Two fully funded four year EPSRC PhD studentships to be held at the University of Cambridge as part of the Imperial/Cambridge/Open Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy are available from 1st October 2015 to work on the development of new materials for accident tolerant nuclear fuels. These materials are layered zirconium carbides structurally related to MAX phases such as Ti3SiC2. 

One studentship will focus on point defect structure and its relationship to physical properties using nuclear magnetic resonance supervised by Dr Ian Farnan (Department of Earth Sciences), the second will focus on larger scale microstructural characterisation of these materials using transmission electron microscopy supervised by Dr Kevin Knowles (Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy). 

This research is part of a larger EPSRC Research Consortium into these materials and the successful candidates would be expected to present results at consortium meetings and international conferences. These studentships are subject to standard EPSRC eligibility conditions (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/eligibility/) and stipends.

Informal enquiries should be made in the first instance to Dr Farnan (if203<στο>cam.ac.uk) or Dr Knowles (kmk10<στο>cam.ac.uk)

Please quote reference LB05574 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

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