We are delighted to announce a series of PhD Scholarships for students with backgrounds in Applied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Chemical Engineering or Engineering, interested in embarking on a PhD project related to energy, environment and fluid mechanics, in the Institute.
Details of the research in the Institute may be found here and some of the possible PhD projects related to this scheme are listed below.
Applications should be made through the University Application system, listing the preferred project and indicating that the research will be carried out in the Institute. It is recommended that applications should be submitted before 15 December 2026.
The PhD Scholarships will fund living expenses and graduate fees at a level comparable to a UKRI home-based PhD studentship for 3.5 years.
Research projects:
High-temperature thermal energy storage
Supervisors: Andy Woods and Alex Routh
Long-term and high-capacity thermal energy storage is becoming increasingly important as part of the infrastructure needed to enable an efficient and effective energy transition. In this project, we aim to explore optimal approaches to charge and then discharge large-scale and high-temperature solid thermal energy storage systems, using a suitable fluid for the thermal energy transport and heat exchange system. The challenge for such systems lies in the efficiency of the total thermal energy stored as a fraction of the supply and as a fraction of the potential thermal energy capacity of the system, when running multiple charge-discharge cycles. The project will involve modelling and analogue experiments in the laboratory to establish some of the key principles and some baseline reference models with which to assess more exotic design.
Laboratory experiments on the role of boundary-generated turbulence on mixing within an ocean basin
Supervisors: Quentin Kriaa and Andy Woods
Turbulent mixing in ocean basins plays a key role in the transport of heat and carbon and this impacts the residence time distribution of carbon stored in the deep ocean, of material consequence for long term models of the climate system, for which the ocean has a key role buffering changes in atmospheric carbon. Recent scoping experiments in the Institute have been exploring the impact of bottom boundary-generated turbulence on the vertical mixing of a ventilated basin in terms of the density profile which arises and the associated rates of vertical transport. This PhD project is designed to build new experiments with accompanying theoretical models to develop new insights of the basin scale processes controlling these complex and non linear transport processes. A related earlier project on mixing by a vertical boundary was reported by Li and Woods (JFM 2023/2024) for interest.
Instabilities in leaching reactions during mineral extraction
Supervisor: Andy Woods
Mineral extraction processes are undergoing a major boom owing to the rapidly growth of demand for building key elements of the energy transition, including copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese, which play a key role as building blocks for electrodes and electric component manufacture. Leaching of existing tailings deposits, but also of subsurface formations, is becoming increasingly important and there is interest in developing more efficient approaches to these technologies while also reducing the potential environmental impact in the ground-water system. The fluid mechanics of reacting flows in porous media is a central element of these processes. Owing to the changes in permeability and fluid properties associated with reactions and possible geothermal temperature changes, there are numerous infiltration-type instabilities which can impact the efficiency and effectiveness of leaching. This project will explore some of the fundamental controls on these reactions and their nonlinear instability, and approaches to manage the instabilities, through a combination of novel laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling. Some initial work in the Institute modelling some of these processes was reported by Clarke et al. (Phys Rev Fluids, 2025).
Coagulant dipping
Supervisor: Alex Routh
Many elastomeric materials are made via the process of coagulant dipping. A former in the shape of the desired product is dipped into concentrated electrolyte (typically calcium nitrate) and then dried. This coated former is then dipped into a bath of latex particles at a volume fraction of about 15 vol%. The latex particles coagulate onto the former and fuse together to give the final product which is removed and washed.
There are numerous areas of the process available for optimisation:
(1) Using 15 vol% particles allows different shapes to be constructed but also results in large volumes of water being evaporated with consequent water and energy usage.
(2) The strength of the final material tends to be dependent on the coagulant used. We will investigate various options and the resulting mechanical properties.
We have modelled and experimentally investigated many aspects of the coagulant dipping process and are keen to continue with material optimisation.
Seepage erosion and the stability of porous dams
Supervisor: Jerome Neufeld
Many glacial termini end in a terminal lake and glacial moraine produced by the sediment load carried to the front of a glacier. As global climate warms, these lakes have grown in size and are at increasing risk of becoming destabilized through a process in which seepage erosion first create pathways for flow which can rapidly lead to enhanced flow and catastrophic collapse. Similar seepage-driven erosion problems occur in a host of industrial settings, of relevance to the mining industry (for example). This project will combine laboratory experiments on the transient erosion of a granular pile by flow through a porous medium, with modelling of the transient erosion of the granular pile using modern granular rheological theories. The project will beging with a simple two-dimensional experimental system, and progress to localization in more complex three-dimensional settings. If time permits, the student may explore methods of water management aimed at controlling the risk of collapse.
Friction modification
Supervisor: Alex Routh
20% of the world’s energy is dissipated as friction, yet the molecular basis for this is not well understood. Organic friction modifiers (OFMs) are typically added to lubricant formulations and are observed to lower friction by a factor of 5. We have been using a custom-built tribometer in a neutron reflection beamline to determine the arrangement and conformation of organic friction modifiers in-situ during shear. The results have been remarkable, contradicting textbooks views of OFM operation. We now wish to design OFMs and test them in our tribometer to optimise friction reduction and control.
Experiments on infection dispersal in buildings
Supervisor: Andy Woods
This project will develop new laboratory experiments to provide insights into infection dispersal in buildings driven by air flows, both driven by engineered systems and natural convection. Following the covid pandemic, there is still a need to provide fundamental understanding of some of the key transport pathways of infection through buildings, to enable mitigation and management of healthy buildings. Research such as explored in a series of papers by Toy and Woods (2025a, 2025b, 2026) identifies some of the challenges of the coupled natural ventilation and engineered ventilation flows, which can provide a launch point for this research.
Methane seeps in the Arctic
Supervisor: Andy Woods
Research has identified that below the permafrost and glacier systems, there is a significant mass of methane, some in the form of hydrates and some in solution in the pressurised groundwater. As warming leads to the retreat of glaciers, new pathways are opening to enable some of this methane to migrate through the groundwater system into the atmosphere, with data showing very significant amounts of methane being released. The project is directed at modelling the transport of such methane through the groundwater system back to the environment, either through direct release or release into the marine system at the retreating glacier fronts following transport through the permeable strata in the subsurface.
Magneto Rheological Fluids
Supervisor: Alex Routh
Magneto Rheological Fluids (MRFs) are iron particles dispersed in a fluid. Upon application of a magnetic field the particles align and produce a material which can transmit stress. This reversible process is used in vehicle dampers, bullet proof vests and prosthetics. The iron particles remain in suspension because of a stabilising surfactant. The lifetime of the material is dependent on this molecule remaining attached to the iron, despite continual wear and shear.
Possible project areas include:
(1) The design of surfactants for enhanced product lifetime.
(2) The friction between iron particles limits the time of material switching and induces wear.
How can we formulate products with lower friction?
Heatwaves’ vulnerability to land-atmosphere mesoscale processes
Supervisors: Quentin Kriaa and Jerome Neufeld
The frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves are increasing due to climate change, causing excess mortality along with severe socioeconomic impacts. Heatwaves are associated with the presence of a heat dome that is sustained by a large-scale subsidence leading to compressional warming of the air, preventing cloud formation, and enhancing shortwave radiative warming at the ground. Although heatwaves accumulate potential energy that could feed storm clouds, the subsidence sustains a ceiling-like inversion preventing energy release and the termination of the heatwave. Prominent issues are extreme heat stress, air stagnation and soil desiccation, reducing groundwater recharge. This project is designed to understand, through analytical models and laboratory experiments, the sensitivity of heatwaves to mesoscale land-atmosphere processes that cool, ventilate and supply moisture to the heat dome.
Caldera collapse dynamics
Supervisors: Andy Woods and Marie Edmonds
This project concerns caldera collapse dynamics in large explosive eruptions. It will combine field observations of calderas with some experimental and dynamical models of the eruptions during collapse. In this context we have a new experimental system to model the collapse and the PhD project will include running experiments and exploring some of the implications for eruption history and evolution as well as the impact on eruption deposits.