A three year PhD investigating the efficiency of transient non-thermal plasma discharges for different environmental applications is offered by the High Voltage Technologies (HVT) Research group within the Institute for Energy & Environment.

This PhD aims to develop novel processing/systems solutions for Radar/radio frequency sensors in autonomous systems such as Uncrewed Aerial or Maritime Vehicles. Solutions to be investigated will include agile waveform design/sensing and artificial intelligence/machine learning based solutions for actionable insight extraction.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning consume energy, and computing in general requires massive amounts of electricity. In order to meet sustainability goals and avoid energy shortages, new strategies for computation are being explored. In this project we want to explore the possibility of using artificial active matter to develop innovative hardware for non-digital computation and become the active agent in solving computational problems.

Our goal is to embed the 5Rs — Reduce, Recycle, Refuse, Rot, and Reuse — not just in the main targets and applications of these tiny devices, but in their entire life cycle. GREENS is committed to integrating sustainability principles into the design/ fabrication processes and applications of small-scale robots, ensuring that they are environmentally friendly from their initial building blocks (raw materials), through their processing and final disposal.

Plasma photonic structures provide new media for manipulating ultra-high intensity lasers. The PhD project will investigate these plasma structures experimentally and using numerical modelling methods. This challenging project will apply terawatt to petawatt laser beams at the University of Strathclyde and other national and international facilities to create time dependent structures and apply them as optical components and metamaterials for the next generation of exawatt to zettawatt lasers.

In this project we will investigate various approaches for on-demand engineering of trapped spin states in charged quantum dots through a series of coherent control experiments that will explore how the different approaches affect the performance of all optically operated universal single qubit gates.

A project to develop and use a new super-resolution optical microscope to obtain very high spatial resolution images of fluorescently labelled live cells.

Within this experimental PhD project, we'll utilise ultracold atoms in a quantum-gas microscope with programmable light potentials for quantum simulation.

This PhD offers the opportunity to develop an advanced optoelectronic neural implant capable of interfacing with populations of neurons across brain regions. The device will guide two wavelengths of light into deep regions of the brain to allow optogenetic excitation and inhibition of neural activity to enhance our understanding of brain function. Candidates would be expected to have a background in Physics or Engineering, with an interest in neurotechnologies.

PhD position available to undertake frontier research in nanotechnology of noble metal nanoparticles.

A fully-funded PhD studentship is available in high power laser-plasma physics, working within a vibrant team of experimentalists and theoreticians, to investigate the onset of a new regime of high-field relativistic plasmas.

PhDs are available in an exciting and challenging research area, with a vibrant group of experimentalists and theoreticians developing and applying ultra-compact accelerators and x-ray sources based on laser-plasma interactions.

Modelling of laser light propagating in micro-ring resonators in collaboration with experiments performed at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen (Germany). Applications of these devices are in atomic clocks, quantum technologies, telecommunication, GPS and integrated photonic circuits.

Scaling quantum systems requires a move from bulk components and bench-top experiments to on-chip circuit architectures. The range of functions required to deliver these chipscale systems means that they cannot be manufactured on a single material platform. In this project the student will develop photonic circuit technologies operating at visible wavelengths and with integrated membrane devices for function-on-demand, realised using nanoscale accurate heterogeneous integration methods.

This project will take advantage of the EPSRC strategic equipment Electron Probe MicroAnalyzer (EPMA) at the University of Strathclyde to investigate wide bandgap semiconductors (AlGaN, Ga2O3, and h-BN) materials and devices for far UV-C applications.

Advanced robotic systems are increasingly making use of networks of distributed sensors and feedback control systems embedded in their structure to improve the sensitivity, accuracy, adaptability of their motion. This project will develop a new form of opto-electronic 'nerve' infrastructure for robotic components based on co-fabricated optical waveguide and mechanical structures with critical dimensions in the 10-3 - 10-1 mm range and multi-modal sensing and communications functionality.

This PhD project will develop advanced 3D micro-assembly techniques for photonic integrated circuits, enabling vertically stacked, precisely aligned optical components on-chip. Using custom transfer printing tools in a state-of-the-art cleanroom, you’ll design, fabricate, and test novel photonic devices with applications in communications, nonlinear optics, and quantum technologies.

This project will develop ultrafast, efficient light-enabled neuromorphic sensing systems using photonic-electronic devices able to generate neural-like optical spikes. It will develop and investigate brain-inspired photonic sensing and in-sensing processing systems exploiting opto-electronic components which like neurons will be able to encode environmental events at high speed using light spikes.

One of the most important areas of research to make quantum computers useful is developing practical quantum algorithms. In this project, you will tackle some of the many open problems that stand in the way of using quantum computers to speed up scientific computing. You will use both analytical and computational methods to carry out your research, including running algorithms on test bed quantum computers.

The project will develop advanced spatial modulation techniques leveraging the 2D array of optical transmitters and receivers to enable scalable high-capacity MIMO optical wireless communication. The goal is to develop optical frontends to enable massive parallelism and effective spatial decoding algorithms to enable high spectral efficiency and efficient communication.

Photonic supraparticles (SPs) are light active structures, a few tens to thousands of nanometres in size, made of close-packed nanoparticles (such as colloidal quantum dots) - the latter acting as building blocks or ‘nano-bricks’. SPs have huge potential in advanced photonic applications, including laser and quantum technologies, optical communications, and chemical and biological sensing. This project will push the development of SP photonics.

This PhD explores cutting-edge encryption using photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to create ultra-secure, high-speed communication systems. You’ll design and fabricate next-generation PICs that combine advanced photonics with CMOS electronics, leveraging state-of-the-art microfabrication and integration techniques. You’ll gain hands-on expertise in photonic design, fabrication, and testing, while contributing togroundbreaking research in secure communications.

This PhD project aims at leveraging the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of broad-area semiconductor lasers for neuromorphic computing. To succeed in this endeavour, the researcher will develop novel strategies to optically couple those lasers with large-scale linear photonic integrated circuits. The resulting hybrid photonic neural networks will find applications in all-optical signal processing, quantum and sensing.

A fully-funded position to undertake research in the ground-breaking field of quantum sensing and measurement, after the first year specialising in Atom Interferometry.

A fully-funded position to undertake research in the ground-breaking field of quantum sensing and measurement, after the first year specialising in Atomic Clocks.

A fully-funded position to undertake research in the ground-breaking field of quantum sensing and measurement, after the first year specialising in Magnetometry.

This project will utilise the advanced SQuAre neutral atom quantum computing platform developed at Strathclyde, offering programable control of up to 225 individual atomic qubits. The aim of this project is to explore and develop new quantum algorithms for solving graph optimisation problems relevant for material science, quantum chemistry and real-world industry problems relating to logistics, aerospace and fintech.

The project is focused on development of a dual-species platform for neutral atom quantum computing to address the major barriers to scaling existing platforms from 100s to thousands of qubits, namely extending atom array trapping lifetimes through integration in a cryogenic environment and enabling active error correction through the ability to perform cross-talk free, state-selective local measurements.

This project will focus on the investigation of a hybrid system involving exciton-polaritons and quantum dots in monolithic semiconductor microcavities at the Experimental Quantum Nanoscience Lab. Based on the interaction between the exciton polaritons and electron spins trapped in quantum dots, this system will be investigated towards the creation of scalable quantum hardware.

This PhD project will investigate new neuromorphic functionalities in photonic integrated circuits. The programme will hybridize state-of-the-art semiconductor integrated devices with photo-chemical switches, targeting tunability and all-optical information storage. Those devices will be used to build hardware-based photonic neural networks demonstrating synaptic plasticity and self-learning. This project is part of a funded, international collaboration with groups in Germany and Italy.

Gallium oxide is an emerging semiconductor offering promises for applications in ultraviolet optical devices. The project aims to improve our understanding of the material, elucidate the mechanisms leading to its optical properties, and exploit the findings to produce better devices.

Microscopy is a key technology for understanding biological systems. This project seeks to combine super-resolution techniques with the use of nanodiamond based measurements of biological activity, such as sub-cellular thermometry.

In this PhD project we aim to develop next-generation neural interfaces that combine multi-wavelength control of neurons with electrophysiological recording. The student will join a well-resourced team of researchers, including physicists, engineers and neuroscientists with collaborations across the US and Europe.

A fully-funded position to undertake research on quantum fluids. You'll work closely with the supervisor to develop a state-of-the-art experimental apparatus to explore vortex dynamics in binary superfluids, with a particular emphasis on reduced dimensionality where quantum effects are enhanced.

Photonic supraparticles are closed-packed assemblies a few tens to thousands of nanometres in size made of photonic nanoparticles, the latter acting as the building blocks or ‘nano-bricks’ for the SP. Our team has established self-assembly processes to fabricate SPs from the bottom-up; we have shown we can make microscopic lasers this way and are engineering their performance and applications. This PhD project will push the development of SP photonics and explore aspects of this technology.

Structural imperfections in the crystalline materials used to make electronic and optoelectronic devices, can limit device performance and can lead to device failure. In this project the student will push the limits of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), a scanning electron microscopy technique, to investigate the structural properties of new materials such as AlGaN nanostructures in development for UV LEDs, or halide perovskites for next generation solar cells.

This project will develop new numerical techniques for studying many-body quantum systems far from equilibrium, exploring the possible phase transitions which can be realised.

You will be part of a new research area for the UK, namely making absolute and traceable measurements of temperature using optical measurements of the Doppler broadening of an atomic transition. The aim is to scale to practical (~mm sized) sensors using miniature optical cells filled with appropriate atomic/molecular species. This project is in conjunction with external collaborative partner Graham Machin at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

Work at the frontier of fusion physics using ultra‑intense lasers, AI‑driven modelling and advanced simulations. This PhD blends high power laser experiments with supercomputer‑scale computation and machine learning to predict and control the behaviour of relativistic plasmas. Gain future‑proof skills, access internationally-leading laser facilities, and play a direct role in advancing fusion‑energy research.

This project will design and fabricate bespoke light-emitting diodes in our in-house cleanroom facility for applications in optical wireless classical and quantum communications. The successful applicant will learn semiconductor fabrication techniques and use advanced opto-electronic test equipment. The project is offered in collaboration between the University of Strathclyde and Fraunhofer UK, providing experience in industrially relevant applied physics research.

This EngD offers the chance to explore how light itself can be used as a precision tool for materials engineering. You will investigate the combined use of femtosecond laser inscription and chemical etching to create three-dimensional structures from laser gain media; and demonstrate the construction of optical components and laser cavities that cannot be produced by conventional machining.

Join the next revolution in global communications, connecting the seabed to space through emerging 6G technologies. This EngD aims to develop advanced underwater optical wireless communication systems to tackle challenges of underwater turbulence and signal distortion by investigating cooperative, spatially distributed transceivers with advanced signal processing.

Enabling communication beyond the line-of-sight (LoS) paradigm is crucial for enhancing the link availability and system flexibility of optical wireless communication (OWC). However, several challenges must be addressed to make non-LoS links practically viable. This project aims to develop a comprehensive channel model for deep ultraviolet (UV) non-LoS OWC and to design advanced communication and signal processing techniques to improve the performance of non-LoS OWC.

The first year will work closely with a funded project to develop a methodology for computing with photonic devices (both classical and quantum computing). Subsequent years will extend the work to develop applications and further examples of applying the methodology to physical devices suitable for computing.

A fully-funded position to undertake research on quantum fluids. This project will use an ultra-cold atom experiment to explore how binary superfluids behave in low-dimensional settings where quantum fluctuations dominate, advancing our understanding of collective quantum behaviour. You will study the dynamics of vortices (quantum whirlpools) to gain key insight into the inner workings of this quantum many-body system.

This PhD project offers the chance to develop next-generation compact hybrid monolithic lasers for quantum systems used in position, navigation, and timing (PNT). You will work on creating ultra-stable lasers with sub-kHz linewidths and novel wavelengths through cavity design, noise modelling, and advanced stabilisation techniques, while applying these systems to cutting-edge cold atom experiments.

This PhD project explores emergent quantum phases in ultracold atomic gases, with a focus on light-mediated interactions and optical feedback. You will work closely within a small, collaborative team of PhD students, a postdoctoral researcher, and your supervisors to investigate how interactions drive self-organisation, pattern formation, and supersolidity. Both funded and unfunded PhD positions are available.

John Anderson Research Studentship Scheme (JARSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.

There are two main sources of funding:

• Central University funding
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Doctoral Landscape Award (EPSRC - DLA) funding.

The JARSS 2026/27 competition will open in November 2025 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2026. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.

Academics/Supervisors make the applications for this scheme and there are various deadlines across Departments and Faculties, therefore, in the first instance, all interested applicants should contact the Department where they would like to carry out their research.