The School of Chemistry recruits between 50 and 60 postgraduate students every year. Funding comes from a wide range of sources, including the Research Councils, charities, industry and the University itself. A wide range of PhD Projects are available. Below is a list of Project Titles, along with the academic staff member. For further information on any of the projects, contact the project supervisor in question. Further information about the research areas of each academic staff member can be found on their staff pages. The Current Vacancies page lists specific projects within the School for which specific funding has been secured and/or the start date is not October 2012. All applications require the candidate to complete the University's on-line Ph.D. Application Form.
PhD Opportunities:
Prof Anthony Stace
1. Gas phase inorganic chemistry
2. Physics and chemistry of metal atoms trapped in helium nanodroplets
Prof Steve Howdle
1. Developing Controlled Radical Polymerisation Techniques in Supercritical Fluids
2. Supercritical Fluids; New Approaches to Polymer Processing
Prof. Neil Thomas
1. CRUK-funded studentship: Developing new enzyme activated Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agents for imaging tumours non-invasively
2. Synthesis & evaluation of rationally designed Mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis inhibitors: Towards tuberculosis and leprosy therapeutics
3. Biocatalysis in green solvents: supercritical fluids; ionic liquids and fluorous biphasic systems (with Prof Martyn Poliakoff)
4. Bio-orthogonally modified coenzymes, new tools to identify protein-protein interactions.
Prof. Martin Schroder
1. Studies on Porous Nanomaterials for Gas Storage and Purification
2. Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis: Modelling the Structure and Reactivity of Hydrogenase Enzymes
3. Metal Cation/Anion Extraction and Transport using Multipodal Ionophores
Dr. Wim Thielemans
1. Monocrystalline cellulose nanoparticles as novel catalytic support systems
2. Cellulose nanocrystals as building blocks for ion-selective membranes and dye-sensitive photovoltaic solar cells
Prof. Simon Woodward
1. Metal-catalysed asymmetric 1,2- and 1,4-additions using both air-stable and reactive organometallics (funding open to EU and UK nationals)
2. New chemistry for a new functional group - enamine-N-oxides (funding open to EU and UK nationals).
Prof. Katharine Reid
1. Probing intramolecular dynamical processes in electronically excited states of small aromatic molecules using picosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging
Prof Mark Searle
1. NMR structural studies of protein-protein interactions in cell signalling and human disease
2. Folding of DNA quadruplexes as targets for drug discovery
3. Biophysical studies of protein folding mechanisms using protein engineering.
Dr. Stephen Liddle
1. Heteroatom-Stabilised Lanthanide Alkylidenes: Scope and reactivity
2. Synthesis and Reactivity of Novel Low Oxidation State Group 13 Diyls
3. f-Element Complexes Containing Metal-Metal Bonds
Prof. Timothy Wright
1. Electronic and Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Metal-Containing Complexes in Molecular Beams
2. Application of High-Quality Ab initio Calculations to Ion Transport and Ion Chemistry, with Relevance to Ionospheric Chemistry
Prof. Peter Sarre
1. Exploring the chemistry of the Universe through astronomical observationsand modelling
2. Astrochemistry and Molecular Astrophysics: an interdisciplinary approach to the challenging problem of the diffuse interstellar bands.
Dr. James Dowden
1. Total synthesis of sinefungin and development of methyltransferase Inhibitors
2. Developing pyridinium salt reactivity for natural product synthesis.
Prof. Barry Lygo
1. New Designer Catalysts For Natural Product Synthesis
2. Asymmetric Michael Additions - Application in Natural Product Synthesis
3. Application of Organocatalysis in the Large-Scale Synthesis of Bioactive Natural Products
Prof Jonathan Hirst
1. Quantum chemical studies of the ultrafast spectroscopy of metal carbonyls (in collaboration with the Rutherford Appleton Lab)
2. Computational investigation of cooperativity in protein-ligand binding
Dr. Deborah Kays
1. Novel bonding modes in alkaline earth compounds
2. The stabilisation of low-coordinate and dinuclear transition metal complexes using sterically demanding ligand systems
Dr. Jeremy Titman
1. Novel Materials for Sustainable Energy: NMR and MuSR Studies
2. New Solid-state NMR Methods for Conformation and Dynamics in Materials and Biomolecules
Prof. Robert Mokaya
1. Nanostructured carbons as sustainable energy materials
2. Crystalline molecularly ordered mesoporous silicates and aluminosilicates
Dr. John Moses
1. Biomimetic syntheiss of complex polyketide derived natural products, using tandem reaction cascades.
2. DNA based asymmetric catalysis using chiral G-quadruplex templates
Dr. Jonathan McMaster
1. Synthetic analogues and spectroscopic studies of the active sites of molybdenum-containing enzymes.
2. The development of new synthetic catalysts for the production of dihydrogen
Dr. Darren Walsh
1. Electroanalytical Applications of Cellulose Nanoparticles
2. Development of Efficient Electrocatalysts for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells
Dr. Richard Wheatley
1. Calculation of interaction energies between atoms in molecules using SIMPER
2. Computer modeling of colloid-polymer mixtures
Dr. Robert Stockman
1. Development of New Asymmetric Methodologies
2. Combining Two-Directional Synthesis and Tandem Reactions for Natural Product Synthesis
Prof. Simon Woodward
1. Metal-catalysed asymmetric 1,2- and 1,4-additions using both air-stable and reactive organometallics (funding open to EU and UK nationals)
2. New chemistry for a new functional group - enamine-N-oxides (funding open to EU and UK nationals).
Prof. Chris Moody
1. Synthesis of marine natural products
2. Synthesis of natural and unnatural compounds as potential anticancer agents
Dr. James Dowden
1. Total synthesis of sinefungin and development of methyltransferase Inhibitors
2. Developing pyridinium salt reactivity for natural product synthesis.
Prof. Rob Jones
1. Ultra-High Vacuum Surface Science, surface reactions and surface structure determination using synchrotron radiation.
2. Ionic Liquids, physical properties, structure and surface chemistry using ultra-high vacuum surface science methods (with Dr. Pete Licence).
Dr. Elena Bichoutskaia
1. New nanodevices for fundamental measurements at the nanoscale
2. Characterization and properties of nanocrystalline materials encapsulated within carbon nanotubes
Dr. Andrei Khlobystov
1. Chemistry and nanotechnology of fullerenes
2. Chemistry and nanotechnology of carbon nanotubes
Prof Martyn Poliakoff
1. Cleaner, continuous reactions in supercritical CO2, including photochemistry (with Prof MW George)
2. Innovative methods of measuring fundamental properties of supercritical fluids including spectroscopy (with Prof MW George)
3. Applications of high pressure flow chemistry for process intensification of organic chemistry
4. Exploitation of supercritical water for adding chemical value to biomass (such a Lignin)
Dr. Ross Denton
1. Development of the Catalytic Wittig Reaction