伦敦大学学院、曼彻斯特大学最新PhD奖学金项目信息！

本期 “老师博士” 为大家推荐伦敦大学学院、曼彻斯特大学2026最新奖学金项目介绍。

1、伦敦大学学院

Investigation of Air Leakage in Commercial Buildings

University College London | Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering

博导：Dr Filipa Adzic

截止日期：全年可申

资助的博士项目（全球学生）

About the Project

Note: the studentship covers EU/international fees.

Air leakage in commercial buildings is a major contributor to energy inefficiency, occupant discomfort, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. While extensive research has been conducted on residential building envelopes, commercial buildings—particularly large office complexes, retail spaces, and healthcare facilities—pose unique challenges due to their complex ventilation systems, varied usage patterns, and greater exposure to wind and stack effects. In high-performance buildings, uncontrolled air infiltration and exfiltration undermine the effectiveness of HVAC systems, impacting indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and operational costs.

This research supports the transition toward low-carbon, high-performance buildings. Addressing a frequently overlooked aspect of building physics will generate insights directly applicable to architects, engineers, facility managers, and policymakers. The research will focus on combined experimental approaches and computational modelling methods (CFD).

The candidate will be based at the Department for Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, UCL.

Studentship description

Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship covering international fees, with a £23,466 per annum tax-free stipend in Year 1, rising with inflation.

Person specification

We are seeking an outstanding candidate with a strong academic background in Civil, Mechanical, or Environmental Engineering or a related field. An interest in fluid mechanics and strong analytical skills are essential, as is some proficiency in Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Eligibility

To apply, please email Dr Filipa Adzic with the following documents: a letter of motivation, an up-to-date CV, and a research proposal (maximum 1,000 words, excluding bibliography). The proposal should clearly outline your research questions and objectives, proposed methodology and data sources, and, where applicable, your potential case study selection.

If you have any questions regarding the position, please contact Dr Filipa Adzic.

Contact name

Dr Filipa Adzic

Contact details

f.adzic@ucl.ac.uk

Closing date

TBC

Interview date

TBC

Earliest intended Studentship start date

September 2025

2、曼彻斯特大学

Application of FFLUX to crystal-structure prediction: towards efficient and accurate pharmaceutical polymorph screening

The University of Manchester | Department of Chemistry

博导： Dr J Skelton, Prof P Popelier

截止日期：全年可申

资助的博士项目（全球学生）

About the Project

Molecular crystals are found in many consumer products, but predicting polymorphism, where a molecule can pack into multiple crystal forms with different physical properties, is a crucial unsolved problem. In the pharmaceutical industry, polymorphism can affect the solubility, bioavailability and efficacy of drugs, and problems at the formulation stage are responsible for many promising drugs failing to reach the market.

Computational crystal-structure prediction (CSP), where 1,000-100,000 candidate structures are generated and energetically ranked to find low-energy solid forms, is one of the main techniques for polymorph screening. However, the small energy differences between polymorphs (~5-20 kJ/mol) lead to a trade-off between accuracy and cost: traditional force fields are fast but insufficiently accurate to resolve small energy differences, whereas quantum-chemical methods such as density-functional theory (DFT) are accurate but impractically expensive

This project seeks to address this challenge by developing a novel CSP workflow using a state-of-the-art machine-learnt force field, FFLUX, with comparable accuracy to "gold standard" dispersion-corrected DFT but up to 1,000,000× lower cost.

Building on recent work by the supervisors, the student will spend the first 18 months exploring advanced approaches for calculating accurate polymorph free energies, using quasi-harmonic lattice-dynamics and molecular dynamics (MD)-based methods. The FFLUX calculations will be benchmarked against dispersion-corrected density-functional theory (DFT), and both will be validated against experimental measurements. They will then proceed to interface FFLUX to a CSP code, GLEE, maintained by the Day group in Southampton, to perform proof-of-concept CSP studies using FFLUX.

If successful, this work will yield a novel approach to molecular CSP that balances accuracy and cost, with broad applications to the pharmaceutical industry and others, such as organic electronics, where polymorph screening and control are important.

Suggested reading:

1. A. J. Cruz-Cabeza, S. M. Reutzel-Edens and H. Bernstein, "Facts and fictions about polymorphism", Chem. Soc. Rev. 44 (23), 8619 (2015), DOI: 10.1039/C5CS00227C

2. G. J. O. Beran, "Frontiers of molecular crystal structure prediction for pharmaceuticals and functional organic materials", Chem. Sci. 14 (46), 13290 (2023), DOI: 10.1039/D3SC03903J

3. B. C. B. Symons, M. K. Bane and P. L. A. Popelier, "DL_FFLUX: A Parallel, Quantum Chemical Topology Force Field", J. Chem. Theor. Comput. 17 (11), 7043 (2021), DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00595

4. M. L. Brown, J. M. Skelton and P. L. A. Popelier, "Construction of a Gaussian Process Regression Model of Formamide for Use in Molecular Simulations", J. Chem. Theor. Comput. 127 (7), 1702 (2023), DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c06566

Eligibility

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.

Funding

This 3.5 year PhD is fully funded by the EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA). The successful candidate will receive an annual tax free stipend (depending on circumstance) set at the UKRI rate (£20,780 for 2025/26). We expect the rate to increase each year. Tuition fees will also be paid. We can also consider exceptional overseas applicants. Please contact the supervisor if you have any questions about this.

Before you apply

We strongly recommend that you contact the supervisor(s) for this project before you apply. Please include details of your current level of study, academic background and any relevant experience and include a paragraph about your motivation to study this PhD project.

How to apply

Apply online through our website: https://uom.link/pgr-apply-2425

When applying, you’ll need to specify the full name of this project, the name of your supervisor, if you already having funding or if you wish to be considered for available funding through the university, details of your previous study, and names and contact details of two referees.

Your application will not be processed without all of the required documents submitted at the time of application, and we cannot accept responsibility for late or missed deadlines. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

After you have applied you will be asked to upload the following supporting documents:

• Final Transcript and certificates of all awarded university level qualifications
• Interim Transcript of any university level qualifications in progress
• CV
• Supporting statement: A one or two page statement outlining your motivation to pursue postgraduate research and why you want to undertake postgraduate research at Manchester, any relevant research or work experience, the key findings of your previous research experience, and techniques and skills you’ve developed. (This is mandatory for all applicants and the application will be put on hold without it).
• Contact details for two referees (please make sure that the contact email you provide is an official university/work email address as we may need to verify the reference)
• English Language certificate (if applicable)

If you have any questions about making an application, please contact our admissions team by emailing FSE.doctoralacademy.admissions@manchester.ac.uk.

Funding Notes

This 3.5 year PhD is fully funded by the EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA). The successful candidate will receive an annual tax free stipend (depending on circumstance) set at the UKRI rate (£20,780 for 2025/26). We expect the rate to increase each year. Tuition fees will also be paid. We can also consider exceptional overseas applicants. Please contact the supervisor if you have any questions about this.