Do you have a Master’s degree and are looking for fully funded PhD opportunities? The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England is now accepting applications for several funded PhD programs across a range of research areas.
1. 02 Fully Funded PhD in Simulating and Exploring the Design of Next-Generation AI Hardware
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Applications are invited for two PhD students to work on the simulation and exploration of next-generation AI hardware designs. The UK’s Advanced Research Invention Agency (ARIA) is supporting an ambitious programme of work that aims to reduce the hardware costs associated with training AI models by more than 1000x
The objective of our project, funded within this programme, is to develop a scalable and modular simulation framework. This will require multiple levels of simulation focused at different system layers and levels of fidelity. A key goal is to allow novel hardware ideas to be easily incorporated and evaluated, i.e. to aid the development of next-generation hardware for GenAI.
Application Deadline: 2 October 2024
2. Fully Funded PhD in Using AI to decipher the role of codon usage in protein synthesis and gene regulation
Summary of Funded PhD Program
The genetic code contains 61 codons encoding 20 amino acids and most amino acids are therefore encoded by two or more ‘synonymous’ codons. Despite producing the same protein, the choice of one synonymous codon over another plays an important role in gene regulation [1,2]. Some codons slow down translation, which in turn triggers mRNA degradation and halt protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is often dysregulated in cancer, making mRNA translation an attractive therapeutic target. This project uses artificial intelligence (AI) to unravel the underlying mechanism by which codon-level information regulates translation.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
3. Fully Funded PhD in Multi-modal spatial data integration to predict breast cancer treatment response
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Breast cancer patients show highly variable responses to different treatments. Some respond durably, while others start by responding but eventually relapse and a subset show little evidence of response at all. The biological basis of these differences remains obscure but the spatial architecture of tumours is likely a major contributor. Novel technologies for multiplexed molecular measurements of tumour tissues that preserve spatial relationships offer the opportunity to precisely dissect the contribution of the spatially resolved multicellular tumour ecosystem as a response driver. To take full advantage of multiplexed spatial measurements, however, we must devise efficient computational tools to parse and integrate these data across assays.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
4. Fully Funded PhD in Mapping cellular trajectories in the senescence spectrum
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Senescence can be triggered by various stimuli across diverse cellular contexts. We are particularly interested in oncogene-induced senescence (OIS), which occurs in the physiological diploid state as an early event in tumour initiation. OIS functions autonomously as a tumour suppressor mechanism, though it is conceptually distinct from tumour-initiating cells (TIC). Our recent study suggests that senescence is not a singular entity but rather a continuum of dynamic cellular functionality and plasticity, forming what we term the ‘senescence spectrum.’
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
5. Fully Funded PhD in Improving the efficiency of Hydrogen generation in electrolysis
Summary of Funded PhD Program
A fully funded PhD studentship is available under the supervision of Prof Colm Durkan, with a start date of 1 January 2025. Funding will cover the student’s stipend and tuition fees at the UK rate. As we strive to transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels, a number of alternative systems have risen in prominence, including electrification and the use of Hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen is traditionally created via hydrolysis of water, and the efficiency of this process is greatly increased by adding electrolytes to the water to increase its electrical conductivity.
Application Deadline: 2 October 2024
6. Fully Funded PhD in Delineating piRNA-guided silencing of transposable elements
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms that underlie the piRNA pathway mainly using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model. While a rough framework of the piRNA machinery has been established in recent years, the precise hierarchy of the events that result in faithful transposon silencing is not yet fully understood. In your project you will exploit tissue culture as well as in vivo models, and carry out various biochemical, proteomic, imaging, genomics (including state-of-the-art RNA and chromatin profiling methods), and computational approaches to study piRNA-guided transposon control. This project is expected to contribute to our understanding of this fascinating small RNA pathway and discover fundamental biology with impacts on the RNA and chromatin biology fields.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
7. Fully Funded PhD in Data-driven mechanics
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Mechanical properties of materials are usually measured by simple one-dimensional tests. The growing field of data-driven mechanics requires development of experimental methods to obtain large quantities of multi-axial data from a single test. To complement this data is the requirement to develop computational methods that can deal with the inevitable measurement noise. We are starting a new project with the aim to use: (i) lab-based flux enhanced tomography for full field measurement of deformation fields and X-ray diffraction measurements of elastic strains, and (ii) associated data-driven material model discovery techniques. These coupled measurements and machine learning techniques are expected to form an important element in the field of data-driven mechanics.
Application Deadline: 15 November 2024
8. Fully Funded PhD in Structured inter-religious encounter and anti-discrimination education
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This practice-based PhD project will critically investigate approaches to structured interreligious encounter and exchange as deployed in the work of The Faith & Belief Forum, whose programmes span schools, universities, communities and workplaces. Augmenting previous studies of interfaith work, the project will include a unique focus on the interaction between such programmes and the goal of reducing prejudice and discrimination, whether in terms of religion or belief, gender, race, nationality or other intersectional identities.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
9. Fully Funded PhD in Common ground: exploring methods of communication at a system and landscape level for floods and other risks in the UK
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This Collaborative Doctoral Award would give you the opportunity to shape the UK’s climate adaptation programme. Partnering with Arup and the EA in their recently launched FENS2100+ project, you will gain privileged insights from practitioners and the local communities at risk and pilot their research-led designs during their PhD. The aim of this project is to explore and propose methods of communication at a system and landscape level for floods and other risks in the UK.
Application Deadline: 7 January 2025
10. Fully Funded PhD in A phonetic investigation of speaker attribution and its implications for legal contexts
Summary of Funded PhD Program
In transcribing an evidential recording of an interaction involving two or more speakers, speaker attribution is the process of assigning each utterance in the transcript to a speaker. The police may believe that particular individuals were involved in the interaction, but recording quality is often poor, so exactly how many people were present and their identities can be unclear. Transcription of recordings is typically conducted in-house by police officers or other staff with no linguistic or phonetic training. However, attribution of speakers to utterances is not always straightforward, and transcribers do not achieve 100% accuracy even when recording conditions are good (see Love and Wright 2021). The risk of misattributing utterances is real and can lead to miscarriages of justice.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
11. Fully Funded PhD in The Portraiture of Rowland Lockey (c.1566-1616): A Historical and Technical Examination
Summary of Funded PhD Program
The studentship will provide an opportunity to undertake technical art-historical research on paintings attributed to Lockey in the collection of the National Trust, understanding the use of techniques such as MA-XRF, cross-section sampling, and X-radiography. Assisted by Trust curators the award holder will research documentary evidence in the Hardwick archives of Lockey’s work for patrons such as Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, and her son, William Cavendish. This will be complemented by research in The National Archives and other repositories, to build as full a picture as possible of Lockey’s career which will be the backbone of outreach and community engagement activity by the Trust.
Application Deadline: 7 January 2025