Studentships: self-funded and funded PhD projects

There are 80 self-funded or funded PhD studentship.

A

Adaptive Robotic Chemists for Resilient Pharmaceuticals

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 25th May 2025
  • Subject area: Maths and Computing
  • Supervisors: Dr Gabriella Pizzuto Dr Anthony Bradley
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Advancing a Participated GIS-based Policy Tool for Addressing the Needs of People with Impaired Mobility in Urban Environments.

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 15th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr. Gabriele Filomena Dr. Olga Gkountouna Dr. Ron Mahabir
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Advancing Nanotechnology with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 1st October 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof. Simon Maher
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Advancing Paper-Arrow Mass Spectrometry for Rapid, Non-Invasive Diagnostics

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 1st October 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof. Simon Maher
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Automated solid state synthesis robotic workflow

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof M Rosseinsky Dr Luke Daniels Dr T Manning
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

B

Beam gas curtain monitor for the High Luminosity LHC - PPPR075

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Physical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof Carsten Welsch Dr Hao Zhang Dr Stefano Mazzoni
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

C

Combining operando X-ray and Raman spectroscopy for battery material characterisation

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Monday 30th June 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof Laurence Hardwick Dr Yvonne Grunder
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

D

Defining the links between ROS and inflammaging in a human model of neutrophil-driven inflammation

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Helen Wright Prof Claire Eyers
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Design and synthesis chemical probes for fluorescent imaging and mass spectroscopy

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 25th April 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr W. David Hong Dr Victoria Ingham Prof Paul O’Neill
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Determining the role of mitochondrial DNA variation in hepatic pathways and its impact on physiology, pharmacology and toxicology: a combined in vitro and bioinformatic approach.

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th July 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Amy Chadwick Dr Dan Carr Dr Joanna Elson (Joanna.elson@newcastle.ac.uk)
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Developing inverse vulcanised polymers as functional coatings

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Monday 30th June 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Tom Hasell Jo Fothergill
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Developing new generation adsorbent for Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) removal

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Xue Zhang Prof Chai Chen Li Dr Evrim Celik Madenli
  • Eligibility: Open to EU/UK applicants

Development and validation of the Epilepsy-Heart syndrome: a focus on ictal asystole and developing evidence-based national consensus guidelines

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Thursday 3rd July 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Gashirai Mbizvo Prof Gregory Lip Prof Tony Marson Prof Ian Buchan Dr Adam Noble
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Digital soft contact lenses design and validation

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 11th March 2026
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Ahmed Abass Dr Jenny Hanson
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Digital Transformation of Chemical Analysis for Sustainable Materials Development

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr John Ward Dr Gabriella Pizzuto
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Digital twin of heat pumps integrated with thermal energy storage

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 1st August 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Zhibin Yu
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Discovery of new inorganic materials for net zero applications

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof M Rosseinsky Dr Luke Daniels
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

E

Edge-Cloud Collaborative Motion Planning for Autonomous Navigation with Large Language Models

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Heba Lakany Ian Sandall
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Effects of offshore wind farms on the distribution of invasive species

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Mohad Mousavi Nezhad
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Enhancing Marine Biodiversity Through Repurposing Manmade Structures with Secondary Coastal Flood Defence Benefits

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Monday 30th June 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Nicoletta Leonardi
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Establishing the biomarker potential of extracellular RNA structure in chronic diseases

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Friday 9th May 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Simon Tew
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Evaluating change in biodiversity at local and regional ecosytem scale

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Jack Thomson Dr Nova Mieszkowska
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Experimental Discovery of New Ionic Conducting Materials

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof M Rosseinsky Dr Luke Daniels Dr T Manning
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Exploiting Deep Learning-based protein structure prediction for function annotation and structural biology

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 18th February 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof D J Rigden Dr R Keegan
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Exploring influenza virus evolution using state-of-the-art technology and experimental animal model

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Mahmoud Naguib
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

F

Funded PhD studentship on acoustics (sound and vibration)

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 27th June 2025
  • Subject area: Arts and Humanities
  • Supervisors: Prof. Carl Hopkins Dr Pyoung Jik Lee
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

H

High Power Laser Development

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Laura Corner
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

High-Throughout Materials Discovery and Analysis for Atmospheric Water Harvesting

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Thursday 31st July 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof A I Cooper Dr Isil Akpinar
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

High-Throughout Materials Discovery and Analysis for Water Contaminant Removal

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Thursday 31st July 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof A I Cooper Dr Isil Akpinar
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

High-throughput exploration of multicomponent metal organic frameworks (MOFs)

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof M Rosseinsky Dr A Katsoulidis
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Hybrid Porous Scaffold 2D Materials for Water Purification

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr William Sharratt Dr Evrim Celik Madenli Prof Y L Chueh
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

I

Improving Photosynthetic Efficiency - Engineering and Evolution of Light-Harvesting Complexes via Synthetic Biology

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr D Canniffe
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Innovating an anti-tilt human eye topographer

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 11th March 2026
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Ahmed Abass Dr Jenny Hanson
  • Eligibility:

Instrumentation studies for AWAKE Run 2c

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Saturday 19th December 2026
  • Subject area: Physical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Professor Carsten Welsch Prof Andy Cooper
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Investigating Charged Particle Dynamics & Weber’s Force Law

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 1st October 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof. Simon Maher
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Investigating the regulation of neutrophil gene expression by intracellular signalling and micro RNAs

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Friday 6th February 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Helen Wright Prof Mandy Peffers
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Investigating the Role of Polarity Regulators in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Pathogenesis and Therapy.

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 30th September 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Pedro Perez-Mancera Prof William Greenhalf
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Is ocean circulation the ultimate driver of biological carbon storage in the ocean?

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 1st June 2025
  • Subject area: Earth Sciences and Geography
  • Supervisors: Dr Jamie Wilson Prof Alessandro Tagliabue
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Is the skeletal muscle the “fountain of cardiac youth”?

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 30th September 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Richard Rainbow Prof. McArdle Dr David Turner Dr David Wilkinson
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

L

Linking historic, contemporary, and future inspection data for improved asset monitoring

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 18th February 2026
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr W Christian Dr K Dvurecenska
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Locating and sizing electric vehicle charging stations through multi-stage stochastic optimisation

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Anna Charly Prof S Ferson Prof Dung_Ying Lin
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

M

Machine learning methods for modelling and optimising CO2 heat pumps

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 1st August 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Zhibin Yu
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Mathematical Modelling of Cell Shape and Localised Cell growth.

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Friday 1st August 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Natasha Savage
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Mechanistic investigation of immunotoxicity associated with Adeno-associated virus vector-based gene therapy

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 2nd May 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Xiaoli Meng
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Microbial Induced Electrochemistry at the Local Site and Single Cell Level

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 15th June 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences

Miniature Mass Spectrometry

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 1st October 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof. Simon Maher
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Mitigating Synthesisability Loss in 3D Generative Models

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 25th May 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Anthony Bradley Dr Gabriella Pizzuto
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Modelling non-standard longitudinal outcomes using fast Bayesian inference

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr David Hughes Dr Maria Sudell
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Molecular mechanisms underpinning A. baumannii virulence

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Sunday 1st June 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Christopher Harding Prof Aras Kadioglu
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

N

Next Generation Electroactive Membranes (EMs) for Sustainable Water Purification

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Evrim Celik Madenli Prof Jyh Ming Wu Prof John Bridgeman
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Non-invasive strategies for the mobilisation and washout of radioactive heels and residues from vessels and pipework

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 18th February 2026
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Davide Dapelo Prof Rob Poole
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

O

Optimising Vaccination Outreach Through Epidemiological-Behavioural Modelling and AI

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 7th May 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Edward Hill Professor Iain Buchan Professor Cathy Montgomery Dr André Charlett
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Organic Radicals and Diradicaloid for Single-Molecule Electronics and Quantum Information Processing

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 30th September 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof. Andrea Vezzoli Dr Amit Sil
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Oxygenic photosynthesis in desert environments driven by far-red light

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr D Canniffe
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

P

Personalised Coffee: Advanced Coffee Flavour Analysis and Custom Brewing

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 1st October 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof. Simon Maher
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

PhD studentship for entry into the Politics PhD programme

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 30th May 2025
  • Subject area: Arts and Humanities
  • Supervisors: Dr Birte Gippert
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Prescriptions for psychiatric medications in the perinatal period

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 15th April 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Elizabeth Camacho Dr Leanne Jackson Prof Ben Barr
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

R

Rankin Studentship for Postgraduate Study in Egyptology (PhD)

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 20th June 2025
  • Subject area: Arts and Humanities
  • Supervisors: HLC Research Team
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Research on flexible heat pump technology

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 1st August 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Zhibin Yu
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

RNA therapy development for inherited eye diseases

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Friday 1st August 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Kevin Hamill
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Rydberg Quantum Sensing Technologies for Resilient Communications

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 30th May 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Prof Yi Huang Dr Jiafeng Zhou
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

S

Selective C-H functionalisations in industrially important alkylarenes

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Alexey Sergeev
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Single-Molecule Electroluminescent Devices as Single-Photon Sources

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 30th September 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof. Andrea Vezzoli Dr Amit Sil
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Solution synthesis of multi-anion functional materials

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Chemical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof M J Rosseinsky Dr Luke Daniels
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

T

The nexus between climate change, extreme air pollution events and public health – Towards a holistic approach

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 31st December 2025
  • Subject area: Social Science and Health

The role and molecular actions of Galectin-3 in peritoneal fibrosis formation

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Bettina Wilm Prof Lu-Gang Yu Dr David Turner
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches to understand and treat eye disease

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Carl Sheridan Dr Neeru Vallabh Dr Lucy Bosworth
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Transition-to-turbulence in partially filled pipes

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 18th February 2026
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Dr Henry Ng Prof Rob Poole Dr Christopher Cunliffe Dr Jonathan Dodds
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

Translating Deep Learning protein bioinformatics methods to accelerate structural determination by X-ray crystallography

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Thursday 14th August 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof Daniel Rigden Dr Ronan Keegan Dr David McDonagh
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Two PhD Studentships in History

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 30th May 2025
  • Subject area: Arts and Humanities
  • Supervisors: HLC Scholarships Team
  • Eligibility: Open to UK applicants

U

Uncovering the role of Wnt and Notch signalling in embryonic stem cell pluripotency and differentiation

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr David Turner
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Understanding skeletal tissue responses to sex and menopause in osteoarthritis

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 8th April 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr B Poulet Dr Rosti Readioff Prof E Comerford
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Understanding the link between odorous thioalcohol generation and axillary microbiome bacteria at the molecular level

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 30th April 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof. Roy Goodacre
  • Eligibility: Open to EU/UK applicants

Understanding why cardiovascular complications are the number one cause of death in patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Friday 27th February 2026
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof Claire Eyers Prof Richard Scheltema
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

Underwater Radiated Noise Prediction of Commercial Ships (BMT)

  • Funding: Funded studentship
  • Application deadline: Friday 18th April 2025
  • Subject area: Engineering and Planning
  • Supervisors: Professor John Bridgeman Dr Matt Fulton Professor Andrew Plater Dr Louise Roberts
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

V

Vaccine development for important spirochaetal diseases of cattle

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Saturday 31st May 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Prof. Nicholas Evans
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide

W

Why do cancers cells re-express meiotic SYCP1 protein?

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Monday 4th August 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences

Why don't all blood vessels behave the same way? A proteomic, transcriptomic and functional “Rat map” of vascular tissue

  • Funding: Self-funded project
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 30th September 2025
  • Subject area: Biological and Medical Sciences
  • Supervisors: Dr Richard Rainbow Prof. McArdle Dr David Turner Dr David Wilkinson
  • Eligibility: Open to students worldwide