Communications Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Professor Periklis Petropoulos, Dr Kyle Bottrill and Dr Hao Liu Optical fibre networks power all aspects of modern digital life, enabling AI applications and advanced wireless systems. This project explores the evolution of fibre infrastructure, using cutting-edge technologies to experimentally demonstrate emerging capabilities, paving the way for future high-performance networks that meet the demands of an increasingly connected world.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Dr Chao Xu This project will explore the combination of Stacked Intelligent Metasurfaces (SIM) and Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) in the context of Space-Air-Ground Integrated Network (SAGIN) applications. Stacked Intelligent Metasurfaces (SIM) are composed of multiple layers of programmable meta-atoms that can dynamically manipulate electromagnetic (EM) waves as they propagate through them.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 1 October 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
Aston University
About the Project =Applications are invited for a Postgraduate Research studentship, supported by College of Engineering and Physical Sciences to be undertaken within the Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AiPT) at Aston University. The successful applicant will join a world-leading experimental group working on in the field of optical signal processing and optical communications. Location This position will be based on the Aston Campus in Birmingham, UK.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 1 January 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University College London
About the Project Duration of study : Full time - 4 years fixed term Starting date : Available from October 2025 Application deadline : No closing date, the position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found. Primary Supervisor : Dr Alfonso Ruocco, Associate Professor in Optical Communications & Networks Motivation: Modern telecommunication networks are becoming increasingly complex, dynamic, and data-intensive.
- Location
- London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Future autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles will rely significantly on wireless connectivity to exchange information between other vehicles (V2V) and infrastructure (V2I). In urban areas in the developed world, this is likely to be straightforward due to the 6G wireless infrastructure that will be in place. This will be much more challenging elsewhere, for example, in rural and extreme-rural environments, and underserved areas.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Acoustic waves are widely accepted as the most suitable means of communicating underwater, since radio waves suffer from severe attenuation through water. Although they can be transmitted over long distances, they face significant challenges which make the development of communication networks difficult. Fundamental constraints include long and variable propagation delays if transmitting nodes are located at different distances from a receiver.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Today, wireless cellular networks rely heavily on the core network to deliver services. This introduces latency and other inefficiencies. Next generation networks will be much more edge centric, enabling ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) services to be delivered. This requires a fundamental rethink in how edge-centric cellular networks should be delivered.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Bradford
About the Project The broadcast nature of Wi-Fi has made the wireless access open to new forms of cyber attacks against the IEEE 802.11 standard protocol. Any wireless device within the coverage area of the transmitter is able to intercept the communication channel. This provides an opportunity for attackers to eavesdrop and analyse the network communication.
- Location
- Bradford, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Recent advances in manufacturing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) extended their durability and flight time. The researchers investigated the usage of UAVs in as Users, relays and small cell base stations. Problems like positioning and coverage have been studied. With more ambitions KPIs 6G needs to address more challenging applications and scenarios which include more challenging missions with lower available information for UAVs as UEs or base stations.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Dr Kyle Bottrill and Prof Periklis Petropoulos The space communication environment is like no other, subjecting data-carrying lasers to immense transmission distances, substantial Doppler shifts and, in some cases, a highly turbulent atmosphere. To help overcome these challenges, in this project you will develop advanced optical amplifiers for the exciting era of satellite lasercom on the horizon.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project A plethora of energy-efficient MAC protocols have been developed for wireless sensor networks based on the assumption of readily available (if somewhat limited) battery power. One of main research challenges in this area is the development of approaches suited to devices which harvest energy from the environment (e.g. through solar cells or equivalent mechanisms).
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Full-duplex has the potential to double the capacity of point-to-point communication links, but these benefits can only be fully realised in communication networks through development of a suitable medium access control layer. Cancellation of self-interference is a significant challenge and has been limited to antenna separation in underwater systems. Other approaches include circuit (analogue domain) and digital cancellation.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Digital Twin (DT) is a promising technology for the new immersive digital life with a variety of applications in areas such as Industry 4.0, aviation and healthcare. Pervasive realisation of DT requires higher data rates, reliability, resilience, and lower latency beyond what is currently offered by mobile networks. Thus, DT could become a major driver for 6G research and development.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Dr Kyle Bottrill, Prof Periklis Petropoulos and Dr Debparna Majumder Just as starlight falling on the surface of the Earth twinkles when affected by atmospheric turbulence, so too do optical communication signals transmitted from an orbiting satellite to a ground-station. In this project, you will design and fabricate photonic lantern-based turbulence mitigation systems to enable the next-generation of lasercom.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University of Birmingham
About the Project There is a growing trend in space applications toward the use of higher frequencies and broader bandwidths. For example, high throughput telecommunication satellite systems are transitioning from Ku/Ka to Q-band, with extensions reaching the W- and D-band.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project As the world anticipates the rollout of 6G networks, there's a growing need to explore innovative technologies that can empower these networks to meet the evolving demands of connectivity. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool with the potential to revolutionize various aspects of communication systems.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project LEO satellite mega constellations promise to revolutionise wireless connectivity in many areas of the world. However, they have a fundamental drawback in that conventional cellular user equipment cannot be used directly. This is in contrast with to be services offered from High Altitude Platforms (stratospheric aircraft, airships or balloons), which are capable of seamlessly integrating with terrestrial cellular networks.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Most research in underwater acoustic communication deals with the physical layer, with primitive and inflexible multiple access, despite the medium access control layer playing a crucial role in providing efficient communication. The underwater propagation environment is complex and characterised by highly variable spatial and temporal conditions due to extensive multi-path phenomena, space variability (e.g.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Birmingham
About the Project A self-funded PhD position in Microwave to Submillimeter-wave (Terahertz) Component Design is available in the Birmingham Emerging Device Technology (EDT) Research Lab, one of the leading interdisciplinary research groups within the School of Engineering’s Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Nowadays, researchers have started to conceptualize 6G with the vision of connecting everything, transmission over mmWave and THz, and integrating sensing, communication, computation, and control functionalities. To support such network evolution, the deployment of small and even tiny cells is further densified overlaying with the existing macro cellular networks.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Portsmouth
About the Project Applications are invited for a self-funded, 3 year full-time or 6 year part-time PhD project. The PhD will be based in the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and will be supervised by Dr Salem Aljareh and Prof. Bill Dawber (QinetiQ).
- Location
- Portsmouth, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
Edinburgh Napier University
About the Project Base stations employ antenna arrays to accommodate parallel data streams and increase information transmission rates of wireless communication networks. Particularly, the antenna array should occupy a limited volume at the base station premises while ensuring optimum performance to meet the requirements of future 6G wireless networks.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
Edinburgh Napier University
About the Project Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) are smart devices that can manipulate electromagnetic wave propagation to optimize performance of future 6G wireless networks. In RIS-assisted wireless communications, the performance such as the symbol error rate (SER), bit error rate (BER) and channel capacity (CC) depends on the underlying statistical attributes of the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as is the case for any wireless communication scenario.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Successful prediction of the performance of medium access control protocols is dependent on a realistic model of the underlying propagation channel. Such a model needs to capture the characteristics that are pertinent to the operation of the higher layer. The majority of MAC protocols proposed for underwater acoustic communication networks have so far been evaluated based upon propagation models which often capture only the most basic characteristics.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of Birmingham
About the Project With the pervasive use of wireless communication systems from land to space, static communication hardware no longer meets the diverse and dynamic deployment needs. Reconfigurability, agility and intelligence (sense-and-act) are increasingly expected for hardware components and systems. For instance, antennas in base stations and satellites may be expected to autonomously steer and re-shape their radiation beams according to the use demand.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)