Fully-funded PhD opportunities

The Solar and Space Physics research group is inviting applications for multiple fully-funded PhD studentships for a September/October 2024 start. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 31st January 2024. We offer:

• 3.5-year, fully-funded PhD studentships,
• 4-year, fully-funded STFC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science PhD studentships.

4-year, fully-funded STFC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science PhD studentships.

These PhD projects are offered as part of the STFC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science, called NUdata, which is a collaboration between Northumbria and Newcastle Universities, STFC, and a portfolio of over 40 industrial partners, including SMEs, large/multinational companies, Government and not-for profit organisations, and international humanitarian organisations. Please visit https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/nudata/ for full information.

These PhD studentships are for 4 years and include full fees, a living allowance (this was £18,622 for 2023/24) for full time study, and additional funding to cover research costs and national/international travel such as conferences. 

• Nanojets of Coronal Heating

  principal supervisor: Dr Patrick Antolin, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/ANTOLIN

• Causality versus correlation: Using AI to extract the real drivers of complex space weather processes

  principal supervisor: Dr Sarah Bentley, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/BENTLEY

• Using AI to predict coronal-loop kink instabilities by designing physics-informed neural networks

  principal supervisor: Dr Gert Botha, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/BOTHA

• Comparing ground- and space-based datasets with data science and unsupervised AI/machine learning techniques

  principal supervisor: Dr John Coxon, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/COXON

• Reconstructing and analysing space plasma data using machine learning

  principal supervisor: Dr Charlotte Goetz, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/GOETZ

• High Performance On-Board Computer with AI and SDR Features for Small-Sized Satellites

  principal supervisor: Dr Mojtaba Mansour Abadi, Advert reference: NUDATA24/MPEE/EE/MANSOURABADI

• In the presence of uncertainty: Exploring the use of Gaussian Processes to examine the Sun's corona

  principal supervisor: Dr Richard Morton, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/MORTON

• Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to forecast Earth’s Van Allen Radiation Belts

  principal supervisor: Professor Jonathan Rae, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/RAE

• Sounds Dangerous: Using Sonification Techniques to Detect Precursors to Large Wave Activity in Space Plasmas

  principal supervisor: Dr Daniel Ratliff, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/RATLIFF

• Optimizing AI to Forecast Dangerous Space Weather

  principal supervisor: Dr Andy Smith, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/SMITH

• Using AI and Machine Learning to Understand the Terrestrial Impact of Extreme Currents in Near-Earth Space

  principal supervisor: Dr Andy Smith, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/SMITHCOXON

• Mapping the global structure of nonlinear dynamics in Earth’s magnetosphere using machine learning

  principal supervisor: Dr Julia Stawarz, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/STAWARZ

• Future Proof Space Traffic Management Data Systems

  principal supervisor: Dr Matthew Townson, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/TOWNSON

• What lies beneath the surface of Mars? Advanced Numerical Modelling and Data Intensive Processing for Large and Complex Ground Penetrating Radar Data

  principal supervisor: Dr Craig Warren, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MCE/WARREN

• Construction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models of processes that govern space weather in Earth’s radiation belts to describe extreme events

  principal supervisor: Professor Clare Watt, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/WATT

• AI for smart spacecraft control

  principal supervisor: Professor Robert Wicks, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/MPEE/WICKS

• Predicting the source regions of solar energetic particles using machine learning techniques

  principal supervisor: Dr Stephanie Yardley, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/YARDLEY

• A Deep Learning Framework for Enhanced Predictive Modelling of Geomagnetic Activities

  principal supervisor: Dr Qiuyi Yi, Advert reference: NUDATA24/EE/CIS/YI

3.5-year, fully-funded PhD studentships 

These PhD studentships are for 3.5 years and include full fees, a living allowance (this was £18,622 for 2023/24) for full time study, and additional funding to cover research costs and national/international travel such as conferences. 

• Liquid sunshine - Modelling of coronal rain in the quiescent and flaring solar corona

  principal supervisor: Dr Patrick Antolin, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/ANTOLIN

• Using AI to find the giant magnetospheric waves driving near-Earth space

  principal supervisor: Dr Sarah Bentley, Advert reference: STFC24/EE/MPEE/BENTLEY

• Investigating Free Energy in Solar Active Regions and its Relation to Flaring

  principal supervisor: Dr Shaun Bloomfield, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/BLOOMFIELD

• Mass and energy transfer through the Sun’s surface: the physics of magnetic flux emergence

  principal supervisor: Dr Stephane Regnier, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/REGNIER

• Jupiter’s fiery aurora – how heat is driven into the atmosphere

  principal supervisor: Professor Tom Stallard, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/STALLARD

• Pick-up of electrons from comets, dust and interstellar neutrals in the solar wind

  principal supervisor: Professor Robert Wicks, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/WICKS1

• Novel multi-measurement plasma sensors for swarm missions

  principal supervisor: Professor Robert Wicks, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/WICKS2

• Using AI to Provide New Insights into the Physics of Cataclysmic Variable Stars

  principal supervisor: Professor Graham Wynn, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/WYNN

• Probing Solar Wind Variability in the Inner Heliosphere using Multi-spacecraft Observations

  principal supervisor: Dr Stephanie Yardley, Advert reference: STFCDTP24/EE/MPEE/YARDLEY

Please note:

If you wish to discuss your application informally then please feel free to contact the supervisor named on the project. We are happy to provide all applicants with guidance.

Please click on the hyperlinks above to read further details of each project (each title is a hyperlink).

You do not need to submit a research proposal for any of these funded projects, since they are already defined by the supervisor. If you have your own research idea and wish to pursue that, then this is also possible - please indicate this on your application (if this is the case, then please include a research proposal of approximately 300 words).

Deadline = Wednesday 31st January 2024. 

Note: We also have an additional 3-year, fully-funded PhD studentship, including full fees, a living allowance (this was £18,622 for 2023/24) for full time study, and additional funding to cover research costs and national/international travel such as conferences:

• Optical Monitoring of Objects in Low Earth Orbit for Collision Avoidance

  principal supervisor: Dr Matthew Townson, Advert reference: RDF24/EE/MPEE/TOWNSON

  Deadline = Friday 26th January 2024

Overview of the research group

We are a successful group pursuing high-international-priority research across the broad remit of Solar and Space Physics. The group demonstrates international leadership across theory, numerical modelling, observations of solar and space plasma, data intensive science, and a growing reputation for space-related hardware. You can see details of the Group *here*.

Our Solar and Space Physics research has been supported with core funding from STFC and NERC as well as funding from EU Horizon 2020, European Space Agency (ESA), UK Space Agency (UKSA), the US Air Force, the National Solar Observatory (USA), the Leverhulme Trust, and the Royal Astronomical Society. Group members sit on various national and international panels including the STFC Education, Training and Careers Committee (Prof James McLaughlin), STFC Solar System Advisory Panel (Dr Richard Morton), STFC Project Peer Review Panel (Prof Robert Wicks), UKSA’s Space Programme Advisory Committee (Prof Clare Watt) and ESA’s Space Science Advisory Committee (Prof Jonathan Rae). Members of the group, including Prof Jonathan Rae, Prof Clare Watt, Dr Shaun Bloomfield and Dr Andy Smith also contribute to the ongoing UKRI SWIMMR (Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk) national space weather programme in support of the UK Met Office. The group includes 1 Future Leader Fellow (Dr Richard Morton), 1 Royal Society University Research Fellow (Dr Julia Stawarz), 1 NERC Independent Research Fellow (Dr Andy Smith) and 1 STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow (Dr John Coxon).

*** Come and meet the Team ! ***

You will join a strong and supportive research team. The very best way to get a taste of this is to come and visit the Research Group in person, meet your fellow PhD students, and meet the PhD supervisors.

We have funding to support all UK National applicants who wish to visit the research group (with funding to fully cover reasonable travel and accommodation costs). Please contact Head of Group Professor James McLaughlin if you are interested in visiting the Group, and we can arrange travel arrangement (and cover these costs). Also feel free to contact individual PhD supervisors if this is better for you.

It is hard to communicate the benefits of joining such a strong, supportive team. Hopefully the pictures below give a flavour of this!

Eligibility and How to Apply:

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/ 

Please note: Applications that do not include the advert reference will not be considered.

These projects are open for both home * and international (including EU) students. Selection criteria:

• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.

* 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.
• If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student.