Postgraduate research opportunities Leverhulme PhD scholarships in nature inspired design
ApplyKey facts
- Opens: Monday 15 December 2025
- Number of places: 6
- Duration: 48 months
- Funding: Equipment costs, Home fee, Stipend, Travel costs
Overview
We invite applicants from a range of science, engineering, and humanities disciplines to join a doctoral centre, funded by The Leverhulme Trust, for training future leaders to work in an interdisciplinary team that will pioneer the chemistry, materials, devices, architectural built structures, and analytical frameworks that can exploit sounds and vibrations for enabling sustainable applications and energy management.Eligibility
You must be a home student (see funding details). Eligible candidates from all backgrounds, income levels, identities, and experiences are encouraged to apply.
You are expected to hold or anticipate holding a Bachelors or Masters degree at the UK 2:1 level or above. The degree discipline should be relevant to one of the research themes of the doctoral centre (see Project Description).
You should also demonstrate experience in conducting an extended piece of technical work, such as placement, research/group/thesis project, professional employment, set of technical data analysis.
You should further demonstrate interest in some of the following areas:
- interdisciplinary research
- nature-inspired materials
- the synthetic-biological interface
- acoustic actuation
- architecture/civil engineering
- analysis of future technologies
- sustainability
Project Details
We invite applicants from a range of disciplines and a curious mindset – including engineering, chemistry, design, materials, machine learning, biology, psychology, social science, architecture – to join the interdisciplinary Leverhulme Doctoral School in Nature Inspired Acoustics (NIA).
Research themes
The research themes of the doctoral training centre are:
- Bioinspired Chemistry and Materials
- Nature-Inspired Sensors and Devices
- Nature-Inspired Design for Intelligent Environments
- Futures and Foresight
Applicants are encouraged to propose their own research topics relevant to the themes of NIA. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Themes 1 & 2
- molecular assembly
- machine learning
- insect inspired hearing systems
- microdevices & sensors
- cell systems
- hydrogels
- peptide-mimicry
- biopolymers
- green chemistry
- 3D printing
Theme 3
- nature-inspired design for intelligent environments
- architectural soundscape design
- infrastructure monitoring
- living materials
- biomimetic communications
Theme 4
- futures thinking on technological advances
- using judgment to anticipate nature inspired devices
Applicants may hold a Bachelors or Masters degree by the time of entry. Applicants will ordinarily apply for a 4-year PhD scholarship. Talented applicants with less preparation could qualify for a 5-year Masters and PhD scholarship (see Eligibility).
Funding details
You must be a home student (UK citizen or holding settled status).
International students who do not qualify or who do not have their own funding will not be considered.
Scholarships include full tuition at the home fees rate, a tax-free stipend (£20,780 per year for 2025/2026), and a £10,000 research budget for consumables and travel. The stipend may be revised to track the UKRI minimum stipend rate at the discretion of the project funder (The Leverhulme Trust).
While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.
Apply
If you are interested, please apply as soon as possible. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis between 31 January to 31 March 2026. After this date, email to inquire about the availability of the opportunity.
To apply, download the Application and Cover Letter template and return the completed form to nia-leverhulme@strath.ac.uk.
Include the following and any other information requested in your form when returning it:
- explanation of whether you qualify for UK/Scottish home fees (see form);
- brief explanation of what interests you to the doctoral centre;
- brief explanation of what has prepared you for an extended scientific investigation, such as, academic achievement, overcoming of barriers, placement, research, data analysis, group project
- CV
Applicants successful at this initial stage will be invited to an online interview. Outcomes will be communicated by email in the week following the interview.
Number of places: 6
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