New PhD studentship opportunities in interdisciplinary energy demand with CREDS

Background

CREDS is a large inter-disciplinary research programme and acts as the hub for energy demand research in UK universities. The consortium extends across more than 20 universities, including UCL Energy Institute. It leads whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally.

Through the EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership award to the University of Oxford, CREDS has funding for up to eight doctoral studentships.

The Studentship Competition

Through this call, CREDS invites applications for inter-disciplinary doctoral energy demand research studentships from suitably qualified individuals. Applications will include the candidate’s CV and a research proposal. They must have the support of a prospective host supervisor (see below) employed in a university that is a participant in the CREDS consortium. 

CREDS will operate the application process. Applicants may propose support for research on any topic relevant to ‘End Use Energy Demand’ as defined by UKRI. The research should be interdisciplinary.

CREDS defines ‘energy demand’ broadly to include any driver of demand for energy services, the efficiency of delivery of those services, the temporal or spatial patterns of energy use and/or the fuels used, as well as the technical, behavioural, social, economic and/or policy issues associated with energy demand. It includes research into the practices and behaviours that produce the demand for energy services, energy efficiency technologies deployed at the point of energy use, non-technical measures to reduce demand, technologies and other measures to increase the flexibility of energy demand, and measures taken to implement the use of low and zero carbon energy fuels and energy vectors. It includes research in all energy using sectors including the built environment, transport and industry. 

The proposed research may therefore potentially interact with parts of the existing CREDS research programme that is described on the CREDS website. Applicants are encouraged to seek and explain synergies with that programme. Successful applicants will be encouraged to participate in CREDS networking activities and those of any successor consortium funded by UKRI for the period after March 2023.

Eligibility  

Successful applicants will need to have been accepted as a student at a UK university that is within the CREDS consortium at the time that the research commences. The current list of CREDS universities is in the Annex. The timescales of this application process are intended to allow parallel application to these universities. This application is separate from any admission process of the proposed host institution.

Applicants will hold, or expect to achieve, by 30 September 2022, a good undergraduate degree (at least a 2:1) or a Master’s degree from a UK university or equivalent overseas academic qualifications. The degree must be appropriate to the proposed area of study. The awards are subject to the UKRI international scholars’ rules, which allows up to 30% of funds (in this case a maximum of two students in 2022/23) to be recruited from overseas. In the event that more than two of the best 8 applications come from international applicants, the strongest two will be funded. Subject to this, the strongest eight eligible applicants will be funded.

Webinar

A webinar will be held on Friday 17 September 2021 to explain the process in more detail. Interested applicants can register for this on Eventbrite.

Closing date

The deadline for applications is 4pm on Friday 29 October 2021.

Apply now==