Postgraduate Research

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PhD Chemistry 

The Chemistry PhD programme is focused on a major piece of original research. You will study under the direct supervision of a member of staff, who is an expert in his or her area of specialisation. The department offers a broad range of research themes across physical, organic, inorganic and computational chemistry, specific departmental strengths are listed under research areas below.

Read more on the Chemistry PhD programme 
 

A 3-year PhD studentship Membranes for energy storage/conversion devices under operational conditions (D/L: 30/04/2024)

Supervisor: Dr F. Foglia
Application deadline: 30 April 2024
Interview date: TBC
Start date: September 2024

UCL Chemistry Department is offering a fully funded studentship to a highly motivated candidate to start in February 2024. The student will carry out their doctoral research at UCL.

This studentship focuses on membrane optimisation under operational conditions for energy applications (e.g., flow batteries, fuel cells and electrolysers; see for example F. Foglia et al Nature Materials 21, 555-563, 2022). The scope of the study is to develop Neutron and X-rays combined structural dynamical characterization to improve device performances. Research will be carried out at UCL and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory within both the Diamond Light source and ISIS Spallation Neutron and Muon Source. No prior experience with X-ray or neutron scattering techniques is required, and applicants are encouraged from a range of backgrounds in chemistry, chemical engineering or other physical science. 

The applicants should have, or be expecting to achieve, a first or upper second-class Honours degree or equivalent. 

Interested candidates should initially contact the supervisor, Dr Fabrizia Foglia, with a degree transcript and a motivation letter expressing interest in these projects. Informal inquiries are encouraged. Please note that a suitable applicant will be required to complete MS Form entitled Application for Research: degree Chemistry programme. In addition, it is essential that suitable applicants complete an electronic application form at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/apply (please select Research degree: Chemistry programme) before the application deadline and advise their referees to submit their references as soon as they possibly can. All shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview no more than 4 weeks after the application deadline.
The interview process will include a short data analysis project and the preparation of a small report to summarise its results. Any admissions queries should be directed to Dr Jadranka Butorac and Asima Shaikh at doctoral.chem@ucl.ac.uk.

Applications are welcome from UK nationals, EU students with settled/pre-settled status and students with indefinite leave to remain or enter. Please note that the studentship only covers home fees. The updated rules for eligibility for home fees for next year are available on the View Website. 

A 3-year PhD studentship Development of advanced membrane material for energy applications (D/L: 30/04/2024)

Supervisor: Dr F. Foglia
Application deadline:30th April 2024
Interview date: TBC
Start date: 23rd September 2024

UCL Chemistry Department, in collaboration with Toyota Motor Europe (TME), is offering a fully funded studentship to a highly motivated candidate to start in September 2024. The student will carry out their doctoral research at UCL.

This studentship focuses on characterisation of membrane materials provided by TME to explicate the structure-to-function interplay in membranes for energy conversion to optimise chemistry and/or formulation to improve performances (see for example F. Foglia et al Nature Materials 21, 555-563, 2022). The scope of the study is to develop a combined structural-dynamical study to provide information on the chemical profiling, transport, and nanoconfinement dynamics across many length and time scales. Research will be carried out at UCL and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory within both the Diamond Light source and ISIS Spallation Neutron and Muon Source. No prior experience with X-ray or neutron scattering techniques are required, and applicants are encouraged from a range of backgrounds in chemistry, chemical engineering or other physical science. 

The applicants should have, or be expecting to achieve, a first or upper second-class Honours degree or equivalent. 

Interested candidates should initially contact the supervisor, Dr Fabrizia Foglia, with a degree transcript and a motivation letter expressing interest in these projects. Informal inquiries are encouraged. Please note that a suitable applicant will be required to complete MS Form entitled Application for Research: degree Chemistry programme. In addition, it is essential that suitable applicants complete an electronic application form at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/apply (please select Research degree: Chemistry programme) prior to the application deadline and advise their referees to submit their references as soon as they possibly can. All shortlisted applicants will be invited for the interview no more than 4 weeks after the application deadline.
The interview process will include a short data analysis project and the preparation of a small report to summarise its results. Any admissions queries should be directed to Dr Jadranka Butorac and Asima Shaikh at doctoral.chem@ucl.ac.uk.

Applications are welcome from UK nationals, EU students with settled/pre-settled status and students with indefinite leave to remain or enter. Please note that the studentship only covers home fees. The updated rules for eligibility for home fees for next year are available on View Website. Applications will be accepted until 8 December 2023. 

A 4-year PhD studentship on “  Understanding The Property-structure Relationship Through Combined XANES/DFT Structure Simulation”  (D/L: 03/05/2024)

A 4 year PhD studentship is available in the Department of Chemistry, University College London, which will commence in September 2024. 

Industrially important functional materials are widely used for a diverse range of applications. Whilst considerable knowledge is gained using a range of characterisation methods, in particular using Synchrotron Radiation techniques, advancing through simulating X-ray absorption spectrum using structures either determined from crystallographic methods or DFT techniques to determine the nature of active and reactive metal centres is critical to obtain structure-function relationships.  To address this, the project will develop methods to determine electronic and geometric characteristics through computational modelling methods and use the structures to simulate the X-ray absorption spectrum.  Comparing the experimental data with simulated spectra to model the active  and reactive species in a catalyst.

You will : 
    Use advanced Synchrotron radiation techniques, specifically X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
    Use computational methods, specifically DFT and associated techniques to determine the optimised structure of a given system and compute X-ray absorption near edge spectra using available software.
    Develop a broad range of computational skills and experience to perform high-quality research at UCL, Johnson Matthey laboratories and at synchrotron facilities.
    Use excellent communication and writing skills to effectively disseminate new understanding obtained during this research
    Uphold the highest standards of EHS and maintain a good safety culture through compliance with Health and Safety standards, procedures, and rules.

The project is sponsored by EPSRC and Johnson Matthey plc (a leading international speciality chemicals company) through an I-Case award. 

The candidates should have, or expect to gain, a good honours degree (first or upper second) in chemistry or physics or materials, ideally including some experience in functional materials, computational modelling techniques and inclination towards experimental measurements of X-ray absorption spectra. Please direct applications and enquiries regarding this project to Prof Gopinathan Sankar (g.sankar@ucl.ac.uk) as soon as possible.Informal inquiries are encouraged. Please note that a suitable applicant will be required to complete MS Form entitled Application for Research: degree Chemistry programme. In addition, it is essential that suitable applicants complete an electronic application form at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/apply (please select Research degree: Chemistry programme) prior to the application deadline and advise their referees to submit their references as soon as they possibly can. All shortlisted applicants will be invited for the interview no more than 4 weeks after the application deadline.
The interview process will include a short data analysis project and the preparation of a small report to summarise its results. Any admissions queries should be directed to Dr Jadranka Butorac at doctoral.chem@ucl.ac.uk.

Applications are welcome from UK nationals, EU students with settled/pre-settled status and students with indefinite leave to remain or enter. Please note that the studentship only covers home fees. The updated rules for eligibility for home fees for next year are available on View Website.