Fully funded PhD Studentships for UK applicants are listed below. Full project details and application information is available on our Fees and Funding page. 

PhD Geography (Supervisor: Professor Graeme Swindles)

Response of testate amoebae to peatland drain blocking: implications for biomonitoring of peatland restoration efforts

This project will examine the use of testate amoebae (microscopic single-celled organisms) as novel biomonitoring indicators for peatland restoration. It is a collaboration between QUB and Ulster Wildlife.

Application deadline 30 April 2021.

PhD Archaeology-Palaeoecology (Supervisor: Dr Gill Plunkett)

Project title: Human-environment dynamics through the Holocene in the Mourne region, Northern Ireland.

This project aims to examine human-environment relationships in the Mourne Mountains throughout the Holocene.

Application deadline 31 March 2021.

PhD Civil Engineering (Supervisor: Dr Madjid Karimirad)

Project title: Decision Support Framework for Reliable and Cost-effective Repowering of Bottom-fixed Offshore Wind Farms.

Further growth of offshore wind to provide “enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade”, as PM Boris Johnson has pledged, requires using all the potential in the offshore wind industry.

Application deadline 31 March 2021. 

PhD Geography (Supervisor: Dr Gemma Catney)

Project title: Neighbourhood Inter-Ethnic/Religious Mixing in ‘Post-Conflict’ Northern Ireland

This project will explore the dynamics of neighbourhood ethnic and racial mixing in a ‘post-conflict’ society.

Application deadline 31 March 2021.

PhD Civil Engineering (Supervisor: Dr Rory Doherty)

Project title: Urban Agroecology: Risks and Benefits

This PhD scholarship offers the opportunity to work with the Horizon 2020 UPSURGE project team in Belfast (Belfast City Council and Queen’s University Belfast) and collaboration with 4 other partner European cities.

Application deadline 30 April 2021.

PhD Civil Engineering (Supervisor: Professor Gerry Hamill)

Project title: SALine INtrusion in coastal Aquifers (SALINA): Hydrodynamic Assessment and Prediction of Dynamic Response

The world’s population likes living by the sea. Currently 53% of people live on the 10% of the earth’s surface that is within 200km of the coast. Meeting the needs of coastal communities’ forms one of the major challenges facing society in the 21st Century and an engineering solution is needed to the provide sustainable fresh water supplies. With its widespread availability and resilience to drought, groundwater can play a vital role in meeting this need. Where too much water is extracted, saltwater can enter water supplies in a process called saline intrusion (SI). This project will investigate the processes that govern this intrusion and develop the means to detect, and therefore prevent, any intrusion occurring.

Application deadline 1 May 2021.

PhD Civil Engineering (Supervisor: Professor Gerry Hamill)

Project title: Fluid / structure interactions due to scouring at Bridges

This research project aims to investigate the causes of scour in bridges using both numerical modelling and laboratory investigations. A scaled model masonry bridge will be built for the experimental analysis of the pier scour phenomenon as well as for its evaluation of the amount and shape of the differential settlement due to the pier scour by means of hydraulic tests. The monitoring will be coupled with a detailed nonlinear finite element simulation for a better interpretation of experimental results and to better understand the dynamic behaviour of the arch bridges.

Application deadline 1 May 2021.

PhD Civil Engineering (Supervisor: Dr Carwyn Frost)

Project title: Development of a Lift-Based Wave Energy Converter

The Marine Research Group at Queen’s University Belfast would like to invite applicant interested in the blue economy and marine engineering to consider this PhD opportunity. 

Application deadline 30 April 2021.