Join over 500 PhD students in one of the largest and most diverse engineering, environmental science and audiology faculties in the UK. We develop solutions in areas including sustainable energy, green transport, resource efficiency and resilient infrastructure.
Engineering at the University of Southampton has subjects ranked within the global top 100 and the UK’s top ten in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022.
You'll be supported by a team of academic supervisors who'll be on hand to guide your research and provide advice. Working alongside our world-class team of researchers means you'll be working on cutting-edge research and pioneering solutions.
We'll provide you with the grounding you need to become a successful researcher. You'll benefit from both technical and personal training. You'll also be able to develop your skills further through placements in industry, mentoring, attending conferences and presenting your work.
Most of our research projects have strong links with industry so you'll be able to conduct experiments at a variety of facilities to ensure your research has real world impact.
If you've completed your undergraduate and masters degrees and want to continue in the same field, then the standard research PhD is probably the right option.
Contribute to the field of research in computer science and software, either in person or through distance learning, by completing a PhD with us.
Our research areas include:
The University of Southampton is pleased to announce that PGR students from EU and Horizon associated countries joining us in 2024-25 will pay the same as UK PGRs for their PhD.
You can either apply for a structured studentship or propose your own PhD idea.
Taking a structured studentship will give you access to additional training, conferences and secondments. Full studentships typically cover tuition fees (at EU/UK level) and provide a tax-free bursary which varies depending on the programme.
We offer our structured studentships in partnership with our Centres of Doctoral Training (CDT).
Are you interested in exploring cardiovascular biomechanics and machine learning in biomedical applications? Be part of a research that merges AI-based medical image processing and multiphysics cardiovascular modelling towards a better understanding of heart diseases and developing patient-specific treatment options.
Noise is a major environmental impact of civil aviation. Reducing aircraft noise is critical to the aeronautics industry and future air transport. Applications are invited for a PhD student to undertake a research project on understanding the scattering of sound by turbulence that occurs in civil aircraft turbofan engines.
New, efficient design methods are urgently needed to unlock deeper waters for offshore renewable energy infrastructure. In this PhD project, you will learn about established methods to design fixed offshore foundations to resist cyclic storm loading, then lead the way in developing these into new design approaches for anchoring systems.
The aim of this project is to establish a new class of sensing system that is capable of mapping strain distribution at thousands of points using a single strand of optical fibre thinner than a human hair.
This project will investigate how humans perceive object properties and their environment through sound, focusing on single impact sounds. The project will explore implications for audio-visual integration, gamification, speech perception, and auditory scene analysis. It will also examine the fundamental mechanisms of auditory perception and how we interpret simple sounds to understand our surroundings.
This project will use computational modelling in combination with 3D multiscale multimodal imaging to improve our understanding of placental evolution, in close collaboration between Engineering and Medicine.
Hollow-core optical fibres represent a transformative advancement in fibre technology, enabling exceptional light confinement and performance. However, the intricate microstructure required to guide light and dynamics of the fibre drawing process present significant challenges. By developing high-fidelity CFD models that simulate the interactions between molten glass and pressurized gas, you will help optimize fibre geometries and enhance optical performance, paving the way for advanced manufacturing solutions.
Would you like to work with state-of-the-art hardware and innovative software, using your skills to improve world-leading imaging techniques?microCT scanning is a key technology in non-destructive imaging across many applications. You will extend the capabilities of existing microCT scanners expanding their capabilities to improve scientific understanding.
This PhD project will investigate the electrical, thermal and economic modelling of a range of electrical energy storage types (e.g. lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, flow cells and fuel cells), with a view to further investigation of the potential to directly hybridise these energy stores.
This project will focus on investigation of advanced mode-locked techniques to realize high-performance ultrafast fibre lasers.
This PhD project aims to investigate a route to high-power visible sources through cladding pumping of RE-doped silica fibres using GaN-LDs.
This project aims to develop the next-generation photonic integrated platform operating across the UV-NIR spectrum for quantum applications.
This PhD project explores an eco-friendly “flash carbide” coating for extreme wear environments in aircraft landing gear. Through advanced tribological testing and materials damage modeling, it will benchmark this new High Velocity Air Fuel-deposited coating against conventional High Velocity Oxy Fuel alternatives. The findings would benefit the aerospace industry with cost-effective, sustainable, and high-performance coating solutions.
Noise is a major environmental impact of civil aviation. Reducing aircraft noise is critical to the aeronautics industry and future air transport. Applications are invited for a PhD student to undertake a research project on the development of novel acoustic liners for use in future aircraft engines to reduce noise.
This multifaceted project targets the development of an all-in-one photoreactor described using multi- phase chemical models to incorporate the kinetics of photocatalysts, reactant flow and photon behaviour.
Emerging micropollutants, including pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, and industrial chemicals, contaminate global water sources and pose health risks. This project will identify key microorganisms capable of breaking down toxic, persistent organic compounds and develop an effective biofilm with specialized strains to enhance micropollutant removal in bioreactors.
In this project you will explore novel wave energy harvesting systems for maritime robotic systems, such as Autonomous Surface and Underwater Vehicles (ASVs and AUVs).
You will develop a novel predictive model for the 'silent' installation of open-ended piles for offshore wind turbine foundations, through advanced physical and numerical modelling. You will improve the fundamental understanding of pile installation, while developing practical tools for the offshore industry, accelerating the path to a carbon-neutral world.
This PhD opportunity focuses on the development of Smart Acoustic Control Technologies, which bring together acoustic and structural design with advanced sensing, actuation, control, and signal processing technologies including machine learning. The developed smart systems offer significant potential to push the boundaries of noise and vibration control design and performance.
The principal aim of the project is to make recommendations to efficiently implement a waste management systems in hospitals with a focus on sustainability. The project will use a major hospital as a case study in order to make recommendations for best practice to the whole of the NHS and beyond.
This project offers you the opportunity to undertake cutting edge blast engineering research to inform the development of strategies to protect buildings and their occupants from the threat of explosions in built up areas.
Vibro-acoustic digital twins have the potential to increase the sustainability of machines and vehicles by making them more silent, while keeping performance high and energy consumption low. This project will focus on time-varying vibro-acoustic phenomena (rotation of a wheel, shifting gears) to improve the performance of vibro-acoustic digital twins.
We offer a wide range of fully funded studentships. We run several of our PhD studentships in partnership with doctoral training centres, meaning you'll benefit from enhanced training and guaranteed funding.
These studentships:
Doctoral training centres offer fully funded studentships which include:
We offer funded iPhD through our CDTs in:
In association with the UK joining the EU Horizon Programme, the University of Southampton will be introducing and applying an EU fee waiver for students joining us from EU and Horizon associated countries. This means that PGR students joining us from 2024-25 will pay the same fees as UK PGR students.
See here for full information terms and conditions
We offer scholarships and teaching bursaries ourselves. Your potential supervisor can guide you on what is available.
If you’re an international student you may be able to apply for a scholarship from your country.
Find out more about scholarships
Once you've found a supervisor, they can help you with potential funding sources. We offer match funding in some cases.
You'll need to state how you intend to pay for your tuition fees when you submit your application.
Find out more about funding your PhD
You may be able to fund your postgraduate research with funding from your current employer or from industry.
You can borrow up to £29,390 for a PhD starting on or after 1 August 2024. Doctoral loans are not means tested and you can decide how much you want to borrow.
Find out about PhD loans on GOV.UK
You may be able to win funding from one or more charities to help fund your PhD.
We charge tuition fees for every year of study. If you're applying for a fully funded project, your fees will be paid for you.
EU Fee Waiver: If your country is part of the Horizon Europe Programme, you will pay the same fees as UK students.
Find out if your country is part of the Horizon Europe programme
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | tbc | £12,750 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | £2,393 | £13,050 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | tbc | £12,750 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | £2,393 | £13,050 |
Precise topics each year are determined by the research interests of the sponsoring companies, and may be aligned with our current CDTs in
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Transport and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
| Transport and the environment full time | £4,786 | £26,100 |
2025 to 2026 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £13,350 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
2025 to 2026 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £13,350 |
| Engineering and the Environment part-time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £13,350 |
Precise topics each year are determined by the research interests of the sponsoring companies, and may be aligned with our current CDTs in
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees and Horizon Programme applicants | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
| Transport and the environment full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | £26,700 |
You're eligible for a 10% alumni discount on a self-funded PhD if you're a current student or graduate from the University of Southampton.
Several national centres, industrial units, interdisciplinary research centres and spin-off companies operate under the umbrella of the School of Engineering.
Our research groups are aligned with recent UK Government priority areas, as set out in the UK Industrial Strategy.
We offer 1 programme:
PhD
If you choose a standard research PhD, decide whether to apply to an advertised research project or create your own proposal.
Whichever programme you choose, you'll need to identify potential supervisors. Therefore, it's a good idea to email potential supervisors working within your field of interest to discuss potential PhD projects. It's best to do this well ahead of the application deadline.
You’ll find supervisors’ contact details listed with the advertised project, or you can search for supervisors in the staff directory.
As part of your online application, you’ll need to send us:
The application process is the same whether you're applying for a funded project, or have created a research proposal.
You should have a 2:1 honours undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification.
If English is not your first language, you'll need an IELTS minimum level of 6.5 with a 6.0 in writing, reading, speaking and listening.
Your awarded certificate needs to be dated within the last 2 years.
If you need further English language tuition before starting your degree, you can apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses.
Check the specific entry requirements listed on the project you’re interested in before you apply.
Research degrees have a minimum and maximum duration, known as the candidature. Your candidature ends when you submit your thesis.
Most candidatures are longer than the minimum period.
| Programme | Full time | Part time |
| Engineering and the environment | 2 to 4 years | 3 to 7 years |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Programme | Full time | Part time |
| Energy storage applications | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Next generation computational modelling | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Defence and security mobility | 3 to 5 years | 4 to 8 years |
Our engineering doctorates are only available to study full time.
| Programme | Full time |
| Engineering and the environment | 3 to 5 years |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) | 3 to 5 years |
| Transport and the environment | 3 to 5 years |
