This 4-year PhD studentship is open to both Home (UK) and international applicants. The successful candidate will receive an annual stipend at the UKRI minimum rate (currently £21,805 per year) plus £1,000/annum enhancement, and a research training support grant of up to £20,000 for the full 4-year programme. This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually, the projects that receives the best applicants will be successful.
This PhD will contribute to an ongoing programme of work using quantum sensing to investigate the interaction between biological cells and electric fields. The underlying hypothesis is that precisely controlled electric fields may be able to modulate intracellular trafficking, and as a result improve the delivery of therapeutic agents into cells. This will allow “Electro-Therapeutics”, and potentially ultimately wearable units that monitor health related parameters and modulate electric fields to help direct therapeutics in a closed loop manner. This PhD will focus on creating electronics platforms to support the work and to enable in-vitro and in-vivo testing of proposed approaches.
Research will focus on electronic circuit design at the discrete component and embedded microcontroller levels for DC–1 GHz operation. This includes PCB design, fabrication, and testing. Suitable training in these techniques will be provided as required. Ideally, we aim for miniaturised, physically flexible electronic circuits. Fabrication will explore commercial Kapton substrates before potentially moving on to printed electronics approaches. The ideal applicant will have a background in electronic circuit design, and an interest performing their own printing to manufacture designs.
This is a cross-disciplinary project, and the PhD student will work closely with researchers in pharmacy to define system needs and to test different approaches. There will be the opportunity to be involved with both in-vitro and in-vivo testing of the developed electronics. The student will be exposed to state of the art approaches in quantum sensing, and will be responsible for providing essential supporting electronics for this sensing.
This project is expected to start in September 2027.
Before you apply: Please contact the main project supervisor, Dr Alex Casson, to learn more about the project and discuss whether it may be suitable for you.
To be considered for this project you must submit a formal application through our online application portal by following the instructions provided here. Please note that you must select programme FSE PhD President’s Doctoral Scholarship: If you already have an applicant account, use this link to open an application for FSE PhD President's Doctoral Scholarship. If you do not yet have an applicant account, follow the account setup instructions and then use this link to open an application for the correct programme.
When applying, please specify the full title and supervisor/s of the project, details of your previous study, and names and contact details of two referees. You must also upload a Supporting Statement describing your motivation to apply to the project, your CV and transcripts of awarded and in-progress university qualifications. Please note late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
Applicants are expected to hold (or be about to obtain) a minimum upper second-class undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent) in electrical and electronic engineering or a related subject. Research experience in electronic design at the embedded system level (including circuit design, PCB design and firmware programming) is desirable.
