PhD Opportunities in Microscopy in United Kingdom

The University of Nottingham is inviting applications for an EPSRC PhD studentship on novel optics and artificial intelligence approaches to imaging the centre of a live, intact plant root. Based in the Optics and Photonics Research Group within the Faculty of Engineering, the multidisciplinary project combines optical microscopy, AI, machine learning, wavefront correction, computer vision, and plant biosciences. The research will address the challenge of imaging deep inside complex plant roots,...

PhD Studentship: The Hidden Immune System of Fungi—Uncovering the Roles of NLR Genes The University of Birmingham is offering a PhD studentship in fungal immunology and molecular microbiology, based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The project investigates how nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) genes contribute to the cryptic immune system of fungi. Using the genetically tractable wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici , which contains 20 NLRs, the research will examine fungal-bacterial...

[PhD studentship funded by BBSRC through the Midlands Integrated Biosciences Training Partnership, in partnership with the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Aston University, Harper Adams University, Coventry University, and the University of Leicester.] PhD studentship at the University of Birmingham exploring the hidden immune system of fungi and the role of NLR genes. The project asks how fungal NLRs contribute to immune-like responses in fungi, an area that is much less unders...

PhD project: Picophotonics: sub-nanometre light–matter interactions, metrology and super-resolution imaging The University of Southampton is offering a competition-funded Doctor of Philosophy project in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The research aims to achieve sub-nanometre, atomic-scale optical measurement precision by combining subwavelength light fields, metamaterials, information theory, and artificial intelligence. The project will investigate optical imaging and metrol...

PhD opportunity: Time crystals and next-generation data processing at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. This competition-funded Doctor of Philosophy project explores time crystals, an unusual state of matter, and their potential for “timetronics”—an information-processing paradigm based on dynamical states of matter. The research will investigate the timetron , a nanomechanical element switched by light between rest and sustained oscillation to encode logical 0 and 1 states. The pro...

PhD opportunity in soil biodiversity , soil ecology , and mountain ecology at the University of Stirling . This studentship, funded through the Iapetus DTP , investigates how spreading shrubs in mountain grasslands affect soil life under climate warming and nitrogen pollution . The project combines fieldwork, microscopy, and eDNA to study hidden soil fauna and ecological responses across mountain systems. Research activities include a multi-factor field experiment in the Scottish Highlands and t...

[Fees plus a stipend of £21,805 per annum for 2026/7; funded by EPSRC.] PhD Studentship at the University of Exeter in the Physics department on an ambitious project to build a polarisation-resolved nonlinear microscope with true 3D vectorial control of the focal field. This studentship is aimed at a candidate interested in advanced optical instrumentation, structured light, nonlinear microscopy, and the physics of biological tissue. The project will focus on polarisation-resolved second-harmoni...

PhD opportunity at the University of Southampton in Post-Impact Fatigue Behaviour of Titanium Aerospace Alloys . This doctoral project is based in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences and focuses on how impact damage affects fatigue cracking in titanium aerospace components. The research combines Materials Science , Aerospace Engineering , and Mechanical Engineering to study how alloy composition, strain-rate-dependent microstructural changes, and damage evolution influence crack ini...

[4-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD studentship; includes payment of tuition fees, a stipend for living expenses at the 2026/27 rate of £21,805, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per year.] PhD Studentship at the University of East Anglia focused on unlocking healthy ageing by harnessing proteostasis pathways to promote extracellular matrix (ECM) function. This project addresses a major challenge in ageing research: how age-related changes in...