Current research degree projects

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Explore our current postgraduate research degree and PhD opportunities.

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310 research degree projects

Engineering | Physics and astronomy

Momentum-state quantum computer

The University of Southampton is expanding its PhD research in the area of Quantum Technology Engineering. In addition to the research project outlined below you will receive substantial training in scientific, technical, and commercial skills.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Physics and astronomy

Quantum well membrane lasers for generation of vortex beams

The University of Southampton is expanding its PhD research in the area of Quantum Technology Engineering. In addition to the research project outlined below you will receive substantial training in scientific, technical, and commercial skills.Membrane quantum well lasers contact-bonded onto the surface of sapphire or silicon carbide have been demonstrated to create perfect Gaussian beams. We have the capability to release these membranes and position them in the integrated photonics cleanroom on top of substrates and we have demonstrated external cavity lasing with them. 

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering

Smart synthesis of colloidal quantum dots for quantum devices

The University of Southampton is expanding its PhD research in the area of Quantum Technology Engineering. In addition to the research project outlined below you will receive substantial training in scientific, technical, and commercial skills.Colloidal quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that sit in between molecular and bulk materials. Their small size (typically <10 nm in diameter) are comparable to the material’s Bohr radius, leading to quantum confinement of excitons and size- and composition-tunable optoelectronic properties. Compared to other quantum-confined nanostructures (e.g. epitaxial quantum dots, wires or wells) they have the advantage of being solution-processable, which makes them well suited for mass production of devices.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering

Quantum topology optimisation for aerospace design

The University of Southampton is expanding its PhD research in the area of Quantum Technology Engineering. In addition to the research project outlined below you will receive substantial training in scientific, technical, and commercial skills.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering | Physics and astronomy

Quantum well membrane laser integrated with metasurface

The University of Southampton is expanding its PhD research in the area of Quantum Technology Engineering. In addition to the research project outlined below you will receive substantial training in scientific, technical, and commercial skills.Membrane quantum well waveguide lasers are a more flexible route to hybrid silicon/III V laser structures in which a III V quantum well membrane laser is contact-bonded onto the surface of silica on silicon substrates (see Optics Express 30, 32174 (2022)). We have the capability to release these membranes and position them in the integrated photonics cleanroom. The membrane quantum well lasers can provide lasing in-plane as a single laser or an array of coherent lasers without the use of an external cavity. They show the potential to be integrated with silicon photonics as the light source. Here we want to combine these laser sources with meta-surfaces. Meta-surfaces, harnessing subwavelength 2D nanostructures, commonly referred to as meta-atoms, arranged in either a periodic or aperiodic fashion, have garnered growing interest for their extraordinary ability to control light in both classical and quantum light (see Nature Photonics 15, 327 (2021)).

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering

Mechanics of Helical Pile Installation in Chalk

Around 70% of Europe’s offshore wind turbines are installed in the North Sea. Chalk, a calcareous weak rock, is widely present in this area. Driven piles are currently the preferred foundation system for these structures, but pile design entails a high level of uncertainty. Our recent collaborative work on helical (‘screw’) piles has indicated their potential suitability for these highly challenging offshore applications. The relative ease of installation of screw piles at depth may offer a much more convenient method for anchoring wind turbine foundation systems. This can potentially reduce the cost of offshore renewables, accelerate the rate of infrastructure deployment, and significantly contribute towards meeting energy decarbonisation targets.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering | Physics and astronomy

PhD Studentship in Nanophotonics and Metamaterials: Development of Switchable and Programmable Metasurfaces using Novel Materials

Metaoptics, the application of metasurface concepts in optical systems, is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to revolutionise a wide range of applications, such as sensing, imaging, and telecommunications. The design and fabrication of high precision, large-area metaoptic components requires achieving high precision and accuracy over a large diameter. Next to making metamaterial devices that are very good at one particular function, there is a strong interest to develop multifunctional metasurfaces with properties that can be controlled or programmed after the initial fabrication. By combining metaoptics with novel materials that can change their state depending on electrical or optical control signals, new types of applications can be enabled.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering

Climate resilient submerged infrastructure

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position on the investigation of novel design methods to improve the resilience of submerged infrastructure (i.e. bridge piers, wind turbines) subject to hydrodynamic action (e.g. currents and waves).Many critical submerged infrastructures are exposed to increased risk due to climate-induced changes in environment conditions, such as increased river current or wave action. In order to design the next generation of submerged infrastructure that are sustainable and both cost and carbon efficient, new design methods are required. 

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering | Chemistry

An interdisciplinary approach to developing of macrocyclic inhibitors of the MAPK pathway

We are seekign an outstanding chemistry student with an interest in chemical biology to work on a project to develop cyclic peptide inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction that is heavily implicated in the development and growth of tumours.Mutant RAS proteins drive numerous cancers, with their inhibtion shown to have therapeutic potential in several tumour types. The majority of RAS inhibitors currently in development target the G12C KRAS mutant through a covalent inhibition mechanism, which limits their use to a small subset of cancers. The Tavassoli lab has used an in-house genetically-encoded library of cyclic peptides to identify several cyclic peptides that inhibit the interaction of RAS proteins with their affectors, and therefore inhibit downstream signalling in cancer cells.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024
Engineering | Chemistry

Inelastic Neutron Scattering of Endofullerenes

Endofullerenes are a new class of materials in which small molecules or atoms are completely enclosed in carbon cages. The encapsulated atoms or molecules behave like “particles in a box” which have their own set of quantum energy levels. In this project, you will be trained in the theory and practice of inelastic neutron scattering (INS), in order to study the quantum properties of these remarkable new materials. 

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 31 August 2024