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    • PhD Vacancies

    PhD Vacancies

    An image of a drop of water being placed into a test tube

    RESEARCH

    PhD Vacancies

    Applications are invited for the PhD studentships detailed below, with study starting in October 2020

    These are full-time, fully-funded positions, covering tuition fees at the home rate, plus a stipend (approximately £15,009 per annum, based on 2019-20 value). Unless otherwise stated, the duration of these studentships is three years.

    Whilst the projects which are currently available are listed below, additional projects may become available, so please check this page regularly for further details.

    Eligibility

    Unless otherwise stated, the required academic qualification is a first or upper second-class relevant honours degree from a university in the United Kingdom or Ireland, or qualifications and experience considered by the University as equivalent to this standard. Students must be able to demonstrate a capability to undertake and benefit from research training through to completion, to qualify for a doctorate. As a result of constraints set out by the funding body, and unless otherwise stated, the studentships detailed below are open to EU/UK citizens that satisfy a requirement of being ordinarily resident in the UK for the three years prior to the start of the studentship.

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    Available Projects (as of 30th January 2020)

    A microscope image of bacterial cells

    Dr Stephen Cochrane

    Synthesis of Glycolipid Probes to Study New Antibiotic Targets

    Antibiotic resistance is one of the most significant challenges facing our generation and we are in desperate need of new antibiotic targets. Bacteria use glycolipids for several important functions, with many different enzymes processing these biomolecules. Therefore, such glycolipid-processing enzymes could make excellent antibiotic targets.

    In this project, synthetic organic chemistry will be used to prepare chemically-labelled versions of bacterial glycolipids that can be used to study the mechanism and/or assay potential inhibitors of novel antibiotic targets. A student with excellent practical skills and knowledge in the field of synthetic organic chemistry is required for this project. Applicants should clearly highlight their expertise in organic synthesis and why they believe they are ideal for this position in their application.

    For further information relating to this project, please contact Dr Stephen Cochrane via email (s.cochrane@qub.ac.uk).

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

    An image of oil droplets

    Professor John Holbrey

    Thinking outside the (glove)box: design of new, non-coordinating, and hydrophobic anions for functional ionic liquids

    A fully funded PhD studentship is available to work on the development of new ionic liquid anions.

    Ionic liquids are an integral component of our efforts to generate sustainable and green chemical technologies. They have found uses in industries across the energy, electronic and chemical sectors as components in a range of applications including catalysis, gas scrubbing, lignocellulosic biomass processing, the production of dye sensitised solar cells and other electrochemical devices. Key to their interest is the ability to modify, and tune, their properties by changing the nature of the cations and anions present in the ionic liquid. This has, for example, allowed hydrophobic ionic liquids to be demonstrated as exceptional solvents for the extraction and separation of lanthanides, transuranic elements, precious metals, bio-refinery products and many more, from aqueous media. However, one obstacle to successful commercialisation of many of these processes is the cost associated with the use of perfluorinated anions, used to impart hydrophobicity.

    This project will explore the fundamental nature of anion hydrophobicity, with the objectives of generating new main-group anions that can address this key challenge in ionic liquid science and engineering; availability of inexpensive, stable, non-coordinating anion to enable production of hydrophobic ionic liquids that could have pivotal roles for Lewis acid catalysis, attract enormous interest for battery electrolyte applications, and be transformative for metal extraction processes.

    The research will primarily involve the design, synthesis, and characterisation of new ionic liquids with novel main group anions and the investigation of their application in areas such as energy storage, separations, or artificial photosynthesis. The project is suitable for an independent thinking, enthusiastic student with good communication skills and a strong background in synthetic, ideally main-group, chemistry who is interested in research that will spanning from synthetic inorganic chemistry through physical chemistry (spectroscopic studies).

    You will be based in QUILL (the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories), which has excellent facilities for fundamental research on ionic liquids and strong links to industry and fosters a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in an international environment, and appreciation for both high-quality science and collegial spirit.

    This studentship is fully funded for 3 years and covers PhD tuition fees, together with a tax-free stipend. The studentship is expected to commence in October 2020, although the start date is negotiable.

    Candidates should hold or expect to gain a minimum of an upper second-class honours degree in chemistry or related discipline.

    Due to restrictions on the funding, this studentship is only open to candidates from the UK, or those that have been UK resident for the past three years.

    For more information, please contact Prof John Holbrey (j.holbrey@qub.ac.uk).

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

    Professor Stuart James

    New Porous Liquids, their Properties and Applications

    The invention of new materials is important to provide us with new tools that can address global technological challenges. Porosity is fundamental and useful property of materials that lays the basis for many important technologies. This is often due to the ability of porous materials to bind molecules highly selectively based on their sizes and shapes.

    Traditionally porous materials have been limited to solids. However, we have introduced the original concept of porous liquids (Chem. Eur. J. 2007, 13, 3020) and in collaboration with other groups demonstrated some of the first actual examples of them (Nature 2015, 527, 216). We are now actively exploring this new field to:

    • Gain greater fundamental understanding of porous liquids
    • Rxplore and synthesise new designs of porous liquids
    • Find potential applications for them (Chem. Sci. 2020, doi: 10.1039/C9SC05770F)

    This studentship will build on our existing studies to synthesise new types of porous liquids that will improve our basic understanding of them and enable us to explore potential applications. It will make use of organic and/or inorganic synthetic chemistry approaches. Mechanochemical solvent-free synthetic techniques are likely also to be involved to provide sustainable synthetic methods. The resulting porous liquids will be characterised using a range of chemical and physical analytical techniques (NMR, IR etc.) as well as their gas uptake and mechanical properties, which we expect to be quite unusual. The lab-based synthesis and analysis will be supported by our long-standing collaborations with other groups who are experts in molecular modelling, gas uptake and mechanical properties.

    Support: The funding covers tuition fees and stipend for 3.5 years, starting in/around October 2020.

    Eligibility: Open subject to standard EPSRC eligibility to EU/UK citizens that satisfy a requirement of being ordinarily resident in the UK for the three years prior to the start of the studentship.

    For further information relating to this project, please contact Professor Stuart James via email (S.James@qub.ac.uk).

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

    An image of pink coloured smoke or gas

    Dr Leila Moura

    Gas purification technologies

    A fully funded PhD studentship is available to work on the development of materials for the purification of gas streams, with application in biogas upgrading, hydrocarbon gas separation and carbon, ammonia and VOC capture.

    The goal of the project is to develop efficient and economic gas purification technologies, as alternatives to the highly energy and chemical intensive multi-step operations currently in place that have a considerable contribution to GHG emissions.

    The research will focus on strategies to gas purification issues in a comprehensive way with a variety of absorbents such as liquids, polymers and membranes. The objective is to design, produce, and evaluate these new materials to selectively scrub impurities, based for example in ionic liquids (ILs), deep eutectic solvents (DES), molten salts (MS), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and cyclodextrins (CD). The materials will be tested as bulk liquid absorbents, supported or solid absorbents (to be applied in chemical looping scenarios) or as supported-liquid membranes.

    This will involve a combination of organic and polymer synthesis techniques, combined with characterisation by NMR and mass spectroscopy, TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), GC (gas chromatography), powder and single crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction. Gas purification ability and efficiency of new materials will be performed by headspace gas chromatography and by gas-liquid equilibria equipment within the research group.

    You will be based in QUILL (the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories), which has excellent facilities for fundamental research on ionic liquids and strong links to industry and fosters a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in an international environment, and appreciation for both high-quality science and collegial spirit.

    This studentship is fully funded for 3.5 years and covers PhD tuition fees, together with a tax-free stipend. The studentship is expected to commence in October 2020, although the start date is negotiable.

    Candidates should hold or expect to gain a minimum of an upper second-class honours degree in chemistry or chemical engineering with interest in synthetic chemistry, gas handling and physical-chemistry.

    Eligibility: Open subject to standard EPSRC eligibility to EU/UK citizens that satisfy a requirement of being ordinarily resident in the UK for the three years prior to the start of the studentship.

    For more information please contact Dr Leila Moura (L.moura@qub.ac.uk)

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

    An image of an Anaerobic Digestion Plant

    Professor David Rooney

    Developing the evidence base for circular economy in the agri-waste sector

    This project focuses on applying transdisciplinary, circular economy (CE) approaches to convert a specified problematic resource flow, namely agri-food waste streams, into opportunities for enhancing business, society and the environment. It aims to investigate CE methodologies to deliver the transformative and rapid change critical to assuring food security and addressing barriers for growth.

    Production of food products is the largest manufacturing sub-sector in the UK contributing 12% of the sector’s GVA and 15% of employment. More broadly, the agri-food sector in the UK employs 4.1 million people and contributes to £121 bn of GVA . This represents just 54% of the £226bn spent by consumers on food, drink and catering in 2018. A major economic opportunity exists for the expansion of the UK agri-food sector to meet not only UK demand but to increase its international exports (which currently represents a market value of only £22bn). Whilst successfully increasing UK production requires significant enhancements in productivity and efficiency, the main challenge currently facing the industry is its handling of point source and diffuse waste streams. Achieving advances in agri-food waste treatment and its valorisation is possible only with investment in infrastructure, operational improvements, policy and behavioural change, and through development of new conversion technologies for the production of, for example, high value (bio)polymers, (bio)chemicals and (bio)actives, construction materials, packaging, usable water, fertilisers, bioenergy etc. Concomitantly such advances will deliver constructive social changes and positive environmental impacts (e.g. reduced habitat loss). Strategies on how to achieve this are desperately needed. This project will support progress in the area by initially focusing on the opportunities relating to integrating CE with the biogas and allied industry sector.

    For further information relating to this project, please contact Professor David Rooney via email (D.Rooney@qub.ac.uk).

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

    An image of assorted glassware

    Dr Małgorzata Swadźba-Kwaśny

    Thinking inside the (glove)box: Lewis superacidic ionic liquids based on Main Group cations

    A fully funded PhD studentship is available to work on the development of new ionic liquid Lewis acidic cations.

    Lewis acidic ionic liquids have been of interest for decades, with research almost exclusively focused on materials incorporating chlorometallate anions as Lewis acidic species.  These have high intrinsic chloride contents that can lead to corrosion issues, and a lack of steric control at the Lewis acidic centre that limits the scope in catalysis. This project seeks to integrate the industrial potential of Lewis acidic ionic liquids with the discoveries in the area of main group cationic Lewis acid chemistry by developing new ionic liquid materials incorporating structural motifs that allow access to cationic Lewis superacidity.

    The project is suitable for an independent-thinking, enthusiastic student with interests ranging from synthesis (main group chemistry), through catalysis, to spectroscopic studies (both using standard in-house techniques and synchrotrons).

    The research will primarily involve the design, synthesis, and characterisation of new ionic liquids and the screening of their catalytic applications in carbocationic chemistry and as a component of frustrated Lewis pairs. 

    You will be based within QUILL (Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories), which has both excellent facilities for fundamental research on ionic liquids and strong links with the industry. In QUILL labs, several research groups work together, fostering the culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in an international environment, and appreciation for both high-quality science and collegial spirit.

    This studentship is fully funded for 3 years and covers PhD tuition fees, together with a tax-free stipend. The studentship is expected to commence in October 2020, although the start date is negotiable.

    Candidates should hold or expect to gain a minimum of an upper second-class honours degree in chemistry or related discipline.

    Due to restrictions on the funding, this studentship is only open to candidates from the UK, or those that have been UK resident for the past three years.

    For more information, please contact Dr Swadźba-Kwaśny (m.swadzba-kwasny@qub.ac.uk).

    The closing date for applications for this project is the 28th February 2020.

    Read more Read less

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    Ready to apply?

    Only applications submitted via the online portal will be accepted

    Click here to apply

    Enquiries

    For general enquiries, including queries about the application process, please contact the School Research Office cceresearch@qub.ac.uk in the first instance.

    For more detailed information about the projects, please contact the named supervisor detailed within the information provided below.

    For queries about eligibility, please contact the University’s Postgraduate Office pg.office@qub.ac.uk

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