Machine Learning
University of Sheffield
About the Project The aim of this PhD project is to develop quantum computing and AI methods for mRNA structure prediction, in collaboration with a large pharmaceutical company contributing 50% of the award. The project will study how mRNA molecules fold into different structures and develop new computational methods to identify relevant and stable candidates more efficiently.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 28 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Optical Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project This project is about solid-state quantum technologies, and aims to demonstrate key components of photonic quantum processing circuits. The platform that will be used is a III-V semiconductor quantum dot embedded within a photonic waveguide. In the ideal scenario, this system behaves in the one-dimensional atom limit, in which the quantum dot can be used to impart a large phase shift to the photon.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Mitochondria are not only the powerhouses of the cell but also key regulators of innate immunity, influencing processes such as inflammasome activation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and metabolic reprogramming. NME4, also known as nucleoside diphosphate kinase D (NDPK-D) or NM23- H4, is a mitochondrial enzyme that plays a pivotal role in linking mitochondrial homeostasis to innate immune signalling.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 1 October 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from Planck have established ΛCDM as the standard cosmological model. However, significant tensions have emerged—most notably the Hubble constant discrepancy between early- and late-universe determinations, now exceeding 7σ.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 October 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Manufacturing Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Powdered polymer Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) processes such as Selective Laser Sintering and High Speed Sintering have shown increasing potential for a wide range of applications, due in large part to their complex geometric capabilities. However, despite the attention these processes have been receiving, their development has suffered from the limited range of suitable materials which can be processed in them.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 17 November 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomechanics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Bone cancer primarily occurs in children, adolescents and adults over the age of 65 years. Current treatment of choice involves chemotherapy, tumour removal and replacement with an implant (endoprosthesis). With advancement in cancer treatment, patients are living longer and there is a need for implants with improved durability and longevity.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 November 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)
Bioinformatics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Background Typhoid toxin is a DNase-like virulence factor of the human pathogen Salmonella Javiana, which intoxicates cells throughout the microenvironment. We discovered that the toxin induces DNA damage responses in cultured cells that activates a senescence tumour suppressor mechanism ( https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12064-1 ).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 December 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biophysics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Scientific Rationale Biological life relies on a continuous flux of energy generated by complex protein machinery embedded within cell membranes. While electrical charge transport powers synthetic devices, bioenergetic charge transport operates via fundamental physical principles that remain incompletely understood.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 January 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Obesity is one of society’s greatest challenges with 2/3rds of UK adults living with overweight or obesity. Weight stigma (anti-fat attitudes, weight-based prejudice and discrimination) is experienced by 54% of adults. Our research and others' shows that experiencing weight stigma deters individuals from engaging in healthy behaviours targeted in obesity interventions (e.g.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 20 April 2027
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neuroscience
University of Sheffield
About the Project Despite the global burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), disease-modifying treatments remain elusive. Traditional research has focused on amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein, yet the limited clinical success of Aβ- or tau-targeting therapies suggests a need for a more holistic approach.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 14 July 2027
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of Sheffield
About the Project Colorectal cancer is the second most deadly cancer (0.94 million deaths, 9.4% of all cancer deaths) in 2020 worldwide. Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is a procedure to remove large colorectal cancer tumors by inserting flexible tools into the colon through the anus, without making incisions on the body.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Clinical Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The distinction between pathological beliefs (the delusions of patients with psychosis) and nonpathological beliefs has been debated for more than a century without resolution, and yet seems ever more important in a world in which many ‘crazy’ beliefs (conspiracy theories, political extremism) are proliferating via social media.
- Location
- Sheffield, 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 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
Aerospace Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This project aims to develop a non-invasive brain-machine interface (BMI) that allows a user to direct a semi-autonomous robot to perform different tasks through brain signals. For this purpose, we aim to employ a two-way co-adaptation paradigm where both the user and robot adapt to each other such that the likelihood of committing the same error in future is reduced.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project A major challenge in modern healthcare is patient non-adherence to prescribed medication, often driven by the experience of distressing side effects. Emerging evidence demonstrates that many of these side effects are not caused by the pharmacological action of the drug itself, but rather by negative expectations, a phenomenon known as the nocebo effect.
- 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
Biomedical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project A brain-computer interface (BCI) provides a direct communication pathway between a human brain and an external device. Using appropriate sensors and data processing algorithms, a BCI maps patterns of brain activity associated with a volitional thought onto signals suitable for communication and control.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project The way the smart grid is envisioned in the near future is as a constantly changing system where intermittent renewable sources and non stationary loads impose a turbulent system. If we intend to understand what is the statistical structure of the electric grid that is coming, we need to confront the dynamism of the network and discard the widespread linearized static model.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Software Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Many theories have been proposed for how problematic social phenomena - such as segregation, inequality, and clustering of unhealthy behaviours - emerge and change over time. But which theories are useful for understanding these phenomena and devising effective interventions to change them?
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Many psychiatric (e.g. schizophrenia) and neurological diseases are characterised by a disturbance of the connections between different parts of the brain that need to communicate with one another. A technique called blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can determine levels of different activity in parts of the living human brain and how malfunctions can occur in disease.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Organic Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Boron containing molecules are of high value, as they have many applications in chemical synthesis, materials science, and catalysis. This PhD will research new ways in which to make boron-containing heterocycles - cyclic compounds which contain one or more boron atoms.
- Location
- Sheffield, 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
Bioinformatics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are defined by their capacity for self-renewal and differentiation, making them an attractive platform for modelling human tissue formation in vitro. However, generating scalable, uniform differentiated cell types from PSCs remains challenging because of the limited control we have over the cellular environment.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This PhD research is focused on multi-sensor data fusion for decision making. The project aims at dealing with large volumes of data and high dimensional systems. We have two case studies in particular: intelligent transportation systems and search and rescue.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project In classical general relativity, Einstein’s equations involve the curvature of space-time on the left-hand-side, and the stress-energy tensor of matter on the right-hand-side. In a quantum theory of gravity, both sides of Einstein’s equations (that is, both the geometry and the matter) will be quantum in nature.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Statistics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Index trackers (ETFs, index funds, index mutual funds) aim to replicate the return of a reference equity index while keeping implementation frictions---notably turnover and trading costs---under control. Index tracking is a passive investment approach that frequently beats their actively managed counterparts over the long term.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from Planck have established ΛCDM as the standard cosmological model. However, significant tensions have emerged—most notably the Hubble constant discrepancy between early- and late-universe determinations, now exceeding 5σ. Recent results from DESI also suggest a preference for dynamical dark energy over a cosmological constant, further challenging the standard framework.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Pairs of black holes generate distinctive 'chirp' signals as they coalesce. These signals have been successfully detected at gravitational-wave observatories since 2015. Using these signals, we can test the theory of relativity in the strong-field regime and we can learn more about the "zoo" of black holes that populate our universe. The next decade will see the launch of the first detector in space: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) satellite.
- Location
- Sheffield, 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
Artificial Intelligence
University of Sheffield
About the Project Can we transform a swallowable capsule from a passive container into an intelligent miniature robot capable of navigating the human body, identifying therapeutic needs and delivering personalised treatment exactly where and when it is required? Aim The aim of this PhD project is to develop miniature robotic therapeutic devices that can be safely swallowed and perform targeted therapeutic interventions within the gastrointestinal tract.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Biopharmaceuticals offer the most promising pathway to treatments for diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s and autoimmune disorders. However, the production of ‘next-generation’ products, such as trispecific antibodies, is typically associated with low yields and poor quality.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The deregulation of cell cycle progression is a common feature of cancer formation and progression. Cell/extracellular matrix (ECM) interaction is widely known to support the progression of the cells through the cell cycle. Recent data from our lab indicate that the internalisation of ECM components is promoted during the G1 phase of the cell cycle and this process is associated with an increased activation of mTOR signalling.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Civil Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project The future of offshore wind energy lies in floating turbines, enabling the capture of wind power in deep waters where conventional foundations (like monopiles and jackets) are not economically viable. Pioneering projects, such as by Hywind (in Scottish and Danish waters) and Ørsted (in Scottish and German waters), have successfully demonstrated that these floating units can be securely anchored using suction caissons (or “buckets”) embedded in the seabed.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Breast and pancreatic tumours are characterised by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, resulting in extensive fibrosis, which in turn promotes tumour progression and metastasis. Our lab has recently demonstrated that cancer cells, but not normal epithelial cells, are able to internalise ECM components, digest them in the lysosomes and use them as energy sources.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Probability
University of Sheffield
About the Project The Brownian web is a dense system of coalescing Brownian motions in 1+1 dimensional space time. It is known to be the universal scaling limit of a wide variety of models, ranging from population genetics and interface growth to theoretically important processes such as orientated percolation and directed spanning forests.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project This project is concerned with quantum field theory in curved space-time, a semiclassical approach to the as-yet-elusive theory of quantum gravity. In this set-up, the space-time geometry is fixed and classical, while the matter is quantized (and described by a quantum field). In this project the background space-time is a charged Reissner-Nordstrom black hole, and the quantum field is a charged fermion field. There are three key aspects to the project.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neuropsychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The aim of this project is to to build a computational model of the development of cortical somatotopy in humans, focusing specifically on the representation of the hand. While many models exist that attempt to explain retinotopy in visual cortex, the equivalent problem in touch faces an additional challenge: our body is a three-dimensional object, whose representation needs to be embedded on the two-dimensional surface of the cortex.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Computational Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Graphene is a novel material with outstanding electronic and mechanical properties. Chemical modification of graphene gives rise to new materials, such as graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide, with properties very distinct from graphene and with possible applications in photocatalysis and batteries. However, determining their exact structure and structure-properties relationship remains challenging.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Data Analysis
University of Sheffield
About the Project The advent of easily accessible high performance computers or computer clusters and numerical techniques such as finite element methods (FEM) facilitates the highly accurate modelling and simulation of complex systems in diverse science and engineering disciplines including civil engineering, biomechanics and life science.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Invariant sets play an important and fundamental role in the design of control systems. An invariant set is a region of a dynamic system’s state space that has the following property: if the state of the system is within the set at some time, then it is guaranteed to remain within the set for all future times.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Many industries looking to improve the sustainability of their manufacturing lines to maximise resource efficiency while reducing the environmental impact. The aim of this project is to reduce the waste of catalyst manufacturing process by applying advance continuous manufacturing technologies and material science.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Cosmic-ray muons are known to be useful in applications beyond particle astrophysics. They have helped with mapping structure of volcanoes and with finding voids in various geological structures. Other possible applications include studies of geological repositories including monitoring carbon capture, tracing illicit nuclear materials etc.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of Sheffield
About the Project Modern infrastructure increasingly relies on materials whose composition varies due to local resources, alternative binders, and sustainability-driven formulations. While essential for reducing environmental impact, this variability introduces significant uncertainty in material behaviour, challenging traditional modelling approaches used in large-scale engineering applications.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of Sheffield
About the Project Next-generation nuclear and fusion energy systems place unprecedented demands on structural and functional materials, which must operate reliably under extreme thermal, mechanical, and environmental conditions. Accurate prediction of material behaviour and degradation is essential for safe design, long-term operation, and risk reduction in such critical infrastructure.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The Project: Addressing a Global Health Emergency Global cases of gonorrhoea are rising sharply, complicated by a crisis of multidrug resistance (MDR) within the causative organism, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. While the recent introduction of vaccines offers a new frontier in prevention, initial reports suggest a troubling lack of efficacy within high-risk populations. N. gonorrhoeae is a master of genomic fluidity.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Analytical Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Catalysis underpins almost every process in the chemical and petrochemical industries. However, many oxidation processes still rely on energy-intensive routes and inefficient catalysts. Developing next-generation oxidation catalysts is therefore critical for making chemical manufacturing more selective, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Developing sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels is one of the major challenges in modern chemistry. A promising approach is to convert renewable biomass into transportation fuels and value-added chemicals. This project aims to design and synthesise mesoporous zeolite catalysts capable of transforming sugars such as glucose and fructose into energy-rich intermediates like levulinic acid, a key building block for fuels, fine chemicals, and polymers.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Intergranular films due to segregation of dopants, internal oxidation or other chemical reactions at interfaces govern the properties of many polycrystalline materials: segregation can lead to brittle fracture of steel or copper pipes. It influences the wear properties of hard ceramics. Internal oxidation of pores can weaken sintered aluminium alloys.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Roller compaction is a process used by many industries such as pharma, food and fertilizers. Roller compaction is a continuous dry granulation process where the powder particles compressed by two rotating rollers to produce a ribbon like shape compact. Then depending on the end use, the ribbon may be crushed to produce granules. The properties of the ribbon are important as it will significantly influence the properties of the resulted granules.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project The production of flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from solar active regions (ARs) is still not well understood in spite of their huge importance to Sun-Earth connections, in particular, to protect mankind and our sophisticated technological systems that might be at considerable risk from high-speed charged particles blowing often abruptly off the Sun. These most energetic eruptions of the entire Solar System follow the 11-year solar cycle.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Development and Testing of Ex-Vivo Human Myeloma Model for Personalised Medicine Applications Multiple Myeloma (MM) is the second most common blood cancer, defined by its dependence on the supportive Bone Marrow Microenvironment (BMME). This niche is a critical barrier, shielding MM cells from treatment and driving disease progression, leading to a poor prognosis.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Several primary tumours such as breast, prostate and lung cancers create bone metastases in the spine, increasing the risk of fracture in these patients. Even treatments in some cases (for example androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer patients) may reduce the bone density and increase risk of fracture.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Late stage kidney and prostate cancers are associated with bone metastases, which usually occur in the spine. These lesions may increase the risk of fracture in these patients but it is unclear when there is a need of intervening due to the complexity of the structure of the metastatic vertebrae. Moreover, treatments of the primary tumours may also affect the amount of bone there is in the vertebrae, even before metastases, and increase the risk of fracture.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Manufacturing causes ~20% of global carbon emissions and ~50% of energy use [e.g. 1]. The UK’s third climate change risk assessment [2] suggests the climate crisis has caused irreversible damage. It is critical that we act to limit catastrophic events, by developing viable sustainable manufacturing solutions that can be applied across various sectors. High value products and parts are typically made from unsustainable stock material.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Macrophage heterogeneity is a key immune concept conserved across evolution within organisms that possess these vital white blood cells. Vertebrate organisms are highly complex and this is reflected in the incredible diversity of macrophages, which stems from phenomena such as polarisation, tissue residency and their ontogeny.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Data Analysis
University of Sheffield
About the Project Model predictive control (MPC) is a popular advanced control technique that solves a constrained optimal control problem, on-line, at each sampling instant. The first control input of the optimized sequence is applied, and the optimization is repeated at each subsequent time step, inducing feedback.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The tumour microenvironment (TME) plays a pivotal role in controlling cancer progression and response to therapy. A key component of the TME is the extracellular matrix (ECM), a complex network of secreted protein involved in controlling a variety of cell functions, including proliferation and migration. Due to the elevated tumour growth rate and limited blood supply, the TME is often hypoxic and nutrient deprived.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Econometrics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Panel (longitudinal) data enables learning the dynamics and relations of (groups of) units, strengthening the inference on both cross-sectional and dynamic parameters. The dominant approach to modelling unbounded continuous quantities of interest is to assume symmetric error terms (eg Gaussian or Student), but this assumption is often not met in practice. Several approaches have been developed to address the issue, eg generalised linear models.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Dynamic optimization is integral to many aspects of science and engineering, commonly found in trajectory optimization, optimal control (e.g. model predictive control, MPC), state estimation, system identification and design synthesis problems.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Data Science
University of Sheffield
About the Project Efficient coding models can successfully explain the emergence of different features detectors along the visual pathway, such as center-surround receptive fields, simple and complex cells, and even higher-level visual neurons. However, whether this approach also works to explain the tuning of somatosensory neurons is currently unknown.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Mitochondria are not only the powerhouses of the cell but also key regulators of innate immunity, influencing processes such as inflammasome activation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and metabolic reprogramming. NME4, also known as nucleoside diphosphate kinase D (NDPK-D) or NM23-H4, is a mitochondrial enzyme that plays a pivotal role in linking mitochondrial homeostasis to innate immune signalling.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project The UK’s expansion of offshore wind is changing the dynamics of the electricity grid, particularly due to the lack of generation inertia worsening power system stability. Control of such a complex system relies on detailed understanding and real-time modelling of the nonlinear dynamics resulting from the interactions between the drivetrain, the electrical generator, and multiple power electronics converters and their control systems.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Neuroscience
University of Sheffield
About the Project Although considered as separate disorders in major diagnostic manuals where disorders are characterised categorically, the co-morbidity rate between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD is 50-70%. The two disorders share many characteristics, including attentional hyperfocus and sensory processing changes.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Clostridial neurotoxins are produced by anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium botulinum. Each toxin molecule has a highly conserved zinc-dependent protease domain that cleaves SNARE proteins, a family of molecules required for intracellular trafficking and vesicle fusion.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Background: Clostridioides difficile is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections and is notoriously difficult to treat. This bacterial species infects the colon following antibiotic treatment, which disrupts the protective gut microbiota.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neuropsychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Functional brain imaging methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have already revolutionized how we can study the processes and functioning of the healthy human brain and are making an increasing impact on our understanding on what goes wrong in disease of the brain.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
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)
Cell Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) remain one of the key therapeutic targets for the treatment of disease, and while much is known about their pharmacology, it is increasingly clear that the signaling mechanisms used by a specific receptor to modulate cell functions is context specific.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Child Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Antisocial behaviour is a very wide-ranging term including fighting, stealing, and temper tantrums among many other things. It may not make sense to consider these behaviours as a single construct but to identify meaningful subsets that may have different causes, outcomes and respond well to different treatments. Currently popular classification schemes are based on age at onset and the presence of callousness.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Food Sciences
University of Sheffield
About the Project Food systems generate around one-third of global greenhouse gases and drive water pollution and biodiversity loss, leading many to conclude that humans cannot continue to rely on (primarily farmed) meat and dairy as sources of protein.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project The Sun is a star with a cyclic magnetic activity that can impact all the solar system. Thus, the solar magnetic field can interact with the Earth's magnetic field, permitting the entrance of energetic particles in the upper atmosphere, affecting technological devices, telecommunications and human health.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cell Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The study of regenerative biology aims to elucidate the innate ability of organisms to replace tissues or organs after they have been removed or damaged. During vertebrate regeneration, tissue damage causes the immediate release of signals that initiate wound closure and inflammation. Following this, regenerative cells proliferate and migrate to the damaged area. These cells then grow to replace the missing organ or tissue.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Developmental Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project A large body of evidence indicates that skilled sports players can anticipate the actions of their opponents more accurately than novices, for example in sports such as tennis. This project will develop video simulation measures of anticipatory skill and assess the neural processes underlying expert performance using EEG.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Dementia is a progressive neurocognitive condition that substantially reduces quality of life and life expectancy, and is frequently experienced as deeply isolating. Meta-analytic evidence indicates that over 40% of people with dementia report loneliness and more than 60% experience social isolation, both of which are associated with poorer cognitive and health outcomes.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Developmental Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Ninety percent of the globe’s road traffic fatalities are located in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs) but the majority of research available to date addresses driver behaviour in high income countries. There is a lot of scope to test the extent to which existing models of driving behaviour translate to LMICs and examine factors that uniquely predict crashes in LMIC contexts.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project Producing fertilizers with the required specification while minimizing the waste of the manufacturing process is challenging. This research aims to improve the current fertilizer production method by designing the products to achieve the required specifications such as strength, size and dissolution/disintegration time.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Nutrition
University of Sheffield
About the Project Transforming current diets is essential to address major public health and environmental challenges (Stewart et al., 2021). In England, 22% of children are living with overweight or obesity by the time they begin primary school aged 4–5 years (NHS Digital, 2024), with rates highest among children living in deprived areas. Many children’s diets are high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat, while being low in fruits, vegetables and pulses.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Astrophysics
University of Sheffield
About the Project The current cosmological standard model, the LCDM model, comes under scrutiny from recent cosmological observations: on the one hand, the expansion rate today, as measured from early time and late time probes does not agree. In addition, results from the DESI experiment suggest that dark energy evolves in time.
- Location
- Sheffield, 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
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Antimicrobial-resistant typhoid fever The world faces epidemics of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) typhoid fever caused by Salmonella Typhi that underlies 12 million cases / 129 000 deaths each year. Understanding how infection develops and how human host cells combat Salmonella will improve control strategies that are vital to typhoid elimination efforts. Typhoid toxin a tumour suppressor mechanism called senescence.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Developmental Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The Topic Executive functions (EF)—the goal-directed thinking skills that underpin learning—develop rapidly in early childhood. Yet, the toddler years remain the "dark ages" of cognitive development. While we know that social inequality impacts EF and subsequent school readiness, the precise mechanisms remain unclear.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Regulation of Mcl-1 in Macrophage Host Defense This PhD project offers an opportunity to explore immunometabolism and cell signaling, focusing on how macrophages decide whether to live or die to protect the host. Macrophages are the sentinels of the innate immune system.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project This PhD project focuses on using topological data analysis (TDA) in machine learning (ML) to study (exotic) quantum matter systems defined on a lattice.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project State-of-the-art high-resolution ground- and spaced-based telescopes routinely observe magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves that are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere. MHD waves and oscillations are very important as they have dominant contribution to the local plasma heating in the solar atmosphere, that is one of the key and unsolved puzzles of modern plasma-astrophysics.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Developing and refining brain tissue models to enable world leading research into neurovascular coupling in health and disease. We are seeking highly skilled and motivated mathematical and/or programming postgraduate students to join our neurovascular research team that is investigating how the brain regulates its blood supply in health but also in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Analytical Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project The aim of this project is to combine nanomechanical methods with modelling (i) to develop quantitative, predictive models for the behaviour of molecules in sliding contacts, and (ii) to understand how mechanical pressure can be used to change chemical reaction pathways.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Precision agriculture, a data-driven approach to farming, relies on accurate and timely information about soil properties. Neutron and gamma ray sensing offers a non-destructive and in-situ method to measure soil moisture, density, and elemental composition. This project aims to develop advanced sensors for neutron and gamma ray sensing, tailored for agricultural applications to improve crop yield, water management, and nutrient optimisation.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Neutrinos play a crucial role in our understanding of the universe. Their ability to oscillate between different flavours (electron, muon, and tau) provides a window into the fundamental properties of matter and the nature of the weak force. Future experiments like T2K and Hyper-K aim to precisely measure neutrino oscillations and search for new physics phenomena.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project (Macro)spicules are one of the longest studied yet unsolved phenomena of small-scale solar atmospheric dynamics. Since the discovery of spicules by Father Secchi about 150 years ago, a number of competing theories have been developed to model the generation, propagation and energy and momentum transport capabilities of spicules.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Understanding how human expertise develops remains a central question across psychology, education, and cognitive science. Competing theoretical perspectives have emphasised either the dominant role of deliberate practice or the importance of individual differences such as intelligence.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of Sheffield
About the Project The leading cause of death globally is cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to the World Health Organisation. Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most of these deaths. It is a long-term disease of the blood vessels, where fat and inflammation builds up in the walls of arteries to form a plaque that can lead to heart attack and stroke. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) play a key role in preventing rupture of these plaques.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biophysics
University of Sheffield
About the Project GLP-1 Receptor are G protein coupled receptors that naturally respond to glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a hormone produced in the gut in response to food intake. The receptor is the target for the type 2 diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide. Its actions in the pancreas are well studied however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for its regulation of secretion from neurons.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD 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
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumour of early childhood and, in its aggressive forms, remains hard to treat. These tumours arise when embryonic cells - trunk neural crest cells and their derivatives - fail to differentiate correctly.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Fusion energy, a promising clean energy source, faces significant challenges, one of which is the containment of extremely high-temperature plasma. Magnetic fields are employed to confine this plasma, but precise measurements of these fields are crucial for understanding and optimising fusion reactor performance.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of Sheffield
About the Project Networked systems are ubiquitous in the modern world, for example, smart grids, financial systems, and industrial processes are prime examples of these. As these systems grow in size and complexity, classical control techniques cannot be easily applied because of computational bottlenecks or an absence of suitable prediction models.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Analytical Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Clean water is one of the most pressing global challenges of our time, with major implications for health, sustainability, and industry. Many organic pollutants, such as aromatic solvents and chlorinated compounds, are persistent, toxic, and difficult to remove using conventional treatment methods. This project will develop next-generation catalytic materials to destroy these pollutants efficiently and sustainably.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of Sheffield
About the Project Concrete structures in energy, industrial, and civil infrastructure are frequently exposed to demanding conditions, such as multiaxial mechanical stresses, fire-induced thermal loading, and/or harsh environmental exposure. Predicting their mechanical behaviour under such conditions remains a major scientific and engineering challenge due to the complex interaction of thermal, mechanical, and chemical processes occurring across multiple scales.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Manufacturing Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This project aims to develop a numerical simulation model for thermoplastic composites overmoulding process and validate the model using experimental manufacturing data. Thermoplastic overmoulding is an advanced composites manufacturing process combining stamp forming of aligned, continuous fibre composites (CFCs) and injection moulding of randomly orientated, short fibre composites (SFCs).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Breast cancer metastasis to the bone represents a critical, incurable clinical challenge characterised by severe tumour growth and immune evasion. Traditional treatments often fail in the "cold," severely low- oxygen (hypoxic) bone niche. This exciting project introduces a pioneering approach to tackling bone metastases: oncolytic virotherapy.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Data assimilation combines physical models with experimental or numerical data to produce dynamically consistent flow reconstructions. In turbulence, where full resolution is expensive and measurements are sparse, physics-informed data assimilation integrates data with the Navier–Stokes equations to preserve physical realism.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics Engineering
University of Sheffield
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 the University of Sheffield.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Acoustics Engineering
University of Sheffield
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 the University of Sheffield.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Applied Statistics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Scanning transmission electron microscopy is an imaging method that raster scans a focused high-energy electron beam across a thin sample and measures the electron intensity behind the specimen with either a small detector placed on axis (bright field) or a larger, ring-like detector placed off-axis (annular dark field).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Air pollution is estimated to cause more than 28,000 deaths each year in the UK, with long-term exposure associated with higher rates of cardiovascular and respiratory illness, birth-defects and neuro-degenerative disorders (Laverge et al., 2015). Interventions that reduce levels of air pollution or exposure to air pollution are therefore critical. However, in the UK, we spend around 90% of our time indoors with approximately two thirds of this in our homes.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project This project will investigate the role of ZDHHC5, a cell surface-localised protein S-acyltransferase, in regulating cell adhesion and bacterial adherence to human cells. ZDHHC5 is one of 23 human DHHC enzymes responsible for attaching fatty acids to proteins, a process known as S-acylation (or palmitoylation). This modification is reversible and dynamically regulates protein trafficking, stability, and function.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cell Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The ability of skeletal muscles to regenerate in response to injury, exercise, growth or disease depends on a population of adult skeletal muscle stem cells called satellite cells. With aging, the number and regenerative capacity of the stem cells declines; this contributes to the aging process and ultimately to the loss of muscle mass in elderly people.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cell Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle stem cells, also called satellite cells, is essential for muscle homeostasis and to maintain healthy muscles throughout the lifespan. The micro-environment of satellite cells plays a critical role in ensuring that the stem cells remain quiescent when not needed and in controlling the balance between differentiation and self-renewal when satellite cells are activated.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This PhD is one of a number of projects hosted by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Green Industrial Futures (CDT-GIF). We are offering pioneering research projects that will enable PhD researchers to explore key technologies and solutions that will support UK industry to reach net zero. Project Description The green industrial futures depend on a sustainable and resilient resource supply chain to achieve the net zero goal.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This PhD is one of a number of projects hosted by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Green Industrial Futures (CDT-GIF). We are offering pioneering research projects that will enable PhD researchers to explore key technologies and solutions that will support UK industry to reach net zero. Project Description Both carbon removal technologies (a.k.a.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project This PhD is one of a number of projects hosted by the Centre for Doctoral Training in Green Industrial Futures (CDT-GIF). We are offering pioneering research projects that will enable PhD researchers to explore key technologies and solutions that will support UK industry to reach net zero.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Neuropsychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Alcohol Use Disorder affects over 600,000 people in the UK, contributes to 25,000+ deaths, and costs £52 billion annually. Current treatments carry ~70% relapse rates, and a critical opportunity is being missed: around one million UK adults drink at harmful levels that fall short of AUD but risk progression to dependence.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Civil Engineering
University of Sheffield
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 the University of Sheffield.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project The SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector) experiment is part of the multi-detector Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) programme located along the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab, USA. Each detector in the SBN programme utilises the liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project It's widely believed that the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is an incomplete theory. The 125 GeV Higgs boson, discovered by the CERN ATLAS and CMS Experiments, is a crucial probe for physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) of particle physics. While searching for Higgs boson pair production helps probe the Higgs self-coupling (λHHH), the ultimate test of the Higgs potential's shape requires observation of triple Higgs boson production (HHH).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Experimental Physics
University of Sheffield
About the Project A position is open for an enthusiastic particle physics PhD student to conduct research in developing silicon sensor technologies in use at the energy frontier at the ATLAS experiment. A series of upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator complex are planned by CERN, the last of which is dubbed the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and is expected to begin collecting data in 2030.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project A technique called blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can determine levels of different activity in parts of the living human brain and how malfunctions can occur in disease.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of Sheffield
About the Project Aim: To develop and experimentally evaluate soft robotic implant architectures that can dynamically interact with gastrointestinal tissues while maintaining mechanical compatibility, functional performance and long-term stability under physiologically relevant conditions.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Many theories of quantum gravity agree that the spacetime geometry of Einstein’s general relativity needs to be replaced by a different underlying structure. In particular, spacetime may fundamentally consist of discrete “atoms”. In this project you will study the group field theory approach to quantum gravity, which posits that spacetime is emergent from microscopic “atoms” of geometry, similar to how a fluid fundamentally consists of atoms and molecules.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project In General Relativity, bodies in freefall follow geodesics in spacetime. For example, the Earth follows a geodesic in the spacetime of the Sun, to a good approximation. However, this is not strictly true for compact bodies with angular momentum. Rapidly spinning bodies, such as neutron stars and black holes, are pushed away from geodesic motion by a spin-curvature force, modelled with the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon equations.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Organic Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Atropisomers represent an important class of chiral molecules whereby stereoisomerism is determined by ease of rotation about a single bond. This class of compounds is represented by natural products (eg the Streptonigrinoids) and pharmaceuticals such as the recently reported KRAS covalent inhibitor Sotorasib. Hence, efficient stereoselective access to atropisomers is a challenge that is of significant interest to the organic synthesis community.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Clinical Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Research indicates that people with ADHD encounter stigma, including stereotypes, prejudice (i.e., negative attitudes) and discrimination (see Bisset et al. 2022; Lebowitz, 2016; Mueller et al., 2012 for reviews). This includes negative beliefs about the validity of ADHD diagnosis, and trivialisation of that diagnosis, alongside negative stereotypes and attribution of personal responsibility for ADHD-related challenges (e.g., see Visser et al., 2024).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Chaos may seem like complete disorder, but even chaotic systems can sometimes fall into step — a phenomenon called chaos synchronisation. Two systems that start differently can gradually align their behaviour through a small amount of interaction or shared information, much like pendulum clocks on the same wall eventually ticking together. In turbulent flows, synchronisation is a powerful way to understand and control chaos.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide, with approximately 800,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Recurrence rates remain as high as 50% despite aggressive multimodal therapy. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has transformed outcomes for some HNSCC patients; however, its efficacy is disproportionately confined to HPV-positive disease.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Epilepsy is the most common neurological condition in the UK, affecting 1 – 2 % of the population. Epilepsies often involve only a small area of the brain - the epileptic focus – and the abnormal activity can propagate out from there. Although surgery is often curative in epilepsy, effective intervention relies on the correct identification of the location of the epileptic focus.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Uncovering How Influenza Turns Bacterial Infections Deadly Why do influenza pandemics claim so many lives? The answer often isn’t the virus alone, but the lethal synergy between Influenza A Virus (IAV) and secondary bacterial pneumonia. With antibiotic resistance on the rise and IAV constantly mutating, understanding this deadly combination is a global health priority.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Child Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The ability to switch flexibly between different rules is a crucial skill that emerges gradually during the preschool and early school years, and underpins many more complex behaviours. In recent work, we have found that the same processes that lead young children to make errors on flexible switching tasks also cause adults to respond more slowly on comparable tasks, suggesting that the same processes are at work in both preschool children and adults.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project A technique called blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can determine levels of different activity in parts of the living human brain and how malfunctions can occur in disease. Furthermore, this technique has been extended to look at communication between brain regions based on the similarity between ongoing signals (‘brain waves’) in connected parts of the brain.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of Sheffield
About the Project The scale deposition and aggregation of calcium carbonate in the production facility is challenging problem in the petroleum industry. For this reason, preventing scale formation is critical for oil and gas industry. Different techniques have been used to reduce the formation of the scale where the measurements are carried out offline. This project aims to use a new inline measurement based on focused reflectance beam measurement (FBRM).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biotechnology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Dissolution of the powder in a liquid is of highly importance for many industries such as food, pharma, fertilizers and many others. It affects the performance of the end products. For example, the time needed for the tablet to dissolve inside human body and for the fertilizer particles to dissolve in the field. This project aims to more understanding of the dissolution process of the solid particles in the liquid.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and aortic aneurysms develop when communication between cells in the blood vessel wall becomes disrupted. This PhD project will investigate how endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels and sense blood flow, communicate with vascular smooth muscle cells, which provide strength and structure to the vessel wall. A key focus of the project is polycystin-1, encoded by the PKD1 gene.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Newly-qualified drivers are the most likely drivers on the road to be involved in crashes. This is likely to reflect a combination of insufficient driving skill and deliberately choosing a risky driving style (e.g., speeding, dangerous overtaking). Projects may address the causes of risky driving (e.g., attitudes, executive functions, personality), the development of driving skill (e.g., hazard perception), and interventions to improve young driver safety.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Metastatic urothelial carcinoma carries one of the poorest prognoses of any solid tumour: 5-year survival for metastatic disease is only around 5.5%, despite an initial response rate to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy of up to 55%.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project During the past two decades, blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become the scientific technique of choice for investigating human brain function in the field of cognitive neuroscience. It exploits the local alterations in blood flow produced by changes in neural activity, termed neurovascular coupling.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Can the repetitive practice of cognitive tasks – as in ’brain training’ programs – effectively enhance cognitive abilities such as reasoning? After more than 20 years of intensive research efforts, this question is still highly controversial, with prior studies and meta-analyses yielding inconsistent results. However, one robust and replicable finding is that trainees strongly improve in the tasks they practiced.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neuroscience
University of Sheffield
About the Project Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders, however the neural changes that underlie the disorder are poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that some areas of the brain involved in sensory processing may underlie certain symptoms of ADHD when they function abnormally.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Developmental Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project Research demonstrates that the mental and physical health of autistic adults is significantly poorer than for non-autistic adults (Bishop-Fitzpatrick & Rubenstein, 2019; Cage, 2018). Life expectancy is also shockingly low for autistic adults (Smith DaWalt et al. 2019; Hirvikoski et al. 2016). The way an individual is treated by others, including by society at large, can have a fundamental impact on wellbeing (Cooper et al. 2004).
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Applied Mathematics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Black holes have now been observed in detail via astrophysical observations, detections of gravitational waves and pictures of the event horizon. However, their theoretical description within general relativity is incomplete, since it contains a singularity where the laws of physics break down. Quantum theories of gravity may offer a very different perspective on the fundamental description of black holes.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project The surface of cancer cells is a unique environment to study, as it is the gatekeeper for the uptake of nutrients and drugs. The turn-over and organisation of proteins at the plasma membrane is an essential part of cellular regulation. Many cell surface proteins have been implicated and play a role in disease progression.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of Sheffield
About the Project Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a non-invasive technique commonly used to measure brain activity. In this project, we aim at using EEG Biofeedback (brain-computer interface (BCI)) for improving cognitive performance (e.g. attention, memory, error awareness) in different groups of people including healthy young adults, elderly and patients with cognitive disabilities.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project The changes in cerebral blood flow, volume and oxygenation that accompany increases in neural activity form the basis of non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which allow human brain mapping. Understanding the relationship between cerebral hemodynamics and the underlying evoked neural activity is therefore vital for the interpretation of neuroimaging data.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Health Psychology
University of Sheffield
About the Project In order that the brain can function normally, it is essential that blood flow within the brain is well matched to neuronal metabolic demand. When neurons are active they send a message to the local vasculature to increase blood flow (a phenomenon called neurovascular coupling) and so increase the supply of nutrients: glucose and oxygen. This increase in blood flow and blood volume is the basis of non-invasive functional imaging signals such as BOLD fMRI.
- Location
- Sheffield, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only