biomedical science, physiology or physiotherapy.

Deadline :18th April 2024

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(10) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: A mixed methods process evaluation of the rehabilitation of older people living with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and frailty Ref: 5093

Frailty develops as we get older, and our bodies lose their resilience. People with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) have breathlessness and fatigue even though their heart pumps blood well around the body. Half of older people with HFpEF are frail and this can mean difficulty doing everyday things and they are more likely to go into hospital when unwell. Rehabilitation helps people to do what is important to them. To date, there has been no research looking at rehabilitation for people who have both HFpEF and frailty.


This PhD is part of a large randomised controlled trial, jointly led by Prof. Vicki Goodwin, that is looking to see if rehabilitation helps older people with HFpEF and frailty improve their ability to do everyday activities. The successful studentship will be part of the Dunhill Medical Trust Doctoral Training Programme for Ageing Research, providing additional opportunities for training and development. The project also aligns with existing research with the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula.

Deadline :18th April 2024

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(11) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Process Optimization for Additive Manufacturing – PhD (Funded) in Engineering, Manufacturing Ref: 5066

Additive Manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has emerged as a transformative technology with the potential to revolutionize various industries by enabling the fabrication of complex and customized structures. This Ph.D. project aims to develop a new additive manufacturing technique for specific new materials. New 3D Printing machine will be designed and developed. Advanced strategies will also be investigated for optimizing the additive manufacturing process across multiple dimensions, including material selection, process parameters, and print path algorithms. The research will start by systematically characterizing some new materials suitable for additive manufacturing, considering factors such as thermal stability, mechanical properties, and manufacturability. Simulations will be carried out for designing the suitable 3D printer structures. Subsequently, a comprehensive study of process parameters, including temperature, printing speed, print paths and heat distribution, will be conducted to identify optimal conditions for specific materials.

Deadline : 31st March 2024

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(12) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Creating advanced simulations of scenarios where older adults often fall: paving the way for a step change in falls prevention strategies. Ref: 5071

These PhD studentships will offer the opportunity to join a world-leading falls prevention research team on a prestigious European Advanced Grant project called STEPPING OUT, led by Prof. Sallie Lamb and working with experimental psychologists, biomechanists, physiotherapists and mathematicians within the National Institute of Health and Care Research Exeter Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR Exeter BRC). The successful studentships will also be part of the Dunhill Medical Trust Doctoral Training Programme for Ageing Research, providing additional opportunities for training and development. The projects will be focused on understanding and identifying high risk situations (behaviours and intentions) that can lead to falls, and the strategies (cognitive and motor responses) that older people can implement to correct or avoid those situations (and hence avoid falls).  We will use the findings to develop a new generation of fall prevention interventions. The study involves collaboration with the University of Heidelberg and Bologna. The base will be the University of Exeter.


We anticipate that the PhD content will lead to a career in academia, public sector or industries to improve movement through the application and development of Virtual Reality or sensor feedback technologies.
As such, we are looking to recruit up to two PhD candidates with a keen interest in human movement science. We are seeking candidates with a strong academic background and specialist skills and interest in:
1) Biomechanics, biomedical engineering, or similar. For example, those with experience in biomechanics (including analysis of kinematics, kinetics and muscle activity with strong numerical skills).
2) Experimental psychology, sensory processing/integration. For example, eye tracking techniques, virtual reality, manipulation of sensory information (ideally in context of balance/gait), measures of physiological arousal such as galvanic skin response.

Deadline :2nd April 2024

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(13) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: THz and mm-wave detection through silicon luminescence Ref: 4782

Unlike X-rays, radiation in the mm-wave THz bands is intrinsically safe, non-ionising and non-destructive. These frequencies also correspond to a “sweet spot” in the electromagnetic spectrum, where radiation can pass unimpeded through typical clothing materials, making them ideally suited for security imaging applications. However, THz and mm-wave radiation has also proven difficult to detect using standard approaches,, and this part of the electromagnetic spectrum is often referred to as the “terahertz gap”, where it is currently difficult to develop applications due to a lack of detector technology.

In this project we will develop a new technology for detecting THz and mm-waves, exploiting a very recent discovery by the Exeter THz group: by measuring heating induced changes to luminescence, one can make a very sensitive detector for these frequencies. This discovery, once fully developed, could have wide ranging applications, effectively turning any silicon based camera, such as a modern smartphone, into a sensitive THz detector.

Deadline : 30th April 2024

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(14) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Exploring the role of microRNAs in Dementia with Lewy Bodies. Ref: 5074

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is characterised by the accumulation of α-synuclein in neurons, forming Lewy bodies (LBs). Although the neuropathology underlying DLB is relatively well understood, the exact mechanisms underlying disease progression are less well known. In recent years large-scale genomic studies have identified genetic variants associated with disease however, these do not explain all of disease risk and it is also known that environmental factors contribute. The Dementia Genomics Team, based in the Complex Disease Epigenomics Group at the University of Exeter, undertake comprehensive studies investigating the epigenome in DLB and other dementias, as epigenetic mechanisms can mediate the interaction between genes and the environment.

The group have published a number of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) assessing DNA methylation, an epigenetic mark, in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and DLB brain and blood samples. Recently the team have expanded their research focus to investigate additional epigenetic mechanisms in dementia, undertaking a large study of microRNAs (miRNAs) in AD brain samples. The group have identified robust and reproducible alterations in ~40 miRNAs in AD brain, which alter gene expression in specific cell types and they have validated this in vitro in induced pluripotent stem cells.

Deadline : 7th April 2024

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(15) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: NIHR PhD Studentship: Inequalities, barriers and enablers to dementia diagnosis and support. Ref: 5092

This PhD studentship explores inequalities in dementia pathways, particularly initial access to diagnosis as an entry point to treatment and care. Underdiagnosis of dementias is an ongoing issue across the UK and these are patterned by social location, reflecting factors such as deprivation, ethnicity, urban and rural dwelling and living circumstances. Knowledge and understanding of inequalities in accessing diagnosis and support for those living with dementia requires further study to ensure more inclusive dementia services. Those living with a dementia diagnosis have themselves reflected on the challenges and barriers to obtaining diagnosis and support. Drawing on experiential knowledge of different pathways to diagnosis will be vital, and this doctoral project will collaborate with Innovations in Dementia to ensure experiential experts inform the study at all stages.

Deadline : 15th April 2024

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(16) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Al-Qasimi PhD Studentship in Arab and Islamic Studies, Middle East Politics, Ethno-Political Studies, Kurdish Studies or Palestine Studies Ref: 5051

The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies is seeking applications for two PhD studentships for excellent doctoral students whose area of specialisation fits and complements the research interests of our academics. We are looking for PhD proposals in humanities and social sciences with reference to the Middle East and the Islamic world. This can cover Anthropology, Archaeology, Gender Studies, History, Islamic Studies, International Relations, Literature, Political Science and other relevant fields.
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) at Exeter is the leading centre of excellence for research in Middle East, Arab and Islamic Studies in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1999 to consolidate existing strengths in the study of the Greater Middle East, the Muslim-majority world, and Islam.
The Institute has the strongest REF2021 results of any Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies department in the UK submitted to the Area Studies Panel, and they establish Exeter as the leader in the field in terms of research quality, impact and environment.

Deadline : 8th April 2024

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(17) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Global Commodities in Early Modern Wills’: A Leverhulme Trust funded PhD Studentship in the Department of Archaeology and History Ref: 5048

A PhD studentship analysing global commodities described in early modern wills is available as part of a project at Exeter University and the National Archives. The project uses Transkribus to provide a database of 25,000 transcribed wills for analysis.
A PhD studentship is available as part of Leverhulme Trust-funded research project ‘The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790’. This PhD focuses on the global commodities mentioned in wills, examining their nature, incidence and change over time. The project uses cutting-edge digital humanities techniques to automate the transcription of 25,000 wills from the National Archives. The successful candidate will be provided with a pre-populated database of these wills to analyse for their PhD research.

The period from 1540 to 1790 saw an influx of goods from outside Europe into English homes. These included Indian cotton (calico) and silks, Chinese porcelain, and exotic woods. In addition, objects associated with the consumption of global foodstuffs also appear, such as sugar bowls, coffee pots, and a range of items associated with tea drinking. The importing of goods can be studied via other types of document. However, wills are unique revealing not only ownership but attitudes towards these goods indicating how they were assimilated into English homes and families.

Deadline : 1st May 2024

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(18) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The role of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass and metabolic health, Department of Public Health and Sports Sciences Ref: 5045

Skeletal muscle tissue is of great importance for functional capacity and metabolic health, and maintaining muscle mass and metabolic health is crucial for healthy ageing in absence of metabolic disease. Key regulatory factors for muscle mass maintenance and metabolic health are the increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle glucose uptake in response to food ingestion. The postprandial increase in plasma amino acid concentrations, and specifically the BCAAs, is thought to be the key nutritional signal for modulating rates of MPS (Koopman 2009 Am J Clin Nutr), yet its reported effects on MPS are equivocal (Wolfe 2017 JISSN). Moreover, a growing body of evidence links BCAAs to skeletal muscle insulin resistance. The current lack of mechanistic insight in skeletal muscle BCAA metabolism hinders the development of effective interventional strategies to maintain muscle mass and health across the lifespan.

The focus of this PhD studentship will be to investigate the role of BCAAs in the regulation of muscle mass and metabolic health, using detailed in vivo physiological techniques involving stable isotope tracers and arteriovenous forearm balance. Emphasis will be placed on the mechanistic regulation of muscle amino acid and glucose metabolism in healthy volunteers, as well as translational aspects relevant to conditions in which muscle BCAA metabolism is perturbed (e.g. (metabolic) disease, physical inactivity, ageing).

This award provides annual funding to cover Home tuition fees and a tax-free stipend. For students who pay Home tuition fees the award will cover the tuition fees in full, plus at least £18,622 per year tax-free stipend. Students who pay international tuition fees are eligible to apply, but should note that the award will only provide payment for part of the international tuition fee (~£22,000 towards the £25,000 tuition fee) and no stipend.
International applicants need to be aware that you will have to cover the cost of your student visa, healthcare surcharge and other costs of moving to the UK to do a PhD.

Deadline : 31st March 2024

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(19) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: University of Exeter PhD Scholarships for Black British Researchers in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. Ref: 5030

This programme offering 4-year fully-funded PhD studentships to support Black British researchers has been established by philanthropic donations from University of Exeter alumni – you can read more about the donors here

Deadline : 1st April 2024

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(20) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: The Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology 1+3 MRes-PhD studentships Ref: 4901

The MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM) is a world-leading research centre at the University of Exeter within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS) that is helping to tackle the major global threats to human health caused by fungal diseases. The MRC CMM hosts an interdisciplinary group of internationally renowned scientists who study both the host immune response and the fungal pathogen, and is one of the largest such Centres in the world. The mission of the Centre is to facilitate pioneering cross-disciplinary research to substantially advance our understanding of life-threatening fungal infections. These advances will impact patient lives through improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment of fungal diseases in the future.

These four-year studentships start with a 1-year Master of Research (MRes) degree that provides a solid theoretical and practical foundation in fungal infectious disease. This includes one research project on host-pathogen interactions and a second on fungal pathogen biology. On successful completion of the MRes, students then progress to their 3-year PhD, choosing their cross-disciplinary PhD project from a broad selection of peer-reviewed proposals across the Centre’s 5 Research Themes.

Students will be supported with a research budget of £9k per annum. Students also receive additional research skills training, personal and career development opportunities, funding for travel to conferences and workshops, and support from mentors who provide independent career advice. Successful applicants will benefit from our vibrant, friendly and collegiate atmosphere, and the interdisciplinary nature of the world-leading science being performed in our Centre.

Deadline : 12th April 2024

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(21) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Multi Agent Planning and Learning for Collaborative Autonomy Ref: 5039

This research project aims to create new and innovative planning and control algorithms to enable complex data collection using “swarms” – groups of multiple resources that work together as a collaborative system. Both centralized and decentralized architectures will be examined. An underlying information network, representing a time-varying graph network, will guide the swarm’s performance. The mathematical properties (algebraic) will be used to ensure optimal mission performance and resilience of the swarm. Seebyte’s intelligent, mission-level autonomy system for goal-based planning and optimal mission execution of uncrewed maritime systems will form the foundation for the network. Following a thorough state-of-art literature review, specific swarm scenarios of interest will include (i) a team of robots working together to form a measurement network and (ii) different swarm teams undertaking disparate tasks. The robust and adaptable planning algorithms developed during this PhD will be based on state-of-the-art system-theoretic models and data-based approaches. Distributed perception behaviours, that are explainable and allowing human-in-loop, will also be investigated to address operations in dynamic and uncertain environments and the presence of kinematic, communication and risk constraints. The methods and algorithms developed in this project will have an open architecture and be modular, allowing them to be easily integrated across multiple domains of uncrewed systems. Finally, by implementing some of the identified scenarios using the resources available in the Cooperative Robotics and Autonomous Networks lab and leveraging Seebyte’s Autonomy and Simulators, the project will be able to validate its methods and algorithms in a real-time networked environment.

Deadline : 12th April 2024

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(22) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Integrating Spontaneous and Coherent Raman Scattering to Advance Analytical Capability Ref: 5032

The project aims to develop a novel technology that merges the complementary capabilities of Raman and coherent Raman scattering microscopy. Raman and coherent Raman scattering (CRS) are both advanced optical analytical techniques used for a wide range of materials and healthcare technologies research. Raman provides detailed molecular information based on the spectral signature of photons inelastically scattered by molecular vibrations. In contrast, CRS microscopy uses ultrafast laser pulses to drive nonlinear light-matter interactions to enhance the signal from a specific vibrational frequency to provide real-time label-free image contrast based on the intensity of a single Raman band.

 

By harnessing the complementary features of these methods, we intend to create a single, versatile platform that gives comprehensive chemical and structural information from microscopic regions of interest guided by high-resolution, label-free, images of the sample. The instrument’s versatility will make it an invaluable tool for a wide array of applications, including pharmaceutical development, environmental monitoring, and materials characterization. It will enable scientists to gain deeper insights into complex materials and biomedical processes, facilitating for example the development of novel therapeutics.

Deadline : 31st May 2024

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(23) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title:  Psychological understandings of bipolar disorder. Masters by Research, Psychology (Funded) Ref: 5091

This studentship will be on the topic of psychological understandings of bipolar disorder. The successful applicant will generate a viable research proposal with the project supervisor within this broad field of research. We are particularly keen to offer supervision on projects exploring emotion regulation and mood instability in relation to bipolar disorder.


This award provides annual funding to cover Home tuition fees and a tax-free stipend.  For students who pay Home tuition fees the award will cover the tuition fees in full, plus at least £19,237 per year tax-free stipend.  Students who pay international tuition fees are eligible to apply, but should note that the award will only provide payment for part of the international tuition fee (~£24k) and no stipend. 


The conditions for eligibility of home fees status are complex and you will need to seek advice if you have moved to or from the UK (or Republic of Ireland) within the past 3 years or have applied for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Deadline :10th May 2024

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(24) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Multimodal biophotonic technologies: Powering a revolution in diabetes research Ref: 5086

Diabetes is a debilitating condition that impacts the lives of millions of people around the world. Despite a global research effort, the negative effects of consistently elevated blood sugars on the cells and tissues of our bodies are poorly understood. The absence of this understanding greatly limits our ability to develop more effective treatments for potentially lethal side effects of diabetes e.g. heart attacks caused by the stiffening of the coronary arteries. The low sensitivity and resolution of clinical technologies used for the study of diabetes is a primary reason why generations of researchers have struggled to unpick how it affects our bodies. Innovative new technologies are urgently required that can analyse cells and tissues with high accuracy and resolution and simultaneously probe changes in structure (how are they put together), chemistry (what are they made of) and biomechanics (how stiff are they).


This project will involve driving the development of a hybrid, biophotonics based instrument that uses the combination of three cutting-edge research instruments to provide an unprecedented insight into the damaging effects of diabetes. Biophotonics is a highly dynamic field in which light-based tools and technologies are developed and applied to address the most challenging questions in biology and medicine. In this project, you will have the unique opportunity to combine the collective strengths of three leading biophotonic technologies; multiphoton microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Brillouin scattering to discover powerful new insights into diabetes driven changes in biological systems such as the extracellular matrix of blood vessels and the cell membranes of red blood cells.

Deadline : 5th April 2024

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(25) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Nanoscale computer modelling of blush in protective coatings, Natural Sciences – PhD (Funded) Ref: 5069

Aluminium drinks cans are ubiquitous in everyday life to store and transport beverages and other liquids. These cans have an internal protective coating that acts to protect both the internal contents and the can itself. During coating development, simulation tests have been created to increase the speed of iteration and reduce the time required to screen prototypes. One of the failure mechanisms observed during these is an undesirable whitening (or blush) of the polymer film. The work will develop a nanoscale model of a simple coating using state-of-the-art computational approaches including molecular dynamics and free energy calculations to unravel the fundamental science behind the causes of blush. This project crosses multiple traditional disciplines including chemistry, physics, materials science, and computer science and will provide the successful candidate with the opportunity to broaden their scientific knowledge and communication skills across a range of scientific disciplines. This research makes use of the University of Exeter’s high performance computing (HPC) facility, ISCA, and access to regional, national, and international HPC resources as required.  

This project is co-funded by AkzoNobel AkzoNobel | AkzoNobel, one of the world’s largest protective coating manufacturers. The successful candidate will work within a multi-disciplinary group and have the opportunity to work closely with the industrial sponsor, forging a close working relationship and industrial contacts.
We are seeking a motivated and resourceful student with an interest in Computational Chemistry/Physics and Materials. A familiarity with programming languages (e.g. python) and HPC environments is desirable. We welcome enquiries from all interested candidates. For informal enquiries please contact Dr Charlie Wand (c.wand[at]exeter.ac.uk).

This award provides annual funding to cover Home tuition fees and a tax-free stipend.  For students who pay Home tuition fees the award will cover the tuition fees in full, plus a tax-free stipend in line with the UKRI minimum.  Students who pay international tuition fees are eligible to apply, but should note that the award will only provide payment for part of the international tuition fee and no stipend. 

Deadline : 12th April 2024

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(26) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Time Varying Metasurfaces: using rapidly varying components for arbitrary wave transformations (enhanced stipend) Ref: 5054

Metamaterials and metasurfaces are specially structured matter, structured on a small enough scale to change its macroscopic properties. Periodically patterning a surface, for instance with metal and dielectric yields a ‘metasurface’ that can behave as neither of its constituents: e.g. as an effective “artificial” magnetic conductor [1]. As is now well established, slowly grading this structuring can then give additional functionality, the material acting as e.g. a flat lens [2], or a component of an optical computer [3]. Grading a metamaterial in all three dimensions then allows almost arbitrary transformations of the electromagnetic field; from invisibility [3] to super-scattering [4].

Although there is a large space of possible metamaterial devices to explore, there remain immovable constraints that apply to all of them. For example, no metasurface as described above can change the frequency of an incident wave. Furthermore the maximum bandwidth of any passive absorber is fixed by its thickness and static permeability [5]. It would be a significant advance if we could avoid these constraints.

One way to overcome these constraints is to impose structuring in not only space, but also time. This project will investigate the potential of time varying metasurfaces for controlling antenna radiation. For this we must consider building metamaterials out of elements with properties that can be switched very rapidly, realising effective material parameters that vary in time as well as space. Slow switching (slower than the wave period) amounts to re-configurability, whereas fast switching (on the order of the wave period) gives new functionality where the frequency spectrum of the field can be modified.

Deadline : 31st March 2024

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(27) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Reconfigurable tensorial impedance surfaces for modulating RF scattering and antenna function (enhanced stipend) Ref: 5053

It is the focus of this project to design, model, fabricate and characterise active 2D metasurfaces that demonstrate a reconfigurable tensorial surface impedance [1-3] to enable temporal modulation of the amplitude, frequency, phase, directionality, or polarisation state of RF/mm-wave radiation. The findings will support future civil applications such as the internet of things, high frequency imaging systems for screening, scanners and tomography systems for medical diagnostics, and next-generation communication systems.

Reconfigurable metasurfaces [4] have garnered significant interest in the last 5 years as they promise a route to multifunctionality. However, developing reconfigurable tensorial impedance metasurfaces will enable an added degree of control over the scattering of radiation, or in the emission from an antenna adjacent to the surface. For example, one could design a curved surface that scatters radiation as if it were flat (or vice versa) and switch this behaviour off or on – this is something that a scalar impedance metasurface could never do. The extent to which the tensorial impedance of a surface can be actively reconfigured, and the extent to which this can alter the scattering of radiation from such a surface, or of the radiation emitted from an antenna adjacent to such a surface, will form the basis of this project.

At low frequencies (<10 GHz), reconfigurable metasurfaces typically consist of metallic structures with embedded diodes/varactors allowing electrical control of the local impedance, but these methods no longer work at higher frequencies such as those targeted for next-generation communications systems.  However, at higher frequencies photoconductive control of the local conductivity of semiconductors has been suggested as a route to achieve similar functionality, with modulation rates of up to 10s of kHz demonstrated at Exeter [5]. The benefits and limitations of both approaches will be explored.

Deadline : 31st March 2024

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(28) PhD Degree – Fully Funded

PhD position summary/title: Magnetoelectric material based miniaturized and multifunctional antennas (enhanced stipend) Ref: 5052

The main hurdle in advancing antenna technology is the issue of miniaturization. Traditional antenna’s function based on electromagnetic (EM) wave resonance and their size is typically larger than one tenth of the EM wavelength, λo. This restricts the potential for antenna size reduction, complicating the achievement of compact antennas and antenna arrays. This issue is especially prominent at very-high frequency (VHF, 30–300 MHz) and ultra-high frequency (UHF, 0.3–3 GHz) ranges with larger λo, severely limiting the possibilities for wireless communication systems.

In contrast, recent advancements have shown that a strong strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in magnetic/piezoelectric heterostructures can effectively enable energy transfer between magnetic and electric fields [Lage, E. et al. Exchange biasing of magnetoelectric composites. Nat. Mater. 11, 523–529 (2012); Bibes, M. Towards a magnetoelectric memory. Nature 7, 425–426 (2008)]. If this strong ME coupling can be dynamically achieved at radio frequencies (RF) within ME heterostructures, it may enable voltage-induced RF magnetic currents capable of radiating EM waves. Additionally, it could potentially lead to the creation of acoustically actuated ME antennas with a novel mechanism for transmitting and receiving EM waves. This concept has been recently proposed in theory [Domann, J. P. & Carman, G. P. Strain powered antennas. J. Appl. Phys. 121, 044905 (2017)].

The ME antenna operates at their acoustic resonance rather than EM resonance. Considering that the acoustic wavelength is around five orders of magnitude shorter than the EM wavelength at the same frequency, these ME antennas are likely to be of sizes like the acoustic wavelength. As such, they can be significantly smaller than current compact antennas, offering a considerable reduction in size. Creating multifunctional ME antennas involves utilizing multiferroic materials that exhibit the primary ferroic properties of ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, and ferroelasticity. Composed of two essential thin-film components—piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials, the ME antenna operates through a sequence of interactions between these components.

Deadline :31st March 2024

View details & Apply

 

About The University of Exeter, England  –Official Website

The University of Exeter is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke’s College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. These institutions later formed the University of Exeter after receiving its royal charter in 1955. In post-nominals, the University of Exeter is abbreviated as Exon. (from the Latin Exoniensis), and is the suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the university.

The university has four campuses: Streatham and St Luke’s (both of which are in Exeter); and Truro and Penryn (both of which are in Cornwall). The university is primarily located in the city of Exeter, Devon, where it is the principal higher education institution. Streatham is the largest campus containing many of the university’s administrative buildings. The Penryn campus is maintained in conjunction with Falmouth University under the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) initiative. The Exeter Streatham Campus Library holds more than 1.2 million physical library resources, including historical journals and special collections.

 

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