Find a supervisor and develop your own project or choose one of our academic-led projects listed below. See further information on the application process and available support from the Doctoral College.

See our available projects on FindaPhD

• Stimuli-Responsive smart coatings for tunable Microlasers

Supervisors: Dr Soraya Caixeiro, Dr Adam Squires

• High-Power Fibre Lasers that Feel and Think

Supervisors: Dr Joe Chen, Prof William Wadsworth

• Multicore Fibre Devices for Hyperspectral Endoscopy

Supervisors: Dr Stephanos Yerolatsitis, Prof Tim Birks

• Tracking Microplastics in Plants Using Optical Resonances

Supervisor: Dr Soraya Caixeiro

• Topological control of infrared and terahertz light

Supervisors: Dr Said Ergoktas, Prof William Wadsworth

• Theoretical nanophotonics for engineering novel photonic phases and extreme light-matter coupling regimes

Supervisors: Dr Marie Rider, Dr Andriy Gorbach

• Optical Fibres for Experimental Medicine

Supervisors: Dr Kristina Rusimova, Prof Tim Birks

• First principles TD-DFT and GW methods for the ultrafast dynamics of quantum materials

Supervisors: Dr Enrico Da Como, Dr Simon Crampin

• Disentangling internal versus external drivers of galaxy evolution

Supervisors: Prof Stijn Wuyts, Dr Martin Rey,

• Waxing lyrical: Investigating a new route to produce floral colour for successful pollination

Supervisor: Dr Rox Middleton

See available PhD projects in the Department of Physics

• Twisting light and nanostructures with quantum advantage in a cutting-edge laser lab

This project involves ultrashort laser pulses to study nanomaterials of different shape and composition. We aim to build a quantum light source and to discover further new physical effects that will pave the way for nanorobotic and self-assembling meta-materials.

Supervisor: Prof Ventsislav Valev

• Optical fibres for the Vacuum Ultraviolet

Fancy a challenge? Deep in the ultraviolet (below 190 nm wavelength) glass is not transparent, even air absorbs light strongly and mirrors do not reflect light well – so how can it be possible to make an optical fibre to take light round corners?

Supervisor: Prof William Wadsworth

Find funding for Doctoral research.