Physics

Entry requirements

A 2:1 honours degree (or equivalent international qualification) in physics or a related discipline.

Projects which have funding attached are advertised online.

For self-funded projects or those funded by third-party sponsors, you should give an indication of your general field of interest but are not advised to provide a detailed proposal.

If you can't find a suitable PhD project that fits your interests and experience from our advertised opportunities, you can submit a research proposal to the Department of Physics. You are advised to browse our research pages to see the areas of research we are involved with. You can then enquire directly to a particular member of staff and they will be happy to help you develop your research proposal. We also encourage you visit the Department to see our facilities and to meet our academic staff and research students.

Months of entry

January, April, July, October

Course content

The Department of Physics provides an academically stimulating and supportive environment for doctoral researchers. We are an international community of academic staff and students, active in cutting-edge research and industry engagement.

We are a research intensive Physics department, best known for our leading contribution to diverse fields of condensed matter physics.

Building on our traditional strengths in fundamental physics we address the UK Grand Challenges. Our most significant contributions and innovations are in the areas of 2D and van der Waals materials, novel devices for energy harvesting, spintronics, high-frequency electronics, novel computing approaches and artificial intelligence.

Our research strengths lie particularly within the areas of condensed matter and materials, with a good balance between theory and experiment.

Research School of Materials

The Department of Physics is also part of the research infrastructure of the Research School of Materials, which covers several departments. All of these departments have access to an extensive range of research equipment.

Research specialisation

The department specialises in theoretical and experimental condensed matter physics and nanoscience. Areas of applied physics include cardiovascular dynamics, neural networks, drug delivery physics, population dynamics and psychoacoustics. Work is also ongoing to investigate Terahertz radiation.

The recent growing interest in terahertz science and technology is due to its many important applications in physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, and medicine, including THz imaging, spectroscopy, tomography, medical diagnosis, health monitoring, environmental control, as well as chemical and biological identification. The department is also conducting ground breaking work in quantum computing and spintronics.

Information for international students

Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website.

Fees and funding

Please see our website for a list of research degree funding and scholarships.