Postgraduate Research
We have a vibrant community of postgraduate students from a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kenya, Venezuela and Sri Lanka. We support both full and part time students and our numbers are growing year on year.
The School has a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage which is a vibrant research community bringing together postgraduate researchers and academics from Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Glasgow and the Irish Photonic Integration Centre in Cork.
Students can apply for paid undergraduate teaching and many find this valuable. In addition, we run summer schools on specific topics (such as the use of “Cloudy” and "Python") which they can attend.
All PhD students have access to office accommodation within the School to facilitate effective communication, teamwork and support. We commit to supplying each student with a new laptop and a budget for travel and conference attendance, when this is not automatically part of their studentship.

If you already have a research proposal idea, start the process of joining our research community by talking to an academic supervisor.
Hear from our PhD Researchers
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Postgraduate Research
Postgraduate Research Courses Course Qualification Duration Mathematics MPhil 2 Academic Years (Full-time) / 4 Academic Years (Part-time) Description The Mathematical Research Centre conducts world-class research in the following areas: Algebra, Analysis, Operator Algebras, Algebraic Topology, Topological Data Analysis, PDEs, Survival Analysis, Bayesian Networks, Data Analytics and Operational Research. It maintains vibrant international links with a large number of researchers around the globe and regularly hosts international conferences and research....
Physics MPhil 2 Academic Years (Full-time) / 4 Academic Years (Part-time) Description The scientific research within the School of Mathematics and Physics was highly rated in the 2021 REF peer-review exercise, with 90% of research being judged as internationally excellent or world-leading. Physics and Astronomy at Queen's is currently ranked 14th in the UK (Complete University Guide 2025) and joint 9th for Graduate Prospects (Guardian University Guide 2024).
Physics research....Physics PhD 3 Academic Years (Full-time) / 6 Academic Years (Part-time) Description The scientific research within the School of Mathematics and Physics was highly rated in the 2021 REF peer-review exercise, with 90% of research being judged as internationally excellent or world-leading. Physics and Astronomy at Queen's has been ranked 14th in the UK (Complete University Guide 2025) and 9th in the UK for Graduate Prospects (Complete University Guide 2024).
Physics research....Mathematics PhD 3 Academic Years (Full-time) / 6 Academic Years (Part-time) Description The Mathematical Research Centre conducts world-class research in the following areas: Algebra, Analysis, Operator Algebras, Algebraic Topology, Topological Data Analysis, PDEs, Survival Analysis, Bayesian Networks, Data Analytics and Operational Research. It maintains vibrant international links with a large number of researchers around the globe and regularly hosts international conferences and research....
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PhD Opportunities