PhD Projects | Study | University of Southampton

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240 research degree projects

Electronics and Computer Science

Secure and trustworthy AI for autonomous vehicle ecosystems

This project develops AI-enhanced threat-modelling techniques to improve the cybersecurity and resilience of autonomous vehicles. It analyses vulnerabilities in AI-driven sensing and decision systems, models complex adversarial interactions, and designs adaptive detection and mitigation strategies, with applicability to other safety-critical domains.

Funding: Fully funded (UK only)

Closing date: 18 May 2026
Engineering

Modelling of liquid-fuelled rotating detonation engines for gas-turbine applications

Using a rotating detonation engine (RDE) as gas turbine combustion chamber could increase engine efficiency dramatically. This project will implement two-phase flow and spray combustion modelling into our in-house dynamically adaptive RDE code to quantify the potential of RDE-based jet engines by massively parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. 

Funding: Fully funded (UK and international)

Closing date: 30 June 2026
Engineering

Efficient and trustworthy CFD simulation of hypersonic glide vehicles under dynamic control

Hypersonic glide vehicles operate in an extreme aerothermal environment and are genuinely difficult to control. While evaluating control methodologies currently relies on precomputed aerodynamic databases, this project will extend and directly couple our inhouse predictive, non-equilibrium aerothermodynamic overset strand-mesh computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver with the control methodology.

Funding: Fully funded (UK and international)

Closing date: 30 June 2026
Engineering

Development of electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry for spacecraft missions

This project will pioneer space-ready electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry to detect biosignatures in the Solar system. Combining spacecraft propulsion electrospray techniques with flight-proven miniaturised mass spectrometers, the project develop cutting edge electrospray mass spectrometry techniques through a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) mission heritage.

Funding: Fully funded (UK and international)

Closing date: 1 June 2026
Engineering

Aero-optics of high-speed flow

Supersonic and hypersonic flows contain density fluctuations that affect the performance of optical sensors, including non-intrusive flow measurement. An additional feature is the challenging aerothermodynamic environment with extreme surface heating. On this project you'll use scale-resolving numerical simulation to understand the flow physics and develop new prediction methods. 

Funding: Fully funded (UK only)

Closing date: 31 May 2026
Engineering

Turbulent boundary layer noise

Noise production by turbulent boundary layers is an important practical problem that remains a challenge for prediction methods. On this industry-supported project you'll apply new techniques of large-scale numerical simulation and machine learning to understand the flow physics and develop new prediction methods.

Funding: Fully funded (UK only)

Closing date: 31 May 2026
Engineering

Developing and testing new sensors for characterising ocean carbon dioxide uptake

Oceans are critical to the changing climate, having absorbed a third of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide; hence monitoring ocean uptake is essential for understanding, modelling, and mitigating climate change. This project looks to develop and test novel sensors to do so, based on droplet microfluidic technology.

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 30 June 2026
Engineering

Making nanoscale materials: precision fabrication of high-performance functional structures

This project focuses on exploring high-precision lithographic fabrication techniques for the development of multifunctional material structures at the nanoscale, with applications in wireless energy and information transfer, and in biomedicine.

Funding: Fully funded (UK and international)

Closing date: 30 April 2026
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Designing many-body quantum echoes for quantum computation assisted structure determination

In this project, you will explore the design of many-body quantum echoes that amplify structurally sensitive data for quantum computation. By combining controlled quantum experiments with quantum algorithmic methods, you will gain hands-on experience applying fundamental quantum techniques to real-world problems.

Funding: Fully funded (UK only)

Closing date: 31 July 2026
Engineering

Air lubrication for drag reduction over non-flat surfaces

Injecting air beneath a ship’s hull offers significant drag reduction and fuel savings, but current systems perform best on flat geometries. This project addresses the open question of how hull curvature influences air-layer dynamics and stability. This is a crucial step toward extending air lubrication to a wider range of vessel designs and realistic flow conditions. 

Funding: Competition funded

Closing date: 30 April 2026