Current research degree projects
Explore our current postgraduate research degree and PhD opportunities.
Explore our current postgraduate research degree and PhD opportunities.
Hearing speech is usually easy, but understanding speech in noise or in poor acoustic environments can be very challenging. This can impact on people’s ability to communicate, especially over extended periods, impair their social interaction and their performance in tasks, including work and in school.
Globally, water scarcity is a pressing issue, affecting between two and three billion people worldwide, as reported by the recent UN World Water Development report. Osmotically driven forward osmosis (FO) technology offers promise in addressing this problem by recovering water from municipal wastewater treatment plant effluents and complementing other methods for seawater desalination. FO also shows potential in concentrating municipal wastewater to recover water, nutrients, and energy. However, despite its advantages, membrane fouling remains a significant concern, leading to reduced flux, higher cleaning costs, extended downtime, and shorter membrane lifespans.
Phosphorus is an indispensable element for sustaining life, yet it is finite and non-renewable. While phosphorus is used primarily in fertilizers, much of it ends up in municipal wastewater through runoff and blackwater, causing eutrophication and exerting significant pressure on ecosystems. Thus, it is crucial to remove phosphorus from municipal wastewater before its discharge into nature. Furthermore, it is estimated that the phosphorus content in sewage could potentially replace up to 50% of the chemical phosphorus fertilizers in agriculture. Therefore, recovering phosphorus from municipal wastewater is vital for establishing a closed-loop phosphorus recycling system within a circular economy, addressing phosphorus depletion and emission challenges for sustainable development.
X-ray computed tomography uses X-ray radiation to generate three dimensional images of an object’s external and internal structure. The method is not only used for medical diagnostics but is also increasingly used in scientific applications where it can provide very high-resolution images, making it a valuable tool in most scientific fields. As the imaging process can be very slow, this however only works well where objects do not move or change during imaging. The approach is thus not applicable to the investigation of many dynamic processes, where the object changes significantly during imaging. For this setting, a new paradigm is required.
There is a large cost in terms of staff time and devices in supplying hearing aid provision to adults in the UK and a shortage of audiology staff able to deliver services.Automation and machine learning, for example in terms of automated hearing testing, machine learning to seek information from patients and self-fitting hearing aids have the potential to reduce the staff time required to deliver services and hence to improve access to services. However it is critical to still be responsive to the needs to service users and to be safe.
Effective thermal management of lithium-based battery systems is important for optimising cell efficiency, reducing cell degradation and preventing catastrophic failure. Cooling methods need to have a low parasitic energy draw and be controllable to maintain the battery in a defined temperature window.
The accelerating growth of the battery market requires major advances in the production of lithium for the supply of materials to manufacture the batteries. Due to the long life of lithium batteries, recycling methods alone will not be able to cope with the expected increase in battery demand. But it is critical that the increase in the production of lithium is done with environmentally friendly methods.
We are seeking a motivated and innovative individual to join our dynamic team in the pursuit of harnessing the vast potential of wave energy. This exciting PhD opportunity focuses on the design, construction, testing, and analysis of a novel mechanism for wave energy harvesting.
Only a small fraction of the available vehicles’ fuel energy is used for driving the car itself and the rest is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies or used to power accessories. The biggest challenge facing Electric vehicles is the limited driving range that depends on the energy capacity of the batteries in use. These have necessitated the need for reducing vehicle energy losses, an effective solution being to harvest the wasted vibrational energy through the design of a regenerative shock absorber (RSA). In addition to converting the wasted vibration energy to electricity, suspensions with RSA can potentially provide enhanced dynamic performance, reduce costs, increase lifetimes of batteries for electrical and hybrid vehicles, improve fuel efficiency and reduce exhaust emissions.
Cavitation damage poses a substantial threat to equipment across various industries, impacting performance, increasing maintenance costs, causing downtime, and posing safety and environmental risks.