Electrical Engineering
Heriot-Watt University
About the Project Project overview The future quantum internet will rely on new types of devices capable of storing, processing, and transmitting quantum information. One of the most promising technologies for achieving this vision is based on quantum defects in silicon carbide (SiC) , a semiconductor already widely used by industry in electric vehicles, power electronics, and telecommunications.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Real-Time Sub-THz Electromagnetic Sensing and Machine Learning for Dynamic Particulate Characterization
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 1 October 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Bath
About the Project The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath is inviting applications for the following fully-funded PhD project. This advert may close when a suitable candidate is identified. Early application is therefore encouraged.
- Location
- Bath, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 4 October 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
University of East Anglia
About the Project Primary supervisor - Dr Abdi Jalebi Salman Reliability is critical to the continued expansion of wind power, particularly for offshore installations, which already contribute around 10-15% of the UK’s electricity and are central to achieving net-zero targets and ensuring the resilience of national grid infrastructure.
- Location
- Norwich, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 November 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of East Anglia
About the Project Brushless Doubly Fed Machines (BDFMs) are emerging as a promising technology for offshore wind turbine generators due to their fractional-sized power converters, elimination of rotor brushes and slip rings, and simplified gearbox systems compared to high-speed generators.
- Location
- Norwich, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 November 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
The University of Manchester
About the Project This 4-year PhD project is fully funded and only home candidates are eligible. The successful candidate will receive an annual stipend of ~£25,518 and paid tuition fees. We recommend that you apply early as the advert may be removed before deadline.
- Location
- Manchester, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 9 December 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project High density power conversion is critical to a range of fields: from the electrification of vehicles, in small on-board chargers, DC-DC converters, and rapid DC chargers; in renewable energy, for solar and wind applications in the pursuit of net-zero; and in AI datacentres, where new 800V architectures require several stages of conversion down to 1V at power levels of 10s–100s of kW.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Dr Daniel Zabek This project focuses on exploring high-precision lithographic fabrication techniques for the development of multifunctional material structures at the nanoscale, with applications in wireless energy and information transfer, and in biomedicine.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
Heriot-Watt University
About the Project This PhD project is based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, in close collaboration with Toppan Security https://toppansecurity.com/ Security documents such as passports, identity cards and driving licences are critically important for proof of identity, nationality, and eligibility for international travel.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 17 January 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Exeter
About the Project Join us in the University of Exeter’s Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation – the heart of the UK Metamaterials community. You will be part of the £20 million EPSRC MetaHUB – the UK’s largest investment yet in the vibrant and strategically important field of Metamaterials research.
- Location
- Exeter, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 10 August 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Are you interested in power system research for the future power grid operation? We have a recent PhD project opportunity at The University of Sheffield, a World leading Russell Group university in the UK. You will develop an interesting PhD project on “AI-enabled digital technologies for the resilient operation of power systems”. Electrical power systems represent critical national infrastructure that interoperates with wider economic sectors.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Understanding the thermo-mechanical properties of metals (in hot/cold conditions) allows to achieve right-first-time production of these metals. We employ modelling/optimisation techniques to achieve this, in particular systems engineering
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
Edinburgh Napier University
About the Project The production of electric energy from wind technology has experience great advances in the later years. It is estimated that the potential of wind energy in the world is between 20.000 x 106 and 50.000 x 106 MWh/year, whereas the energy consumption is about 15.000 x 106 MWh/year.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
Kingston University
About the Project Project description (max 700 words) The research project focuses on motion planning for advanced robotic systems, with a main attention on two complementary strands: 1. Underactuated Mechanical Systems The study of underactuated systems represents a significant challenge in robotics, given the limitation of the number of actuators with respect to the degrees of freedom.
- Location
- London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical 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 supervised by Dr Mahsa Mehrad . The work on this project will: Develop next-generation AlGaN power electronic devices for high-efficiency electric vehicles (EV). Combine TCAD simulation, electrical measurements, and AI-based optimization to accelerate device design.
- Location
- Portsmouth, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Smart CCTV systems have been subject on an increased interest during the last decades. There are many reasons for this interest, such as the need of processing quickly, in an automatic way huge amounts of video data. Different intelligent video surveillance systems have been developed in a wide range of applications. In most cases these are multiple camera systems which videos can be with low resolution and low quality.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Sensing is essential for machines to interact intelligently and safely with the external environment, much like humans do[1, 2]. Human tactile sensing, for instance, allows us to handle a variety of objects, from delicate berries to heavy payloads – by adapting our touch and pressure accordingly. Embedding similar adaptive intelligence in robots [3, 4] is crucial for making them more responsive, versatile, and perceptive in diverse settings.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
Edinburgh Napier University
About the Project The Internet of Things (IoT) will connect billions of devices in the coming decade, enabling transformative applications across smart homes, healthcare, transport, and industrial automation. To support this vision, IoT devices require antennas that can deliver reliable, compact, and energy-efficient connectivity, even in challenging environments with multipath fading, device orientation changes, and interference.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project A brain decoding model aims at predicting what sensory stimulus is received (e.g. visual stimuli, different images), which mental state is experienced (i.e. asleep, awake, drowsy) or even what is the intention of the subject. The advancement in brain decoding models benefits the development of brain-machine interfaces, Neuroprosthetics and the understanding of neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Portsmouth
About the Project As EV numbers surge, this work shows how curb-side Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) can turn parked cars into a shared energy buffer, smoothing the sharp neighbourhood demand peak and easing pressure on local networks. By briefly discharging during the evening spike and recharging later, EVs can support grid stability without affecting drivers’ required range, guided by an optimised control algorithm that protects batteries and ensures fair compensation.
- Location
- Portsmouth, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
Edinburgh Napier University
About the Project Due to the ongoing high penetration of renewable energy sources into the grid, the energy landscape is going through a major transformation. Since many small-scale renewable energy sources are built near the load points, the requirement of decentralized microgrid control is inevitable. To facilitate that several studies are reported in the literature in recent years.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
Kingston University
About the Project The aim of this project is to develop and analyse novel steganographic blockchain protocols integrated with Secure Multi-party Computation (SMPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) privacy-preserving approaches that emphases on developing a robust framework for strengthened privacy and security in decentralised systems.
- Location
- London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
UNSW Sydney
About the Project Project Description The School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) is widely regarded as the one of the leading Photovoltaics research hubs in the world. Building on its world-leading research, the school attracts leading international researchers in the area of photovoltaic, consistently ranked amongst the leaders worldwide in the photovoltaic field through international peer review.
- Location
- Sydney, Australia, Australia
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
Australian National University
About the Project If you are passionate about the photovoltaics, we invite you to join us to shape the future of photovoltaics (PV) technologies together at the Australian National University (QS ranking 2026: No. 32 World-wide)! Contact: marco.ernst@anu.edu.au Website: https://www.marcoernst.com/ Our PhD students are publishing in top-tier journals such as Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, etc. Only top students will be considered!
- Location
- Canberra, Australia, Australia
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
Heriot-Watt University
About the Project Project Description: Quantum computers based on superconducting circuits are lose their quantum properties on short timescales resulting limiting the potential of their applications. The presence of microscopic and non-optimal circuit design are major sources of noise leading to low fidelity operations and limiting the number of operations that superconducting circuit quantum computers can perform.
- Location
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project The EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility has a funded PhD studentship available for research and development in AI-assisted discovery and development of semiconductor materials and devices. This exciting new field will lead to new types of quantum computers, new lasers increasing the speed of the internet, electronics for manufacturing, and new sensing technologies for monitoring climate change and improving healthcare technologies.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Dr Milos Nedeljkovic and Professor Callum Littlejohns This project’s aim is to explore the integration of graphene with Silicon Photonic circuits to create fast and sensitive photodetectors for the mid-infrared (mid-IR) region, a key wavelength range for detecting gases and molecules. You'll be responsible for designing, fabricating, and testing these new devices.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Aberdeen
About the Project These projects are open to students worldwide, but have no funding attached. Therefore, the successful applicant will be expected to fund tuition fees at the relevant level (home or international) and any applicable additional research costs. Please consider this before applying. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission has seen rapid development with the introduction of MMC (Modular Multilevel Converters) around 2010 [1].
- Location
- Aberdeen, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Switching activity and other technology-related parameters have a significant effect on circuit aging and can therefore affect the lifespan of devices.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Apply hyperspectral imaging techniques to the non-destructive assessment of nuclear canisters, in partnership with Fraunhofer.
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Develop automated in-process ultrasonic inspection that delivers high-integrity welds right, first time, every time, on BAE Systems submarine geometries and materials.
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Robotic welding and Wire+Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) of heavy steel components for the nuclear and maritime sector, hosted at the Maritime Supply Chain Innovation Centre.
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory Team: Prof Anna Peacock and Prof David Thomson This project seeks to develop a simple, low-cost laser materials processing procedure to fabricate high quality polysilicon photonic platforms that will ease issues associated with optoelectronic integration.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
University of Aberdeen
About the Project These projects are open to students worldwide, but have no funding attached. Therefore, the successful applicant will be expected to fund tuition fees at the relevant level (home or international) and any applicable additional research costs. Please consider this before applying.
- Location
- Aberdeen, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical 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 undertaken within the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and supervised by Dr. Mahsa Mehrad and Dr. Abdul Tawfik .
- Location
- Portsmouth, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Are you interested in studying in a World Top Russell Group university in the UK? We are seeking to appoint a PhD student in electrical power systems. You will be part of the prestigious UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship project on ‘Digitalisation of Electrical Power and Energy Systems Operation’.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Derby
About the Project Build a deeper understanding of the machined surface condition and how it affects the durable service life of nuclear components, to accelerate the qualification of new materials and processes.
- Location
- Derby, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Future intelligent systems will involve the deployment of large-scale sensor networks in which hundreds or thousands of microsensors, unexpensive, small and lightweight devices with integrated sensing, computing, communication and possibly actuation capabilities will work together to achieve a common mission-specific task. The nodes may be heterogeneous, with varying resources and mobility (some can be fixed, others mobile).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Birmingham
About the Project Space is crucial for a large number of services and operations, which affect our daily life. Communication, sensing, positioning is provided via satellites, which need to operate continuously from space. Their correct functioning must be guaranteed by keeping them safe from various threats, including debris and other space objects. Obtaining an accurate and up-to-date picture of Space is non-trivial, given the distance from the Earth.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Conventional electromagnetic (EM) NDE methods are well established for surface and near-surface inspection of metallic components, but their deployment remains largely manual, offline, and poorly integrated with modern manufacturing automation. As a result, current EM inspection practices struggle to address complex geometries, as-built variability, and dynamic environments typical of Industry 4.0.
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- See advert
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Robots heavily rely on sensors to interact with their environment. Among these sensors, multi-axis force sensors play a pivotal role in enabling robots to safely interact with objects. However, a notable drawback of these sensors is their relatively large size, rendering them unsuitable for various applications, such as miniature robotics and medical robotics.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde
About the Project 3-year PhD focusing on developing advanced ultrasonic in-process inspection methods for large format Wire + Directed Energy Deposition Additive Manufacturing, with the aim of improving defect detection, process understanding, and quality assurance for safety-critical components.
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Machines created by humans, even state-of-the-art space systems, are mostly monolithic centralized entities that are designed for a specific purpose and to embody specific components. This is in contrast to nearly all organisms in nature, which have evolved from self-contained elements (cells) and are composed of large groups of specialized cells that together perform complex operations and communicate by pre-arranged ensemble signalling.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of Southampton
About the Project Supervisory team: Prof Anna Peacock & Dr Meng Huang Closing date 31 October 2026 This project seeks to develop compact and power efficient nonlinear silicon photonics devices for use in wide ranging applications such as telecommunications, medicine and spectroscopy. The designs will focus on robust and low-loss component-to-component interconnection, to improve the sustainability and practicality of future photonic systems.
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Electrical Engineering
UNSW Sydney
About the Project Project Description The School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) is widely regarded as the one of the leading Photovoltaics research hubs in the world. Building on its world-leading research, the school attracts leading international researchers in the area of photovoltaic, consistently ranked amongst the leaders worldwide in the photovoltaic field through international peer review.
- Location
- Sydney, Australia, Australia
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)