PhD projects

The following list contains details of available PhD projects within the School. Please note that these projects are currently unfunded. Applicants are required to have obtained or intend to apply for external funding. See our fees and funding page for information on sources of funding for PhD studies. Applications from candidates intending to self-fund their PhD are also accepted – please visit our self-funding students page for relevant information. Our directly funded PhD opportunities are advertised on our postgraduate research studentships page.

Search our current PhD projects by keyword or supervisor, or filter by research department. Once you have found a PhD project you would like to apply for you should express your interest, usually via email, with the supervisor before you make a formal application. Please refer to our application process for further details.

Other projects may also be possible and should be discussed with a prospective supervisor. The research themes of the School can be found on our research pages and research interests of individual members of staff can be browsed on their personal pages.

Project	Supervisor	Funding	Keywords	hide Departments	Departments
Aryne-mediated synthesis of biologically active heterocycles	Jones, Dr Chris	CONACYT CSC	Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Biocatalysis at the nanoscale	Roessler, Dr Maxie	CONACYT CSC	Analytical chemistry, Biochemistry, Electrochemistry, Physical chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Biomarkers of Subjective Vitality	Jones, Dr Janelle (primary) Pluess, Dr Michael (secondary)	CONACYT CSC	Subjective Vitality; Well-Being; Biomarkers; Longitudinal Studies; Health	Psychology	Psychology
Centromere inheritance in S. pombe and beyond	Subramanian, Dr Lakxmi	CONACYT CSC HEC Pakistan IDB	Biochemistry, Cell Biology/Development, Evolution, Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Combining biophysical and synthetic chemistry to decipher a key enzyme in respiration	Roessler, Dr Maxie and Jones, Dr Chris	CONACYT HEC Pakistan IDB	Analytical chemistry, Biochemistry, Organic chemistry, Physical chemistry, Synthetic chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Comparative physiology and evolution of neuropeptide signalling	Elphick, Prof Maurice	CONACYT CSC	Neurobiology, Evolution, Echinoderms, Bioinformatics, Genomics, Transcriptomics, Peptidomics, Molecular Histology	Biology	Biology
Computational modeling of photo-phenomena in condensed phase	Crespo-Otero, Dr Rachel	CONACYT CSC	Biophysics, Computational Chemistry, Materials Science, Physical Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Computational modelling of protein dynamics in heart disease	Fornili, Dr Arianna		Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Computational Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Computational simulations of molecular switches	Crespo-Otero, Dr Rachel	CSC	Biophysics, Computational Chemistry, Materials Science, Physical Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Contextual information in adaptation	Mareschal, Dr Isabelle	CONACYT	Neuroscience	Psychology	Psychology
Developing novel drugs to target Chagas disease	Wilkinson, Dr Shane	CONACYT	Chagas disease, Trypanosoma, Nitroreductase, DNA repair, Interstrand crosslink, Prodrugs	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Developing prodrugs to target neglected tropical diseases	Wilkinson, Dr Shane	CSC	Chagas disease, Trypanosoma, Nitroreductase, DNA repair, Interstrand crosslink, Prodrugs	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Developing novel drugs to target Leishmaniasis	Wilkinson, Dr Shane	CONACYT	Leishmaniasis, Nitroreductase, DNA repair, Interstrand crosslink, Prodrugs	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Developing novel synthetic strategies for the synthesis of metallic ceramics at lower temperature	Giordano, Dr Cristina	CSC	Materials chemistry, Nanotechnology, Physical chemistry, Synthesis	Chemistry	Chemistry
Development and characterization of new energy materials	Abrahams, Dr Isaac	CONACYT	Electrochemistry, Inorganic chemistry Materials science	Chemistry	Chemistry
Divergent synthesis of polycyclic heterocycles via direct C(sp3)-H bond activation	Jones, Dr Christopher	CONACYT CSC	Organic chemistry, Pharmaceutical chemistry, Synthetic chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Dynamic interactions between people in complex decision making contexts	Osman, Dr Magda	CONACYT CSC	Psychology, Behaviour, Mental model, Decision making	Psychology	Psychology
Electrocatalysts in Nanotubes: A Nanotechnology Computational and Experimental Approach	Di Tommaso, Dr Devis		Computational chemistry, Environmental chemistry, Materials science, Physical chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Enzyme catalysis and materials chemistry	Roessler, Dr Maxie	CONACYT CSC	Analytical chemistry, Biochemistry, Electrochemistry, Materials science, Physical chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Exploring the impact of plant genome size on community structure dependent on soils and underlying geology	Leitch, Prof. Andrew	Self-funded	Botany/Plant science, Cell Biology/Development, Ecology, Conservation, Genetics	Biology	Biology
Evolutionary genomics in ants	Wurm, Dr Yannick	CONACYT NERC DTP	Genetics, Social evolution, Next generation sequencing, Bioinformatics	Biology	Biology
Gene-Environment Interaction and Mental Health Across the Life Course	Pluess, Dr Michael	CONACYT CSC	Well-being, Mental health, Gene-Environment interaction, Genetics; Differential susceptibility, Vantage sensitivity, Cohort studies	Psychology	Psychology
G-Protein Coupled Receptors as therapeutic targets in drug discovery	Howell, Dr Lesley	Self-funded	Medicinal chemistry, Pharmaceutical chemistry, Synthetic chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
How do human cells ensure the accurate segregation of chromosomes?	Draviam, Dr Viji	Self-funded	Biochemistry, Cancer/Oncology, Cell biology/development, Genetics, Molecular biology	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Identification of inhibitors of the pro-survival protein Mcl-1	Howell, Dr Lesley	Self-funded	Medicinal chemistry, Pharmaceutical chemistry, Synthetic chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Improved computational methods for quantitative proteomics	Bessant, Prof. Conrad	CONACYT	Analytical chemistry, Biochemistry, Applied mathematics, Bioinformatics, Computer science, Data analysis, Software engineering	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Ion-Selective Organic Materials for Bioelectronic Applications	Nielsen, Dr Christian	CONACYT CSC	Organic chemistry, Materials chemistry, Synthetic chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Increasing plant stress tolerance by unravelling and exploiting the mechanism of the photosynthetic NDH complex	Roessler, Dr Maxie and Hanke, Dr Guy	CONACYT CSC HEC Pakistan IDB	Biophysics, Biochemistry, Genetics	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
The evolution of immunity in species exposed to invading pathogens	Knell, Dr Rob	CONACYT	Ecology, Conservation, Evolution, Parasitology, Immunity	Biology	Biology
Life Course Predictors of Psychological Well-Being	Pluess, Dr Michael	CONACYT CSC	Well-Being, Positive Development, Life-Course, Competence, Cohort Studies	Psychology	Psychology
Light-driven Fe-catalysed reduction of C-C multiple bondsAn approximation to the direct use of alkenes and alkynes as nucleophilic alkyl-/alkenyl- synthons	Cambeiro, Dr Xacobe	CSC	Organic Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Loneliness and its effects on vision and decision making	Mareschal, Dr Isabelle	Self-funded	Psychology, Mental health, Cognitive psychology	Psychology	Psychology
Luminescent metal complexes for optoelectronics based on fluorinated organic ligands	Wyatt, Dr Peter	CONACYT	Organic Synthesis, Photonic Materials, Organofluorine, Luminescence, Optoelectronics	Chemistry	Chemistry
Magnetic metal carbides and nitrides as alternative materials for bio-related applications	Giordano, Dr Cristina	CSC	Materials chemistry, Nanotechnology, Physical chemistry, Synthesis	Chemistry	Chemistry
Mechanisms that drive aneuploidy in cancers	Draviam, Dr Viji	CONACYT CSC	Biochemistry, Cancer/Oncology, Cell Biology/Development, Data Analysis	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Metal catalysed activation of dioxygen (air) for selective substrate oxidation	Sheriff, Dr Tippu	CONACYT	Selective Oxidation, Dioxygen, Hydrogen Peroxide, Catalysis, Green Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Metal-free C(sp3)-H arylation of unsaturated heterocycles	Jones, Dr Christopher	CSC	Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
Modelling of hybrid nanostructures for nanoelectronics and renewable energy applications	Crespo-Otero, Dr Rachel, Palma, Dr Matteo	CONACYT CSC	Biophysics, Computational chemistry, Materials science, Physical chemistry,	Chemistry	Chemistry
Molecular genetics of psychiatric disease	Brennan, Dr Caroline	CONACYT CSC	Bioinformatics, genes, psychiatric disease, zebrafish	Psychology	Psychology
Neural dynamics of learning from feedback: tracking and affecting subjective feedback evaluation	Di Bernardi Luft, Dr Caroline	CONACYT CSC	Electrophysiology, Signal processing, Artificial intelligence, Brain stimulation	Psychology	Psychology
New microbial quality testing for drinking water device	Zarbakhsh, Dr Ali	CONACYT	Environmental chemistry, Materials science, Physical chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
New tools for conservation: dissecting the relative contribution of genetic and epigenetic changes to adaptive evolution	Eizaguirre, Dr Christophe	CONACYT	Ecology and conservation, Evolution, Genetics	Biology	Biology
Protein Misfolding and the Molecular Basis of Alzheimer’s Disease	Viles, Dr John	CONACYT CSC	Biochemistry, Neurodegeneration, Protein mis-folding	Biochemistry	Biochemistry
Self-assembled block copolymers as drug delivery systems for skin treatments	Resmini, Prof Marina	CONACYT	Nanomaterials, Drug delivery, Self-assembled nanoparticles, Dermal delivery	Chemistry	Chemistry
Social dynamic decision making	Osman, Dr Magda	CONACYT	Psychology, Neuroscience	Psychology	Psychology
Social Groups, Resilience, Health and Well-being	Jones, Dr Janelle	CONACYT	Social groups, Identity, Mental health, Stress, Resilience, Well-being, Psychophysics, Psychoneuroendocrinology	Psychology	Psychology
Structural molecular biology of the type II bacterial secretion system	Pickersgill, Prof. Richard	CONACYT	Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology	Biochemistry	Biochemistry

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