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PhD opportunities: Durham University

Compare 25 doctoral research opportunities connected with Durham University, including project summaries, funding and application deadlines.

Analytical Chemistry

Mapping the carbon dioxide interactome

Durham University

About the Project This project will develop the first broadly applicable technology to identify carbon dioxide (CO₂)-binding sites on proteins, revealing a previously hidden layer of biological regulation with applications in biomedicine and sustainable biotechnology. CO₂ is typically viewed as a metabolic waste product and major contributor to climate change.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
23 October 2026
Funding
Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

Applied Mathematics

AI and Computer Vision for Wild Bee Monitoring and Sustainable Agriculture

Durham University

About the Project Pollinating insects are essential to agriculture and biodiversity, yet monitoring wild bees in natural environments remains extremely difficult. Bees are small, fast-moving and visually diverse, and must be detected against complex vegetation under changing illumination, weather and seasonal conditions.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

AI and Robotics for Adaptive and Resilient Agriculture

Durham University

About the Project Agriculture is becoming an increasingly challenging environment for autonomous systems. Robots must operate around changing crops, weather, terrain and farm practices, while making reliable decisions from imperfect visual and sensor information. At the same time, experienced farmers possess substantial knowledge about how and when agricultural tasks should be performed, much of which is difficult to encode explicitly.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

AI-Driven Insect Cognition: Computational Models for Behavior, Brain Imaging and Bio-Inspired Robotics

Durham University

About the Project Understanding how the insect brain functions and generates behaviors is crucial for fields such as ecology, biodiversity conservation, agriculture, pest control, disease prevention and robotics . Advances in computer vision, AI and genetic tools now enable detailed analysis of molecular, cellular and whole-organism behavioral processes , which allow researchers to uncover fundamental biological mechanisms and develop applied solutions .

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

AI-based interventions for mental health conditions

Durham University

About the Project PhD in Computer Science at Durham University, UK AI-based interventions for mental health conditions This project will aim to explore, design, develop and evaluate AI-based interventions for mental health conditions. Mental health conditions are conditions, disorders or illnesses where significant changes in emotions, thinking and behaviour of an individual are evident [ APA ], [ WHO ].

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

Addressing Racial Bias in Face Recognition Based on Deep Learning Enabled Computer Vision

Durham University

About the Project Facial recognition is one of the most academically studied and industrially developed areas within computer vision where we readily find a ssociated applications deployed globally. This widespread adoption has uncovered significant performance variation across subjects of different racial profiles leading to focused research attention on racial bias within face recognition spanning both current causation and future potential solutions.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

Agentic AI for Autonomous Things: Vision-Language-Action Models, Embodied Intelligence and Real-World Decision-Making

Durham University

About the Project Artificial intelligence is moving beyond passive prediction towards systems that can reason, plan, interact and act. This shift is driving rapid progress in agentic AI - i.e., AI systems that can interpret goals, make decisions, use tools, coordinate with humans and operate in changing real-world environments.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Applied Mathematics

Computer Vision with Deep-Learning Based Artificial Intelligence for High-Dimensional Data

Durham University

About the Project High-dimentional data is central to many computer vision research. Such data includes videos, 3D motions and trajectories, LiDAR, RADAR, medical images, meshes, time series, etc. They inform real-world applications such as healthcare, suivellience and monitoring. This project focuses on deep learning based computer vision methods to understand high-dimensional data, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence that makes responsible decisions.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Applied Mathematics

Deep Learning Based Machine Vision/Robotics for Space-Informed Applications

Durham University

About the Project This project aims at deep learning based machine vision and/or robotics methods to facilitate space-related applications. There is a wide range of projects within this scope. Some examples include: Satellite image analysis for earth observation and climate change monitoring. Computer vision on telescopic imagery for satellite detection, tracking and characterisation. Robotics-informed active machine vision system.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Biochemistry

Development of chemical genetic tools to characterise the response to perturbation of protein folding homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum

Durham University

About the Project A self-funded PhD studentship to develop chemical genetic tools to study signal transduction in the unfolded protein response in human cells is available in the group of Dr. Martin Schröder in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom. Accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) causes ER stress and activates a signalling network called the unfolded protein response (UPR) [1, 2].

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Civil Engineering

Digital Twin and AI-Driven Modelling of Seabed Mobility for Offshore Infrastructure

Durham University

About the Project This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Durham University.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Applied Mathematics

Distributed Algorithms

Durham University

About the Project A funded PhD studentship is available under the supervision of Peter Davies-Peck , part of the Network Engineering Science and Theory in Durham (NESTiD) group in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University, UK. We are seeking a bright and motivated student interested in working on any aspects of distributed and parallel algorithms.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

Artificial Intelligence

Efficient Neuromorphic Vision and Perception for Long-Term Robotic Autonomy

Durham University

About the Project Autonomous robots are increasingly deployed in industries such as precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, and logistics. However, their ability to operate efficiently in real-world environments is constrained by the high computational demands and energy consumption of traditional AI-based vision systems.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

Efficient and Robust Deep Learning based Perception for Autonomous Driving and Robotics

Durham University

About the Project Today, autonomous vehicle and robotics research is a continuously evolving field and spanning all areas of AI autonomy, including perception, behaviour prediction, motion planning, explainability and safety critical AI systems.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Bioinformatics

Identifying climate-proof mechanisms of plant acclimation to freezing temperatures

Durham University

About the Project Climate change brings many challenges for the planet’s plants and one of these is the vulnerability caused by erratic temperatures. Many plants, including major crops, prepare for winter through a process called cold acclimation . In this process, plants respond to the cooler temperatures that prevail in the autumn, by making changes that equip them with resilience against subsequent freezing conditions in winter.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Civil Engineering

Large Deformation Numerical Modelling of Drag Embedment Anchors for Floating Offshore Wind

Durham University

About the Project This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Durham University. The deployment of offshore wind energy requires operations that interact with the seabed.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Aerospace Engineering

Long-term durability of polymeric composites in offshore wind energy applications: An integrated experimental and numerical study

Durham University

About the Project This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Durham University.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Artificial Intelligence

Medical Image Analysis with Large Language Model and Deep Learning

Durham University

About the Project About the Project This PhD project focuses on how large language models can enhance deep learning for medical image analysis. The research will develop methods that combine imaging data with clinical text, radiology reports, and diagnostic guidelines to improve disease detection, segmentation, and prognosis. A central aim is to build trustworthy multimodal models that provide accurate predictions together with interpretable clinical explanations.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Applied Mathematics

Modelling of subsea cable flow induced vibration effects in offshore wind farms

Durham University

About the Project This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience, a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Durham University.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Applied Mathematics

Multimodal Deep Learning based AI for UAV (Drones) Detection and Tracking

Durham University

About the Project This PhD aims at advanced deep-learning based Artificial Intelligence designs and development for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones or swarms) detection and tracking using multimodal sensing, spatiotemporal analysis, and vision–language models. Unlike conventional object detection research, drone detection systems are often deployed in critical contexts such as airport security, where reliability is paramount.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Civil Engineering

Numerical Modelling of Floating Offshore Wind Moorings in Variable Seabed Conditions

Durham University

About the Project This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Durham University.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Computer Architectures

Physical Attacks on Confidential Computing and Trusted Execution

Durham University

About the Project The project: The research group of Prof David Oswald at Durham University, UK, is looking for PhD student(s) to work on physical attacks on confidential computing and trusted execution environments (TEEs), including those extending to GPUs. Technologies such as Intel SGX and TDX, AMD SEV-SNP, and Arm CCA are designed to protect sensitive workloads even from a compromised operating system, hypervisor, or cloud provider.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Archaeology

Spatial AI: Understanding the world, art and humanities through Computer Vision, Image Processing & Deep Learning

Durham University

About the Project Understanding the world around us is a fundamental challenge for social and industrial impact. This PhD project fits within the scope of spatial reasoning, solving AI problems from theoretical to real-world applications from a vision/image perspective. Research students are encouraged to work on novel problems/domains that challenge the trend of large annotated datasets.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Artificial Intelligence

Unconstrained Object Understanding using Deep Learning for Computer Vision in X-ray Security Screening

Durham University

About the Project X-ray security screening is widely used to maintain aviation/transport security, and its significance poses a particular interest in future automated screening systems that can be deployed for transportation and border security screening alike. Within this context deep learning based computer vision techniques have already been used to enable automated prohibited and threat item detection spanning X-ray scanned baggage, freight and postal items.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Applied Mathematics

What differs? - Deep Learning for Anomaly and Out of Distribution Detection in Computer Vision (Visual AI) Applications

Durham University

About the Project Anomaly detection , and the synonymous topics of novelty and out-of-distribution detection, addresses the computer vision ("visual AI") challenge of automatically identifying outliers within the scene or image based on their appearance, motion or behaviour characteristics. Essentially asking - "what differs and why?" - but doing this algorithmically in the age of Large Language Models (LLM) and Vision Language Models (VLM) tools.

Location
Durham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Deadline
Year-round applications
Funding
Self-Funded PhD Students Only