2024 PhD studentships in ARC

Applications for PhD studentships in ARC for September/October 2024 have now closed.

There will be an information session about the PhD projects and studentships from 12:00 - 13:00 on January 22, 2024. This information session will be hybrid: it will be held in the Ruth Lynden-Bell Seminar Room in the Main Physics Building at Queen's University Belfast as well as streamed online. 

We expect to have a number of fully funded PhD studentships, the majority of which are only available for students fulfilling UK national requirements (either UK nationals, or have been in the UK for the last 3 years for a purpose which is not full-time education). Self-funding students or students with their own international funding grants are also very welcome to apply:

• Information and application forms to study for a PhD at Queen's University are available at this website.
• It is essential that you read and follow the application instructions to fill in the University form for applications to ARC.
• For PhDs, we will normally consider applicants holding, or expecting to obtain in 2024, a UK MSci (or equivalent) degree in physics, astronomy or a related discipline with 2.1 or higher classification (or international equivalent).
• If you are unsure about any part of the process, contact the prospective supervisors of the project areas you are applying for, or e.demooij@qub.ac.uk for advice on the application procedure.

Please note that Queen's University will not accept applications that do not follow the required procedures.

Contact details for all staff are available here.

Research projects for 2024:

• Solar Feature Recognition with Deep Learning (Dr. Peter Keys)
• Exploring the Solar System's Small Body Reservoirs with Rubin Observatory (Dr. Meg Schwamb)
• Instrumentation at the forefront of solar physics: sunspot dynamics at the highest resolutions (Prof. David Jess)
• A Dirac-Rmatrix approach to the determination of opacities (Prof. Connor Ballance)
• The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of small-scale solar magnetic structures (Prof. Mihalis Mathioudakis)

Other International student finance information and scholarships

International self-funded students should consult these pages and links for tuition fees. For International students with their own funding, including EU student without (pre-)settled status or indefinite leave to remain, we require an annual fee of £25,600. This annual fee applies to both PhD and MPhil programs. Note that you will also need living expenses of around £15,000 per year. Queries about this can be send to postgrad.admissions@qub.ac.uk.

Please check our International Scholarships page for opportunities.

Application instructions

• Applications for post-graduate studies must be made via the QUB portal.
• All applications received by Friday February 9th 2024 will receive full consideration for astrophysics PhD positions (interviews will commence shortly after that date). However, applications received later will continue to be considered where suitable projects are still available.
• You can apply for any number of the research themes advertised for 2024 within one application. Follow these guidelines:
  • The "Title" of the proposed research area should be "Astrophysics"
  • You have two possibilities to add information on what research project projects you wish to apply for. Please specify these in the "Additional Information" box (500 character limit) and also include on the one-page "Personal Statement" which can be found either on the portal web-page⁽¹⁾.
• There are funding options listed on the application procedure:
  • Self-Funding: This would mean you are willing to pay everything yourself and is not advisable unless you have very significant personal funds you are willing to use during a 3-year PhD.
  • Apply for funding via the portal: In this case you will be applying for funding from the Northern Ireland DfE, and/or STFC. DfE funded studentships are for UK domiciled students and include the cost of approved fees and maintenance support, which is £18,622 in 2023/24. Eligibility for a full DfE studentship requires you to have been resident in the United Kingdom for a three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course. You must hold or expect to gain an upper second-class honours degree. If you have any queries about eligibility, please contact admissions@qub.ac.uk.

If you need further advice, either email the prospective supervisors or for general queries, email e.demooij@qub.ac.uk.

(1) where you see: "Different Schools require different information in the research proposal. For guidance, please click here