Research Studentships

PhD Studentship

Unveiling the natural sulphur potential of biological nitrogen fixation in faba bean

Supervisory Team: Dr Ravi Valluru

This PhD aims to understand the potential nature of sulphur on biological nitrogen fixation in faba beans. Sulphur is an essential mineral nutrient for plant growth and development; important for primary and specialized plant metabolites that are crucial for biotic and abiotic interactions. Sulphur also plays a crucial role in biological nitrogen fixation, a natural process belonging to legumes that symbiosis with bacteria through root nodules to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Root nodules have a high demand for sulphur. In nodulated legumes, biological nitrogen fixation is more sensitive to sulphur deficiency than nitrate uptake. However, the natural sources of gypsum-mine-derived sulphur-containing by-product’s effect on plant growth, development and biological nitrogen fixation is largely unexplored. This 3.5-year project will unveil the functional relationship between sulphur nutrition and biological nitrogen fixation in faba beans using 15N stable isotopes.

Training and Development

The successful candidate will receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal, and professional skills. All researchers at University of Lincoln are part of the Doctoral College and College of Health and Science wider postgraduate community, which provides support with high quality training and career development opportunities.

Funding

This PhD studentship is fully funded and covers University fees for 3.5 years.

Entry requirements for applicants to PhD

A Master’s (honours) degree in a relevant discipline/subject area with a minimum mark of 60% in the project element (or equivalent), and the potential to engage in innovative research, and to complete the PhD within 3.5 years.

How to Apply

To find out more about the project, please contact Dr Ravi Valluru (rvalluru@lincoln.ac.uk).

Applications will require a two-page CV and a 2000-word supporting statement, showing how the applicant's expertise and interests are relevant to the project. 

PhD Studentship

Investigation of structural reconstruction of metal-organic thin films under electrocatalytic conditions: catalyst or pre-catalyst?

Supervisory Team: Dr Souvik Roy, University of Lincoln 

Applications are invited for outstanding candidates to join our 3-year PhD programme at the University of Lincoln's School of Chemistry. Applicants are invited from motivated and enthusiastic candidates with undergraduate/Master's degree level studies in chemistry, ideally inorganic, material, organic or physical, who are interested in interdisciplinary and collaborative science. 

The PhD programme will have a focus on studying metal-organic framework (MOF)-based electrodes for energy related applications.

Candidates are expected to start their position on 1 April 2024, or as soon as possible after the intended date.

Project Background

The development of electrochemical technologies is attracting considerable interest due to their growing part in renewable energy conversion and the storage and decarbonisation of the energy sector.

Application of metal-organic frameworks in electrochemical systems is an emerging area because of the unique capabilities of these materials, including modularity, molecularly defined structure, and large number of accessible active sites. The concepts of MOFs in electrocatalysis are still underdeveloped, with open questions about their electrochemical stability and structural reconstruction under operation conditions.

Aims

To augment the fundamental understanding of how MOFs operate as electrocatalysts through a combination of ex-situ and in-situ techniques, with the findings guiding the design of the next generation of MOF electrocatalysts. 

The project will focus on:

• Designing, synthesising, and characterisation of new linkers and metal-organic frameworks
• Developing and optimising methods for integrating metal-organic frameworks into mesoporous electrodes and investigate their electrocatalytic properties
• Developing in-situ spectroscopic tools to probe the electrode materials at molecular level. 

Person Specification and Requirements

Applicants will have an Honours or Master's degree in chemistry or relevant areas of research, with a background and interest in coordination chemistry, electrochemistry, and materials science. They will have excellent communication skills, the ability to conduct self-motivated and independent research, and preference will be given to students with hands-on research experience. 

About the School of Chemistry at Lincoln

The School of Chemistry is located in the Joseph Banks Laboratories, and is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for material synthesis, characterisation, and catalyst testing. The School has heavily invested in infrastructure to support our Advanced Functional Materials research group and, in recent years, in the existing electrochemical infrastructure for both laboratory-based and in-situ characterisation. The School also has direct access to the newly opened ERDF co-funded research facility for advanced engineering materials, 'The Bridge', that houses state-of-the-art microscopes (SEM, TEM, AFM).

Funding

A tax-free stipend of ca. £18,622 p.a. for 3 years is provided, alongside the payment of all University fees for home students. Non-home students would be required to secure funding for the additional international fees, and should clarify this in their cover letter. 

How to Apply

Applications including a covering letter and CV should be directly sent to chemistry@lincoln.ac.uk with the subject title “Studentship 1AB-2CA-800028”.

For any informal enquiries, please contact Dr Souvik Roy at sroy@lincoln.ac.uk.

PhD Studentship

Towards an integrated and affordable monitoring of Natural Flood Management interventions to increase flood resilience in the Upper Rase basin

Applications are welcome for a 36 month funded PhD studentship held at the Department of Geography, University of Lincoln.

Supervisor: Dr Luca Mao (University of Lincoln)

Closing Date: Monday 24 June 2024

Interviews: week commencing 8 July 2024

Start Date: 1 August 2024

Summary

The University of Lincoln is offering a fully-funded (home students) PhD studentship under the supervision of Dr Luca Mao, Associate Professor of Physical Geography in the Department of geography. Funding is provided by the Lincolnshire Chalk Stream Project and the University of Lincoln.

From climate change to health inequalities, from food security to natural hazards and disasters, Geography is at the heart of many of humanity’s great challenges. At Lincoln, we believe that meeting these challenges requires a focus on the unity of Geography to understand the links between humans and the environments we inhabit — a theme that runs through our teaching and research.  

Natural Flood Management (NFM) interventions such as offline water storage ponds or leaky dams can reduce surface water flood risks by storing and slowing water using natural hydrological processes and promoting multiple benefits such as biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, evidence on the effectiveness of NFM beyond the local scale and moderate flood events is still scarce and the interaction of groundwater and NFM is also poorly constrained, with recent investigations showing that the ability of ponds to store water and reduce peak floods is reliant on the conditions of the ponds and antecedent flow conditions. 

This fully funded three-year studentship aims at monitoring and modelling the effectiveness of NFM implementations in the Upper Rase basin, where the Lincolnshire Chalk Stream Project has delivered and plans to deliver more NFM interventions. The monitoring strategy foresees the recording of water level sensors, hydrometeorological variables, and citizen science. The monitored variables will be used to calibrate and validate a model able to determine the effectiveness of the future NFM strategy for flood mitigation under different scenarios of climate change. 

Person Specification and Entry Requirements

First or second class honours degree in Geography, Ecology, Environmental Science or related discipline. A relevant Master's in Geography, Ecology, Environmental Science or related discipline.

• You should also demonstrate one or more of the following in your application:
• Good knowledge base on pluvial processes
• Proficiency in Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS or other software)
• Experience in numerical/process-based modelling
• Ability to work in interdisciplinary teams
• Excellent report writing and English language communication skills 

Funding

Suitably qualified candidates from the UK only can apply

Home tuition fees and a stipend of £19,236 per annum will be paid in monthly instalments for a duration of 36 months.

How to Apply

To apply please email a CV, cover letter, your research proposal (up to 2 pages), and highest qualification certificate/transcript aalong with two reference letters to Dr Luca Mao – LuMao@lincoln.ac.uk

The closing Date for applications is Monday 24 June 2024.

PhD Studentship

Microplastic Contamination as a Threat to Human Health

Supervisory Team: Prof Jeanette Rotchell

This PhD aims to firstly examine the presence, distribution, levels, types, and targeted impacts of microplastics within the human body. A second aim is to relate the findings to a mathematical modelling approach to predict the distribution of microplastics within the body.

It is already established that microplastics are present in many tissues within the body and our earlier work has produced datasets for human lung, blood, and urine. Previous studies have focused on specific tissue types, have used a variety of isolation and characterisation techniques, and this has resulted in a patchwork of datasets. This study will take a holistic approach and use three commonly adopted microplastic characterisation techniques available at the University of Lincoln; micro-FTIR, Raman and SEM, to calibrate the findings. The techniques will allow polymer, size and shape characterisation which can inform the subsequent stage of biological effects investigation.

The second element involves mathematical modelling to explore the possibility of predicting microplastic particle fate within the body based on their properties and the size dimensions of the various transport systems within the body.

Training and Development

The successful candidate will receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal and professional skills.

All researchers at University of Lincoln are part of the Doctoral College and College of Health and Science wider postgraduate community, which provides support with high quality training and career development opportunities.

Funding

A tax-free stipend of ca. £18,622 p.a. (in monthly instalments). The fees are £4,712.

Entry requirements for applicants to PhD

A bachelor’s (honours) degree in a relevant discipline/subject area with a minimum classification of 2:1 and a minimum mark of 60% in the project element (or equivalent), and the potential to engage in innovative research, and to complete the PhD within 3.5 years.

How to Apply

To find out more about the project, please contact Professor Jeanette Rotchell, jrotchell@lincoln.ac.uk. 

Applications will require a two page CV and a 2000-word supporting statement, showing how the applicant's expertise and interests are relevant to the project. 

PhD Studentship

Implementation of GPU-accelerated simulations for real time propagated excited states and applications to organometallic photochemistry

Supervisors: Professor Matt Watkins, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln and Dr Joshua Elliott & Dr Sofia Diaz-Moreno, Department of Physical Science, Diamond Light Source Ltd.

4-year Fully Funded PhD Studentship developing real-time time-dependent density functional theory simulations of photoactive organometallic compounds.

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. By accelerating electrons to near light-speed, Diamond generates brilliant beams of light from infra-red to X-rays which are used for academic and industry research and development across a range of scientific disciplines including structural biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, earth and environmental sciences.

Summary

Applications are welcome for a four-year funded PhD studentship jointly held at the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln and the Spectroscopy Group at Diamond Light Source starting October 2023. The Studentship will focus on developing GPU parallelised routines for Real-Time Propagated Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory with the Open Source CP2K software and their application to Pump and Probe spectroscopy data collected at the I18 Microfocus beamline.

Background

Understanding, on an atomic scale, how light-activated processes drive chemical reaction mechanisms, local geometric rearrangements and charge transfer reactions will be pivotal in engineering next-generation devices and overcoming our overreliance on carbon-positive technology. X-ray pump and probe spectroscopy is a critical tool for probing light-induced reaction mechanisms and photo-excited states. However, this type of experiment typically provides data of seldom observed chemical states and therefore, further analysis and characterisation can be highly challenging.

First-principles simulations can be focal in interpreting experimental spectroscopic data collected at Diamond Light Source. Real-Time Propagation Time-Dependent DFT has emerged as a powerful and viable means to investigate the time evolution of excited states subject to a time-dependent electromagnetic field.

Project Description

The studentship targets the acceleration of the RTP-TDDFT routines within the CP2K code through GPU parallelisation. RTP-TDDFT will be deployed to provide insight into the fundamental dynamical excited state properties of organo-transition metal complexes of particular interest to the facilities’ user communities. In addition, it will implement an automated framework for RTP-TDDFT simulations of more generalised materials across different High-Performance Computing facilities available to Diamond Light Source scientists and users.

Further Information

Diamond Light Source Ltd holds an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, demonstrating their commitment to provide equal opportunities and to advance the representation of women in STEM/M subjects: science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

How to Apply

We seek a highly motivated student interested in research software development and materials science to join our team. Interested applicants are asked to provide an up-to-date CV and a one to two page cover letter outlining their scientific background, expertise and research interests and the names ad contact details of two references to Joshua.elliott@diamond.ac.uk and MWatkins@lincoln.ac.uk. Informal enquiries are also encouraged.

The position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.