Research Studentships

PhD Studentships

UKRI AI Centre For Doctoral Training in Sustainable Understandable Agri-food Systems Transformed by Artificial Intelligence (SUSTAIN)

Applications are invited for fully-funded four-year PhD studentships to join the SUSTAIN doctoral training programme conducting research in the application of artificial intelligence to sustainable agri-food. There are 12 studentships available as part of the first cohort, starting in October 2024.

Successful students will study a four-year PhD at their chosen host institution (either the University of Lincoln, University of Aberdeen, Queen’s University Belfast, or the University of Strathclyde), investigating a research area that links both an identified industry need and individual academic interests, helping to develop a new generation of AI systems across the food supply chain.

You can explore the projects available at https://www.sustain-cdt.ai/research.

Project Background

Bringing together the expertise and resources of four academic institutions, SUSTAIN spans the landscape of UK agriculture, critical AI research areas, and the national geography of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It provides training in technical and social science aspects of AI, alongside training in plant, animal and/or biosciences, tailored to individual students’ needs and interests.

This is your chance to make a real difference by helping to address the challenges facing the global agri-food industry, through application and/or consideration of AI, climate change, population growth, political pressures affecting migration, and the demographics of an ageing population.

Associated Training

A cohort-based, integrated research training programme will take place throughout the four-year PhD, to include tailored training pathways in computation and data, animal science, agronomy, sustainable land management, and responsible innovation. SUSTAIN will deliver training in several formats, designed to meet the research development needs and learning styles of individual students. Students can also benefit from participation in the CDT’s annual summer schools and conferences.

How to Apply

Recruitment for October 2024 entry is now open, and applications close at midnight on 28 April 2024.

Full details on how to apply can be found at https://www.sustain-cdt.ai/vision.

PhD Studentship

Investigation of structural reconstruction of metal-organic thin films under electrocatalytic conditions: catalyst or pre-catalyst?

Supervisory Team: Dr Souvik Roy, University of Lincoln 

Applications are invited for outstanding candidates to join our 3-year PhD programme at the University of Lincoln's School of Chemistry. Applicants are invited from motivated and enthusiastic candidates with undergraduate/Master's degree level studies in chemistry, ideally inorganic, material, organic or physical, who are interested in interdisciplinary and collaborative science. 

The PhD programme will have a focus on studying metal-organic framework (MOF)-based electrodes for energy related applications.

Candidates are expected to start their position on 1 April 2024, or as soon as possible after the intended date.

Project Background

The development of electrochemical technologies is attracting considerable interest due to their growing part in renewable energy conversion and the storage and decarbonisation of the energy sector.

Application of metal-organic frameworks in electrochemical systems is an emerging area because of the unique capabilities of these materials, including modularity, molecularly defined structure, and large number of accessible active sites. The concepts of MOFs in electrocatalysis are still underdeveloped, with open questions about their electrochemical stability and structural reconstruction under operation conditions.

Aims

To augment the fundamental understanding of how MOFs operate as electrocatalysts through a combination of ex-situ and in-situ techniques, with the findings guiding the design of the next generation of MOF electrocatalysts. 

The project will focus on:

• Designing, synthesising, and characterisation of new linkers and metal-organic frameworks
• Developing and optimising methods for integrating metal-organic frameworks into mesoporous electrodes and investigate their electrocatalytic properties
• Developing in-situ spectroscopic tools to probe the electrode materials at molecular level. 

Person Specification and Requirements

Applicants will have an Honours or Master's degree in chemistry or relevant areas of research, with a background and interest in coordination chemistry, electrochemistry, and materials science. They will have excellent communication skills, the ability to conduct self-motivated and independent research, and preference will be given to students with hands-on research experience. 

About the School of Chemistry at Lincoln

The School of Chemistry is located in the Joseph Banks Laboratories, and is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for material synthesis, characterisation, and catalyst testing. The School has heavily invested in infrastructure to support our Advanced Functional Materials research group and, in recent years, in the existing electrochemical infrastructure for both laboratory-based and in-situ characterisation. The School also has direct access to the newly opened ERDF co-funded research facility for advanced engineering materials, 'The Bridge', that houses state-of-the-art microscopes (SEM, TEM, AFM).

Funding

A tax-free stipend of ca. £18,622 p.a. for 3 years is provided, alongside the payment of all University fees for home students. Non-home students would be required to secure funding for the additional international fees, and should clarify this in their cover letter. 

How to Apply

Applications including a covering letter and CV should be directly sent to chemistry@lincoln.ac.uk with the subject title “Studentship 1AB-2CA-800028”.

For any informal enquiries, please contact Dr Souvik Roy at sroy@lincoln.ac.uk.

PhD Studentship

Microplastic Contamination as a Threat to Human Health

Supervisory Team: Prof Jeanette Rotchell

This PhD aims to firstly examine the presence, distribution, levels, types, and targeted impacts of microplastics within the human body. A second aim is to relate the findings to a mathematical modelling approach to predict the distribution of microplastics within the body.

It is already established that microplastics are present in many tissues within the body and our earlier work has produced datasets for human lung, blood, and urine. Previous studies have focused on specific tissue types, have used a variety of isolation and characterisation techniques, and this has resulted in a patchwork of datasets. This study will take a holistic approach and use three commonly adopted microplastic characterisation techniques available at the University of Lincoln; micro-FTIR, Raman and SEM, to calibrate the findings. The techniques will allow polymer, size and shape characterisation which can inform the subsequent stage of biological effects investigation.

The second element involves mathematical modelling to explore the possibility of predicting microplastic particle fate within the body based on their properties and the size dimensions of the various transport systems within the body.

Training and Development

The successful candidate will receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal and professional skills.

All researchers at University of Lincoln are part of the Doctoral College and College of Health and Science wider postgraduate community, which provides support with high quality training and career development opportunities.

Funding

A tax-free stipend of ca. £18,622 p.a. (in monthly instalments). The fees are £4,712.

Entry requirements for applicants to PhD

A bachelor’s (honours) degree in a relevant discipline/subject area with a minimum classification of 2:1 and a minimum mark of 60% in the project element (or equivalent), and the potential to engage in innovative research, and to complete the PhD within 3.5 years.

How to Apply

To find out more about the project, please contact Professor Jeanette Rotchell, jrotchell@lincoln.ac.uk. 

Applications will require a two page CV and a 2000-word supporting statement, showing how the applicant's expertise and interests are relevant to the project. 

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – ‘Courting Magnificence: The Materiality of Late Medieval Queens’ Households’ with Historic Royal Palaces

Start date: 1 October 2024

Application Deadline: Wednesday 15 May 2024 at 5pm (GMT)

Interviews will take place on Monday 3 June 2024

The University of Lincoln and Historic Royal Palaces are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2024 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

This collaborative project examines how their gender and ‘foreign’ backgrounds influenced the identity, conspicuous consumption, and materiality of three English queens consort - Eleanor of Castile (d.1290) and Margaret of France (d.1318), Queens of King Edward I, and Isabella of France (d.1358), Queen of King Edward II - as they were expressed through their households in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

This project will be jointly supervised by Professor Louise Wilkinson and Dr Laura Tompkins and the student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Lincoln and Historic Royal Palaces, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time.

We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for this CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from individuals with backgrounds which are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. 

Students should have a master's degree in a relevant subject and overseas students are required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 7.0 overall, with a minimum of 6.5 in each element.

The studentship is open to both home and international applicants (additional fees apply to international students – see eligibility section below)

Project Overview

Late medieval queens consort occupied a privileged and unique status within the English realm as the wives and mothers of kings. Each queen possessed her own household, separate from that of her husband, which potentially allowed her to develop her own power base at the royal court and to maintain a suitably magnificent lifestyle appropriate for her regal position. This collaborative project between the University of Lincoln’s Medieval Studies Research Group and Historic Royal Palaces examines how their gender and ‘foreign’ backgrounds influenced the identity, conspicuous consumption, and materiality of three English queens consort as they were expressed through their households in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

The domestic establishments of Eleanor of Castile (d.1290) and Margaret of France (d.1318), King Edward I’s two queens, and Isabella of France (d.1358), King Edward II’s wife and usurper, are richly documented in extant household accounts preserved in the British Library, the UK National Archives, and the Society of Antiquaries of London, just two of which have been published (those for Eleanor of Castile’s household in 1290 and for Isabella of France’s household in 1311-12). Until now, the contents of these Latin records have never been studied in detail together to interrogate what they reveal about the material construction of queenship, queenly identity, and lifestyles within medieval English royal palaces. 

Working under Professors Louise Wilkinson and Amy Livingstone of the University of Lincoln, leading authorities on medieval royal and aristocratic women and their households, and Dr Laura Tompkins and Dr Charles Farris of Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), who have extensive experience in researching late medieval royal household accounts, the doctoral student will undertake the first ever detailed analysis of the extant household accounts of Queens Eleanor of Castile, Margaret of France, and Isabella of France, as a group. They will examine the queens’ diet, lifestyle, dress, treasure, moveable possessions (e.g. manuscripts, textiles, devotional items), and the furnishings of their apartments in royal palaces.

Exploring the personnel and administration of these households will be central to this study, identifying the similarities and differences with the administration of kings’ households. Hitherto, scholarly studies of the materiality of queenly households have focused mainly on the Tudor consorts of King Henry VIII or on the association between individual queens and particular manuscripts, sculptures, or textiles. This groundbreaking project therefore promises to transform our understanding of the artistic, cultural, and spatial environments which late medieval queens experienced, inhabited, and shaped in an era before the Renaissance, when Gothic art and architecture reigned supreme. 

The student’s research will play a vital role in Historic Royal Palaces’ knowledge of how the queen’s apartments at the Tower of London may have been furnished and decorated. A UNESCO World Heritage site visited by millions of UK and international visitors each year, ‘The Medieval Palace’ is one of three core stories that audiences experience on site. As part of their studentship, the successful candidate will have the opportunity will have the opportunity to contribute to the interpretation of these spaces and related public engagement outputs, particularly in relation to the female inhabitants of the Tower.

Research Questions Include

• What were the households of late medieval queens like, visually and materially, and what new insights can be gained by comparing them with one another? 
• How did the materiality and rhythms of life within these institutions reflect the changing personal interests, dynamism, and identities of these women throughout their lives?  
• To what extent did the furnishings, decorative features, and spatial layout of queens’ households shape the perceived magnificence and functionality of the late medieval English royal court and its residences? 
• What do records for clothing, jewels, plate, and other objects suggest about the personal preferences of these women as patrons, consumers, ambassadors, and agents for cultural transfer between courts and kingdoms?
• What do records for diet and wellbeing reveal about feasting, fasting, and perceptions of women’s health in courtly circles?

Research with Historic Royal Palaces

This collaborative research studentship project was awarded to Professor Louise Wilkinson of the University of Lincoln and Dr Laura Tompkins of Historic Royal Palaces by the REACH CDP consortium. The award is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and is designed to support the work and strategic objectives of Historic Royal Palaces.

The nature of a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) award is that the project is fully collaborative, and the successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research, undertaking placement activities and participating in wider activities at Historic Royal Palaces’ sites (especially the Tower of London) as part of their studentship. In doing so the student will gain important experience of the professional workplace, with a view to a potential career in the sector.

As well as being part of the wider national CDP cohort, as a REACH CDP award holder the student will also have the opportunity to participate in REACH consortium development activities. The members of the REACH CDP consortium are Historic Royal Palaces, Royal Museums Greenwich/National Maritime Museum, British Film Institute (BFI), the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Trust. 

Details of Award

CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 4 years or part-time equivalent up to a maximum of 8 years.   

The student is required to spend between 3 and 6 months (or part-time equivalent) of their funded period undertaking professional placement or development activities with Historic Royal Palaces or other relevant organisations as agreed between the student and their supervisors.    

The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home UKRI rate for PhD degrees. Research Councils UK Indicative Fee Level for 2024/2025 is £4,786*

The award pays full maintenance for all students both home and international students. The UKRI National Minimum Doctoral Stipend for 2024/2025 is £19,237, *plus a CDP maintenance payment of £600/year, *plus an allowance of £1000/year (London weighting for Historic Royal Palaces).

The student is eligible to receive an additional travel and related expenses grant during the course of the project courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces worth up to £850 per year for 4 years.

The successful candidate will be eligible to participate in events organised for all Collaborative Doctoral Partnership students who are registered with different universities and studying with cultural and heritage organisations across the UK.

Eligibility

• This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.
• To be classed as a home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:

     - Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or

     - Have settled status, or

     - Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or

     - Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

Further guidance can be found here - https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/UKRI-030221-Guidance-International-Eligibility-Implementation-training-grant-holders-V2.pdf

• International students are eligible to receive the full award for maintenance as are home students. They will need to pay themselves the difference between what the AHRC provide to the university for tuition and the charge made by the university for tuition fees for international students studying for a doctoral degree in Medieval Studies. This for 2024/25 is the tuition fees for international students at the University of Lincoln are £15,900 per academic year for full-time students and £7,950 per academic year for part-time students.
• We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for a CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from students from backgrounds which are currently underrepresented at this level in this area.
• Applicants should have or expect to receive a relevant Masters-level qualification in a relevant subject, such as History, Medieval Studies, Art History, Museum Studies, or Heritage Management. Experience of archival research using original documents and/or knowledge of Latin or French languages is desirable, but not essential.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the heritage sector and enthusiasm for developing experience and skills cognisant with a potential future career in the cultural, heritage, galleries, museums, and archive sectors.
• As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both the University and Historic Royal Palaces.

N.B. All applicants must meet UKRI terms and conditions for funding. See:

https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

Project Details and How to Apply

To apply for this position, please send your CV, cover letter, a sample of your own writing, and EDI Monitoring Form to Professor Louise Wilkinson (medievalstudies@lincoln.ac.uk) with the subject heading “Courting Magnificence CDP Studentship Application”. 

Your cover letter should provide: (1) information on how your qualifications and experience are suitable to work on the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Studentship for ‘Courting Magnificence’; (2) an outline of how you might approach and develop this doctoral project during your four years of study (full-time) or eight years (part-time); and (3) the contact details for two academic references.

Your sample of your own writing may be an essay of around 2,000 words, a dissertation, or an equivalent piece of work.

Applicants are welcome to contact Professor Louise Wilkinson (medievalstudies@lincoln.ac.uk) if they have any questions.

PhD Studentship

Implementation of GPU-accelerated simulations for real time propagated excited states and applications to organometallic photochemistry

Supervisors: Professor Matt Watkins, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln and Dr Joshua Elliott & Dr Sofia Diaz-Moreno, Department of Physical Science, Diamond Light Source Ltd.

4-year Fully Funded PhD Studentship developing real-time time-dependent density functional theory simulations of photoactive organometallic compounds.

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. By accelerating electrons to near light-speed, Diamond generates brilliant beams of light from infra-red to X-rays which are used for academic and industry research and development across a range of scientific disciplines including structural biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, earth and environmental sciences.

Summary

Applications are welcome for a four-year funded PhD studentship jointly held at the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln and the Spectroscopy Group at Diamond Light Source starting October 2023. The Studentship will focus on developing GPU parallelised routines for Real-Time Propagated Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory with the Open Source CP2K software and their application to Pump and Probe spectroscopy data collected at the I18 Microfocus beamline.

Background

Understanding, on an atomic scale, how light-activated processes drive chemical reaction mechanisms, local geometric rearrangements and charge transfer reactions will be pivotal in engineering next-generation devices and overcoming our overreliance on carbon-positive technology. X-ray pump and probe spectroscopy is a critical tool for probing light-induced reaction mechanisms and photo-excited states. However, this type of experiment typically provides data of seldom observed chemical states and therefore, further analysis and characterisation can be highly challenging.

First-principles simulations can be focal in interpreting experimental spectroscopic data collected at Diamond Light Source. Real-Time Propagation Time-Dependent DFT has emerged as a powerful and viable means to investigate the time evolution of excited states subject to a time-dependent electromagnetic field.

Project Description

The studentship targets the acceleration of the RTP-TDDFT routines within the CP2K code through GPU parallelisation. RTP-TDDFT will be deployed to provide insight into the fundamental dynamical excited state properties of organo-transition metal complexes of particular interest to the facilities’ user communities. In addition, it will implement an automated framework for RTP-TDDFT simulations of more generalised materials across different High-Performance Computing facilities available to Diamond Light Source scientists and users.

Further Information

Diamond Light Source Ltd holds an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, demonstrating their commitment to provide equal opportunities and to advance the representation of women in STEM/M subjects: science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

How to Apply

We seek a highly motivated student interested in research software development and materials science to join our team. Interested applicants are asked to provide an up-to-date CV and a one to two page cover letter outlining their scientific background, expertise and research interests and the names ad contact details of two references to Joshua.elliott@diamond.ac.uk and MWatkins@lincoln.ac.uk. Informal enquiries are also encouraged.

The position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.