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Opportunities

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OPPORTUNITIES
WORK WITH QUILL

Postgraduate Research Vacancies at QUILL

 

Applications are invited for the PhD studentships detailed below, with study starting in October 2021.

These are full-time, fully-funded positions, covering tuition fees at the home rate, plus a stipend (approximately £15,285 per annum, based on 2020-21 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. Full eligibility information can be viewed via the Department for the Economy website.

  • How to Apply

    Applications must be submitted online via the University's postgradaute application portal - only applications submitted via the online portal will be accepted.

  • Closing Date

    The closing date for applications for these projects is Friday 19th February 2021 unless otherwise stated.

  • Enquiries

    For general enquiries, including queries about the application process, please contact the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering's Research Office, via email in the first instance.

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

    For queries about eligibility, please contact the University’s Postgraduate Office, via email.

Available Projects at QUILL

 

Information is correct as of the 4th December 2020.

A QUILL research student examining a container containing an ionic liquid
Dr Gosia Swadźba-Kwaśny and Professor John Holbrey
IONIC LIQUIDS AND FRUSTRATED LEWIS PAIRS

A 3-year, fully funded PhD position is available starting October 2021 in the QUILL Research Centre, under the supervision of Dr Gosia Swadźba-Kwaśny and Professor John Holbrey. The project is suitable for an independent thinking, enthusiastic student, interested in working at intersection of two topical areas: Ionic Liquids and Main Group Catalysis.

Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) are combinations of Lewis acids and Lewis bases, prevented from the adduct formation by steric hindrance. Solutions of FLPs in non-coordinating organic solvents have been shown to contain low concentration of FLP encounter complexes, held together by weak interactions. In these encounter complexes, the proximity of Lewis acidic and basic sites leads to unusual reactivity: FLPs can activate hydrogen, in a manner similar to transition metal catalysis, but in the absence of transition metal. Other small molecules may also be activated, notably, recently reported was nitrogen activation.

Recently we discovered that the dissolution of FLPs in ionic liquids leads to enhanced encounter complex formation (Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 8689) and to more elegant hydrogenation systems due to the absence of volatile organic solvent components. In this project, the student will study activation of small molecules, in particular activation of ammonia boranes to support a hydrogen economy, by FLP complexes generated in ionic liquids, and – more ambitiously – by designing and synthesising new ionic liquids materials that function as intrinsic FLPs.

The deadline for applications for this project is Friday 19th March 2021.

 

For further information relating to this project, please contact Dr Gosia Swadźba-Kwaśny or Professor John Holbrey via email.

 

 

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OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Funding sources


Postdoctoral Researchers

We welcome applications worldwide from candidates with high quality CVs and relevant experience. Post-doctoral researchers are particularly encouraged to apply for independent funding, such as:

  • Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Newton International Fellowships
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
  • Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellowships

Candidates will receive strong support with these applications including assistance with research proposals.

Students

Self-funded students are welcome to contact the center informally. If you plan to apply for a funding scheme, please contact us to discuss a potential project before applying formally.

Undergraduate Students

Each year, we welcome Level 3 and 4 students for their final year research projects. Although individual projects vary, they follow the main research themes in the group. Each student works closely with a more experienced group member.

Undergraduate Summer Students

Funded summer studentships are available annually through various funding streams, including RSC and QUILL summer studentships. The deadlines for applications are quite early on in the year so students are encouraged to get in touch in advance to consider a potential application.

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