Inorganic Chemistry
University of York
About the Project The generation of transition-metal complexes that are low coordinate and of low-electron count, is a central concept in organometallic chemistry. They are important both in the synthesis of complexes that push at the boundaries of what is possible in synthesis, and catalysis – where the binding and activation of substrates requires vacant sites at the metal.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 23 October 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming our world, but its growing computational demands, particularly for edge computing in devices like IoT sensors, require new, energy-efficient hardware solutions. Over the past decade, memristors, a novel class of electronic components that can "remember" the charge that has flowed through them, have been extensively researched.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 28 October 2026
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Computational Chemistry
University of York
About the Project Antibiotics make modern medicine possible. From routine surgery to cancer treatment, many hospital interventions rely on effective antibiotics to prevent deadly infections. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), however, is rising, and bacterial infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Many of the antibiotics that have recently been approved belong to existing antibacterial classes with pre-existing resistance mechanisms.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Organic Chemistry
University of York
About the Project The O’Brien group has an ongoing interest in exploring sp3-rich scaffolds for use in medicinal chemistry. In this work, a key design feature was the use of bifunctional 3-D building blocks with rigid scaffolds and two defined vectors, achieved using cyclopropane and cyclobutane cores with different cross-coupling handles. However, the cross-coupling handles required the use of the precious metals Pd and Ir.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Analytical Chemistry
University of York
About the Project The Ineos Oxford Institute (IOI) spearheads sustainable drug discovery against devastating mycobacterial diseases, primarily tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). According to the World Health Organization, TB remains a leading global infectious killer, claiming nearly 4,500 lives daily. Mtb evades antibiotic treatment through respiratory flexibility, enabling it to remain dormant within the host.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Industrial Chemistry
University of York
About the Project Structured liquids play a vital role in a wide range of industrial applications, particularly in consumer and personal care products, where gel-like materials have an important role in providing products with appropriate physical performance. Historically, such materials have relied on the use of polymeric materials, which are powerful and tunable viscosification agents that can cope with high-complexity mixtures, including surfactants and emulsions.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Organic Chemistry
University of York
About the Project In this collaborative project, bio-based feedstocks will be utilized for the synthesis of a range of unsaturated and saturated nitrogen heterocyclic building blocks. These building blocks will then be decorated to give agrochemical lead-like compounds.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Applied Chemistry
University of York
About the Project In this project we will develop new strategies to chemically modify peptides via late-stage, transition metal catalysed reactions. Peptides are an important modality in modern drug discovery, bridging the gap between traditional small molecule drugs and larger biologics.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Applied Chemistry
University of York
About the Project Protein bioconjugation is a vital tool in modern biomedical and biotechnological research. Our groups recently established a ‘Conjugate Addition/Ring Expansion’ (CARE) approach able to selectively and irreversibly modify the N-terminus of untagged native proteins, including nanobodies for cancer cell and tissue imaging, and human chemokines, with altered downstream activation and processing following modification (Figure 1A).[1,2] Our irreversible…
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of York
About the Project The project will explore the potential of earth abundant metal (EAM) catalysts for arylative carbonylation reactions employing suitable aromatic and heteroaromatic halide / pseudohalide and organoboron coupling partners in the presence of a safe carbon monoxide-releasing surrogate and activator. A successful project will provide a complementary tool to the well-known thermal Pd-catalysed reaction variant.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 13 November 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Quantum Computing
University of York
About the Project Background / Introduction Quantum networking aims to interconnect quantum devices through quantum channels, enabling ultra-secure communications, distributed quantum computing, and network-enhanced sensing. While point-to-point quantum communication is now technologically mature, scaling these capabilities to realistic multi-node networks remains a fundamental challenge.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 31 December 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Future autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles will rely significantly on wireless connectivity to exchange information between other vehicles (V2V) and infrastructure (V2I). In urban areas in the developed world, this is likely to be straightforward due to the 6G wireless infrastructure that will be in place. This will be much more challenging elsewhere, for example, in rural and extreme-rural environments, and underserved areas.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr William Grey Co-supervisors: Dr Anjum Khan The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) remains the most lethal blood cancer, with long-term survival under 10% in older patients. Standard therapies are largely unchanged and recently approved molecularly targeted agents typically benefit only subgroups for limited time.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of York
About the Project A self-funded PhD project position is available in the theory and application of biologically-inspired “white box” machine learning algorithms to the assessment, differentiation, and monitoring of neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project The future of Augmented Reality (AR) will be shaped as much by sound as by visuals. For AR to feel truly immersive, virtual sound sources must blend seamlessly with the listener’s real acoustic environment, preserving naturalness, depth, and spatial coherence. Yet this remains a major challenge in immersive media research.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomedical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Affinity biosensors have demonstrated great promise for real-time diagnostics, bioprocess monitoring, environmental sensing, food safety, and point-of-care healthcare. However, despite strong analytical performance under controlled laboratory conditions, most affinity biosensors fail to translate reliably to real-world use.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of York
About the Project The integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and hydropower, poses challenges for grid stability and energy market operations due to their variability and intermittency. Traditional grid control mechanisms often lack the adaptability needed to fully leverage modern technologies like energy storage and distributed energy resources (DERs).
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomedical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Humans are complex mechanical systems of interconnected bodies with a high degree of freedom (DOF). Our inner structures/bodies have naturally evolved with advanced proprioception and control, enabling us to perform a wide range of actions/movements, such as running, walking, sitting, and jumping. In a bionic leg system—a bioinspired design of the human leg—proprioception is a critical component.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project Accurate estimation of battery pack states, such as State of Charge (SOC), State of Health (SOH), and State of Power (SOP), is essential for the safe and efficient operation of electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems. Reliable state estimation ensures optimal performance, extends battery life, and enhances safety by preventing overcharging and deep discharging.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Prof Dawn Coverley Co-supervisors: Dr Andrew Mason The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Inside the mammalian cell nucleus DNA and associated proteins are spatially organised and differentially compacted, so that some genes are accessible and some are not.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Acoustic waves are widely accepted as the most suitable means of communicating underwater, since radio waves suffer from severe attenuation through water. Although they can be transmitted over long distances, they face significant challenges which make the development of communication networks difficult. Fundamental constraints include long and variable propagation delays if transmitting nodes are located at different distances from a receiver.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Automotive Engineering
University of York
About the Project Electric vehicle development has been a hot topic around the world. This PhD programme will develop artificial intelligence based design and control methods to optimize eletromagnetic performance and sustainablity of electric vehicle motor drive system.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Today, wireless cellular networks rely heavily on the core network to deliver services. This introduces latency and other inefficiencies. Next generation networks will be much more edge centric, enabling ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) services to be delivered. This requires a fundamental rethink in how edge-centric cellular networks should be delivered.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Astronomy
University of York
About the Project Asteroseismology is the study of pulsational and vibrational physics in stars. The recent explosion of data from ground- and space- based facilities has driven new techniques and understanding of the otherwise impenetrable interiors of stars. This has allowed precise determination of key stellar parameters such as interior rotation, energy transport and ages of pulsating stars.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electronic Engineering
University of York
About the Project Nearly all programmable computing systems are based by design on exact logic, under the assumption of a "perfect" mathematical world. By extension, logic used in robotics and other autonomous systems is also exact. However, all cyber-physical systems must interact with a world using sensors and actuators that by the very nature of this interaction, are not fundamentally exact or deterministic.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of York
About the Project Modular and dynamically reconfigurable space hardware systems are a high priority for research and development as they can significantly decrease development costs, facilitate multiple payloads, and enable indefinite lifetime extension for space missions. Dr.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electronic Engineering
University of York
About the Project With the commissioning of a new solar power farm for research at York's institute for Safe Autonomy, we are looking for enthusiastic students with an interest in creating robots that can move between solar panel arrays to autonomously perform cleaning, inspection, mapping, and site maintenance tasks.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Sensing is essential for machines to interact intelligently and safely with the external environment, much like humans do[1, 2]. Human tactile sensing, for instance, allows us to handle a variety of objects, from delicate berries to heavy payloads – by adapting our touch and pressure accordingly. Embedding similar adaptive intelligence in robots [3, 4] is crucial for making them more responsive, versatile, and perceptive in diverse settings.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electronic Engineering
University of York
About the Project Applicants are invited in one, or a combination of, the following areas: Bio-inspired Systems Wonders in Nature, including our own brains, have fascinated scientists and en- gineers for decades if not centuries. There has been huge international research interest in studying all kinds of nature-inspired computation and its applications, including evolutionary computation, neural computation, and swarm intelligence.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Andrew Mason Co-supervisors: Dr Simon Baker The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Project Overview Muscle-invasive bladder cancer is a diverse disease where machine learning methods have so far failed to deliver clinically actionable subgroups.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Genetic Engineering
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Joshua Ang Co-supervisors: Dr Clive McKimmie and Dr Daniella Lefteri The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Mosquitoes don’t just carry viruses – their saliva can actively help some arboviruses (such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya) to establish infection in the host. Recent studies have identified specific “mosquito saliva-assisted viral enhancement” (moSAVE) proteins that appear to play a key role in this process.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Han-Jou Chen Co-supervisors: Dr G Evans and Prof Sean Sweeney The student will be registered with the Department of Biology RNA-binding protein TDP-43 is an important protein closely associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, ranging from motor neurone disease (e.g. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS) to dementia such as Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Recent advances in manufacturing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) extended their durability and flight time. The researchers investigated the usage of UAVs in as Users, relays and small cell base stations. Problems like positioning and coverage have been studied. With more ambitions KPIs 6G needs to address more challenging applications and scenarios which include more challenging missions with lower available information for UAVs as UEs or base stations.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biophysics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Agnes Noy Co-supervisors: Dr Martin Fascione and Prof Gavin Thomas The student will be registered with the Department of Physics, Engineering and Technology Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine, already responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year. A major contributor to this crisis is the formation of bacterial biofilms.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project The adoption of autonomous robots for industrial inspection holds significant appeal, primarily due to their capacity to operate in various environments without concern for safety and health hazards. Moreover, these machines offer cost-effective, continuous operation. Notable examples like Boston Dynamics' Spot have garnered substantial attention in such applications. Nevertheless, persistent challenges persist.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Medical Physics
University of York
About the Project You think that science should do more to improve our quality of life and expand people's lifetime? We agree with you and can provide you an opportunity to contribute in this never ending battle. Our group is on the forefront of development of novel nuclear technologies for medical application. We have recently developed Quantum Entangled Positron Emission Tomography (QE-PET), results were published in Nature comms. and Phys. Rev. Lett.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Analytical Chemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Steven Quinn The student will be registered with the Department of Physics, Engineering and Technology The solubilization of biological membranes by detergents is critical for many technological applications including the isolation and purification of membrane proteins, rapid cell lysis and the inactivation of viruses.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project Hybrid Robotic manipulators combine soft and rigid components that allow them to be safer and more reliable than their rigid counterparts during their interactions with the world. This has significant potential in applications requiring dexterity and safety when working around humans, especially in a cluttered environment.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr G Evans Co-supervisors: Dr Ines Hahn The student will be registered with the Department of Biology The challenges of the developing human brain include co-ordinating the birth and migration of 100 billion neurons and the formation of their 1000 trillion synaptic connections. Mutations in genes that regulate these processes are implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as intellectual disability.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Noemie Hamilton The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Our research interests are to dissect the mechanism of auto-inflammatory neurological disorders using zebrafish as an animal model. Leukodystrophies are devastating rare monogenic neurological diseases with patients presenting loss of white matter and severe developmental delays.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project A plethora of energy-efficient MAC protocols have been developed for wireless sensor networks based on the assumption of readily available (if somewhat limited) battery power. One of main research challenges in this area is the development of approaches suited to devices which harvest energy from the environment (e.g. through solar cells or equivalent mechanisms).
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics Engineering
University of York
About the Project The University of York is at the forefront of transformative research in data-centric engineering, digital twins, and AI. Our pioneering work is revolutionizing the design of complex systems by harnessing the power of data. By synergizing these two powerful tools, we are gaining new insights into future systems, enabling us to approach them with greater realism. We are currently inviting applications for a Ph.D.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Full-duplex has the potential to double the capacity of point-to-point communication links, but these benefits can only be fully realised in communication networks through development of a suitable medium access control layer. Cancellation of self-interference is a significant challenge and has been limited to antenna separation in underwater systems. Other approaches include circuit (analogue domain) and digital cancellation.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Digital Twin (DT) is a promising technology for the new immersive digital life with a variety of applications in areas such as Industry 4.0, aviation and healthcare. Pervasive realisation of DT requires higher data rates, reliability, resilience, and lower latency beyond what is currently offered by mobile networks. Thus, DT could become a major driver for 6G research and development.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Computational Physics
University of York
About the Project Magnetic materials are ubiquitous in modern technology. They form the basis for power generators and motors, for data storage, and with spintronics they offer the potential to revolutionize computing in the future. Hence there is a lot of demand for new magnetic materials with bespoke properties. The traditional approach to material development, of trial and error, is slow and expensive.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Clive McKimmie Co-supervisors: Dr Kim Robinson and Dr Kave Shams (NHS) The student will be registered with the Department of HYMS Mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika (ZIKV) and dengue are spreading rapidly as the climate warms and mosquito habitats expand. These infections pose a growing threat to global health, yet there are still no specific antiviral drugs or widely available vaccines.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project Acoustic signal transmission is the only feasible technology for long-range (>10-100m) underwater communication, navigation and sonar systems. The performance of such systems could be significantly improved if it was possible simultaneously transmit and receive signals in the same frequency band, which is called full-duplex (FD) operation. If implemented, the FD could directly double the capacity of communication systems.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project As the world anticipates the rollout of 6G networks, there's a growing need to explore innovative technologies that can empower these networks to meet the evolving demands of connectivity. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool with the potential to revolutionize various aspects of communication systems.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project The ocean plays a key role in supporting all living organisms on our planet, yet the vast majority of the ocean remains unmapped and unobserved. Any activity underwater requires reliable communications, and the most feasible is the underwater communication exploiting acoustic waves. Unfortunately, modern underwater acoustic communication networks have relatively low throughput, while many practical applications require high data rates.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project Communication using acoustic waves is the main underwater communication technology, since electro-magnetic waves quickly attenuate underwater. Most of existing underwater acoustic communication systems operate at frequencies 5 – 50 KHz propagating up to several kilometres in distance, albeit at low data rates, so the video transmission is not possible. The aim of this project is to use higher acoustic frequencies (e.g.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Switching activity and other technology-related parameters have a significant effect on circuit aging and can therefore affect the lifespan of devices.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Physics
University of York
About the Project DNA molecules, being highly negatively charged, naturally repel each other. However, in the presence of multivalent ions or specific proteins, they can overcome this repulsion and condense into compact structures. Remarkably, DNA strands with similar (homologous) sequences tend to aggregate even more strongly — a phenomenon whose molecular basis remains poorly understood.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Simon Baker Co-supervisors: Prof Will Brackenbury The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Background BK polyomavirus is a ubiquitous infection that nearly everyone acquires during childhood. Once we have been infected with BK virus, it establishes a persistent infection of the kidney, where it is largely kept under control by the immune system.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Mineralisation of organic matrices plays a key role in the formation of hard tissues in a wide range of biological systems leading to skeletal or shell formation. In collaboration with the Diamond Light Source advanced electron, X-ray and Raman microscopy, utilising in situ liquid cell techniques, will be developed and employed to gain new and direct insights into the dynamics of mineralisation processes in biomimetic model systems by a multi-modal approach.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project LEO satellite mega constellations promise to revolutionise wireless connectivity in many areas of the world. However, they have a fundamental drawback in that conventional cellular user equipment cannot be used directly. This is in contrast with to be services offered from High Altitude Platforms (stratospheric aircraft, airships or balloons), which are capable of seamlessly integrating with terrestrial cellular networks.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Most research in underwater acoustic communication deals with the physical layer, with primitive and inflexible multiple access, despite the medium access control layer playing a crucial role in providing efficient communication. The underwater propagation environment is complex and characterised by highly variable spatial and temporal conditions due to extensive multi-path phenomena, space variability (e.g.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Robotic hands and grippers are pivotal in robotic handling or interactions with objects, and similarly, a robot can intelligently manipulate an object. This leads to a requirement for a higher skill, like that in human hands. In contrast, robotic hands and grippers are designed to be underactuated, resulting in a lack of degrees of freedom, and dexterity.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Dynamics
University of York
About the Project In the era of Internet-of-Things (IoT), there will be an astronomical amount of data generated from numerous sensors worldwide. It is extremely insecure, power-inefficient, and time-consuming to transfer all the data between sensor nodes and computing units frequently. To efficiently process this substantial amount of data, a novel paradigm termed “in-sensor computing” has been proposed recently [1].
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of York
About the Project Lung diaphragm is an integral part of respiratory system, which plays a pivotal role in the initiating and maintaining breathing cycle. Lung functionality can be compromised due to physiological conditions resulting in hypoxemic failure (Type 1 respiratory failure) to hypercapnic failure (Type 2 respiratory failure).
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Prof Will Brackenbury The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Join our team for an exciting PhD project exploring the critical role of ion channel signalling in cancer metastasis. This is a chance to build on recent, groundbreaking discoveries and develop novel strategies to suppress tumour invasion.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics Engineering
University of York
About the Project The University of York is embarking on transformative research in data-centric engineering, digital twins, and AI, revolutionizing the way systems are designed and operated. As part of this initiative, we are seeking applications for PhD positions in the field of Autonomous Intelligent Transportation Systems and Data Science. This doctoral research project focuses on the optimization of maintenance practices using advanced large language models.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Cecile Crosnier Co-supervisors: Dr J Hewitson The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Auto-immune and allergic conditions have undergone a dramatic increase in prevalence and incidence over the past few decades and are often associated with altered function of specific immune cell types.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biophysics
University of York
About the Project DNA is often depicted as a perfect double helix, yet inside living cells it is constantly bent, twisted, and supercoiled to perform essential genetic functions. These looping and supercoiling processes play key roles in gene regulation, replication, and genome organization. Despite their importance, the physical mechanisms controlling DNA looping remain poorly understood. Beyond its biological significance, DNA is also a powerful material for nanotechnology.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project Machine learning is an approach that is useful when a practical optimisation problem is difficult to describe precisely. This approach has found multiple applications. Recently, the machine learning has been used in communication systems at the physical layer for designing the communication modems. The machine learning can improve the detection performance and, at the same time, reduce the modem complexity.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Nowadays, researchers have started to conceptualize 6G with the vision of connecting everything, transmission over mmWave and THz, and integrating sensing, communication, computation, and control functionalities. To support such network evolution, the deployment of small and even tiny cells is further densified overlaying with the existing macro cellular networks.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioinformatics
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Andrew Holding The student will be registered with the Department of Biology The Holding Lab at the University of York develops and applies cutting-edge genomics, proteomics, and chemical biology technologies to explore how transcription factors and chromatin regulators control gene expression in response to cellular signals.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of York
About the Project About the Project Self-organisation is a property of many natural systems, where local interactions among individuals give rise to patterns and behaviours at the global level—for example, flocks of birds collectively avoiding a predator, or the collective decision-making process of honey bees' nest site selection [1].
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Robots heavily rely on sensors to interact with their environment. Among these sensors, multi-axis force sensors play a pivotal role in enabling robots to safely interact with objects. However, a notable drawback of these sensors is their relatively large size, rendering them unsuitable for various applications, such as miniature robotics and medical robotics.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project This project focuses on the design and control of power electronic converters for connecting renewable energy into railway grid. It aims to evaluate solutions to key technical challenges currently facing the rail industry as it transitions towards power electronic converter–based electrification schemes.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Chemical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Plasmas are promising technology for the conversion of gases such as CO2, CH4 or N2 into more valuable ones, e.g. CO (starting material for alcohols and hydrocarbons), H2 (clean fuel applications) and NH3 (fertilisers). Such gas conversion processes are essential parts of the chemical industry, requiring significant amounts of energy and resulting in CO2 emission.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Electronic Engineering
University of York
About the Project Robots are becoming increasingly essential in the practice of precision agriculture due to labor shortages, higher productivity needs, and the demand for sustainable farming practices.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Communications Engineering
University of York
About the Project Successful prediction of the performance of medium access control protocols is dependent on a realistic model of the underlying propagation channel. Such a model needs to capture the characteristics that are pertinent to the operation of the higher layer. The majority of MAC protocols proposed for underwater acoustic communication networks have so far been evaluated based upon propagation models which often capture only the most basic characteristics.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomedical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Vicki Jennings Co-supervisors: Prof Will Brackenbury The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Project Overview Cancer immunotherapies activate the immune system to eliminate cancer cells, and have revolutionised treatment for several cancers, offering the potential of long-lasting anti-tumour immunity. Unfortunately, not all cancers respond to current immunotherapeutic agents.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of York
About the Project A fundamental component of human body is connective tissue which serves various structural and supportive functions including skin integrity, abdominal wall enforcement and bone formation. It comprises of diverse cell types, fibers, and an extracellular matrix, which provides structural strength and flexibility to organ systems. Various types of cells are part of that tissues like immune response cells, fat cells, mast cells etc.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Control Systems
University of York
About the Project In contrast to conventional robots, hybrid (soft-rigid) robots offer enhanced interaction safety alongside sensorised, repeatable performance. Unlike purely soft robots, which often face challenges like parametric variation, hysteresis, and nonlinearity, hybrid robots can be equipped with sensors that provide real-time feedback on deformations. This capability enables the use of predictive algorithms for precise control.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Prof Paul Genever Co-supervisors: Dr Ioannis Kourtzelis The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Project overview Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found in adult tissues such as bone marrow and are able to form bone, cartilage and fat tissues. There is intense interest in determining how MSCs may be used in future cell-based therapies.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Artificial Intelligence
University of York
About the Project Introduction You will have complete freedom to define your research direction within the broader AI landscape: from core methods to applications, and from theory to systems.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Artificial Intelligence
University of York
About the Project Background Recent advances in foundation models are enabling a new generation of embodied AI systems that can perceive, reason about and interact with the physical world. Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and large-scale robot learning have demonstrated promising capabilities.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Electrical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Machines created by humans, even state-of-the-art space systems, are mostly monolithic centralized entities that are designed for a specific purpose and to embody specific components. This is in contrast to nearly all organisms in nature, which have evolved from self-contained elements (cells) and are composed of large groups of specialized cells that together perform complex operations and communicate by pre-arranged ensemble signalling.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Acoustics
University of York
About the Project There is a great interest in underwater autonomous vehicles (AUVs) and currently many companies develop AUVs for multiple applications. Obviously, AUVs require accurate navigation. Underwater, radio waves cannot propagate, and therefore such navigation systems as GPS, widely available on the ground, cannot operate underwater. New navigation principles and new navigation systems are required to make AUVs useful in practice.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomedical Engineering
University of York
About the Project Ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy is a new variant of Infrared spectroscopy which offers a unique analytical method for characterizing complex biomolecular samples. The bonds between atoms in molecular structures absorb IR light at specific wavelengths, so IR spectroscopy provides valuable information about the functional groups, chemical composition, and molecular structure of compounds.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cell Biology
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Ines Hahn Co-supervisors: Prof Will Brackenbury and Dr G Evans The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Background: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is the most common monogenetic disorder which affect 1/5000 and shows a high prevalence for Autism and ADHD and is caused by loss of neurofibromin, a highly conserved multidomain protein.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of York
About the Project Lead supervisor: Dr Chris MacDonald Co-supervisors: Dr Martin Fascione and Dr C Spicer The student will be registered with the Department of Biology Background AB toxins are virulence factors that hijack host-cell pathways to cause disease and show promise for therapeutic functionalization. Progress in both combating AB toxin–related disease and developing therapeutic applications is limited by poor understanding of host responses.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bioengineering
University of York
About the Project Collagen is a key protein in mammals providing the basis for connective tissue, bone, teeth and other important components of the body. Its hierarchical organisation is enabling the formation of materials with unique mechanical and optical properties and its self-similar assembly over many length scales makes it an intriguing object of studies.
- Location
- York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only