Funding Opportunities

Aberystwyth University is a member of the ESRC Welsh Graduate School in Social Science (WGSSS) which supports a number of fully-funded studentships in the social sciences. Students can apply for studentships in four research areas or ‘pathways’: (1) Environmental Planning, (2) Health, Well-Being and Data Science, (3) Human Geography and (4) Politics, International Relations, and Area Studies. Information on each pathway is provided in the links below.  

Applicants should consider approaching potential supervisors before submitting their application to confirm that there is appropriate supervisory capacity and to discuss their draft application.

What will the studentship cover:

Studentship awards cover your tuition fees as well as a maintenance grant and include access to additional funding through Research Training Support Grants (RTSG).  There are other opportunities and benefits available to studentship holders, including an overseas fieldwork allowance (if applicable), internship opportunities, overseas institutional visits and other small grants.

Eligibility

WGSSS studentships are highly competitive. Applications should come from exceptional candidates with a first class or strong upper second-class honours degree, or appropriate Master’s degree. The University values diversity and equality at all levels and encourages applications from all sections of the community, irrespective of age, disability, sex, gender identity, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.  In line with our commitment to supporting and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, and to increase recruitment of currently underrepresented groups, applications from Black British, Asian British, minority ethnicity British and mixed-race British candidates are particularly encouraged and welcomed.  We welcome applications for both full and part-time study.

Pathways:

Detailed information on eligibility, topic areas and the application process can be found on the links below.

Environmental Planning

Health Wellbeing and Data Science

Human Geography

Politics, International Relations, and Area Studies

The Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS) recently hosted two webinars; ‘How to apply for a WGSSS studentship’ and ‘How to write a research proposal’. The webinars were designed to make the competition more accessible to those who are considering applying in the 2024 WGSSS studentship competition. The webinars covered topics such as; how to find a supervisor, how to prepare for an interview, and how to structure your proposal. Recordings of the webinars are available on the WGSSS studentships page.

WGSSS welcomes applications from students of all backgrounds. We value academic excellence and life skills, as well as the ability to meet challenges and student’s capacity to enrich the life of our community. Widening participation is a key goal for WGSSS and we are keen to receive applications from able and ambitious students. We are a collaboration between Cardiff University (the lead institution), Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of Gloucestershire, the University of South Wales and Swansea University.  

The closing date for applications in the General Competition is the 12^th January 2024 (institutions may have earlier deadlines, these will be detailed in the individual General Competition adverts), the Collaborative Competition will be launching in March 2024.

Isabel Ann Robertson, always known as Ann, was a tutor in the Computer Science Department at Aberystwyth University for 25 years from 1984 to 2009. But her links with the University spanned several generations. Ann Davies was born in London in 1932, the eldest of three children. Her mother, Enid Sayers, had graduated in English from the then University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in the 1920s and later (as Enid Davies) was Vice President of the Old Students’ Association. Ann’s father, C W Davies, was also an Aber graduate and was later a professor of Chemistry and Head of the Chemistry Department. Ann studied Physics when the department was still based in the Old College on the seafront, graduating with a BSc in 1954 and an MSc by research in 1957. Her research was on cavitation. She was also a College athlete and a member of the Sailing Club. In 1956 she married David Robertson, whom she had met through the Sailing Club. His work for the Forestry Commission took them to many different parts of the UK, including Glasgow, where Ann took an MSc in Computer Science. They returned to Aberystwyth to live in the 1980s. Their daughter, Sara Robertson, also studied at Aberystwyth from 1978 to 1981 and their granddaughter, Fiona Robertson, followed, from 2011 to 2015.

Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship - Details of the Award & Available Projects

Open to applicants who qualify for Home (UK) fees status only, there are three full-time PhD scholarships available.  These will be allocated on a competitive basis to three of the projects described in the Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship 2025 Project Details. Those awarded an Ann Robertson Scholarship will receive a grant for up to three years which will cover their tuition fees up to the UK rate of £5,006 per annum (2025/26 rate).  A maintenance allowance of approximately £20,780 per annum* and access to a travel and conference fund (max. £1000 per annum*) will also be provided. Scholarships commence in September 2025 (although flexible starts up to February 2026 can be discussed).

How to Apply 

Applications will be assessed on a rolling monthly basis and we hope to assess applications after the following dates: 3rd April 2025, 8th May 2025, 5th June 2025.

To be considered, candidates must complete the usual full online PhD application AND the specific  Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship Application Form 2025 

The completed Ann Robertson Scholarship Application Form should be submitted via our online Postgraduate Application Portal at the point of application.   

To make a full PhD application, firstly visit our course pages and find the details of the course for which you wish to apply.  Once you have found your chosen course page, select the “Apply Now” button to start your application.  

The Postgraduate Admissions Application Portal will ask you to provide us with your personal details, confirm your course selection(s) and upload documents in support of your application.  Please have you supporting documents saved in PDF format and ready to upload to your online application. 

At the same time, the completed Ann Robertson Scholarship Application Form should also be sent as an attachment by email to Prof Reyer Zwiggelaar (rrz@aber.ac.uk), Head of Graduate School, with the subject heading ANN ROBERTSON SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION. 

Please ensure that you read the Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship Terms & Conditions thoroughly. 

Any Questions? 

If you have any specific queries regarding the projects listed, please contact the main supervisor associated with the project.  

If you have any queries about the postgraduate application process please contact
 pg-admissions@aber.ac.uk

Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship Project Details

• Title: Soft Matter Photonics
• Title: Studying the filamentary sub-structure of star-forming clouds in our Galaxy
• Title: A Quantum Open Systems Approach to Black Hole Thermodynamics
• Title: Never Forgetting Evolutionary Algorithms
• Title: Nanodiamonds as Platforms for Improved Drug Delivery
• Title: Anytime Analysis for Dynamic Optimisation Problems
• Title: Lunar Impact Flash Studies and Fresh Crater Detection
• Mathematics

Title: Soft Matter Photonics

Supervisor: Dr Chris Finlayson (cef2@aber.ac.uk), Physics

Abstract: Polymer nano-spheres (with composite core-shell layers) can be synthesised and arranged into crystal structures, also known as Polymer Opals, to produce intense iridescent colours. In a real advance over other forms of synthetic opals, they are made by standard plastic manufacturing techniques, presenting a promising platform for next generation bulk-scale photonic structures, coatings, and sensors. They are flexible and durable, making them suited for mass production and incorporation into consumer items, and unlike with existing dyes/pigments, they are non-toxic, inexpensive and resistant to fading.

The recently developed bending induced oscillatory shearing (or BIOS) sample preparation methods have had a transformative effect to the ordering and quality of such soft matter photonics. The next challenge is the general application of BIOS in generating a wider range of highly ordered opaline materials with advanced optical functionality. This studentship will offer significant progress on multiple fronts; process development for new functional materials, furthering the research underpinning the scale-up to innovative applications, and the underlying science of ordering in composite soft nanophotonics.

A key challenge is a deeper understanding of the rheological (fluid mechanics) properties of polymeric viscoelastic media and the exact mechanisms and time evolution of crystallisation under shear flow. A combined experimental and theoretical approach will synergise detailed rheometry with simulation modelling and machine learning (in collaboration with the Maths Department). With applications in mind; the key scale-up of thin-film photonics to roll-to-roll processing, and the associated tolerances and quality control, will be examined using state-of-the-art in-line goniometry and hyperspectral imaging techniques.

Title: Studying the filamentary sub-structure of star-forming clouds in our Galaxy

Supervisor: Dr Gwenllian Williams (gww16@aber.ac.uk), Physics

Abstract: In the early 2010's, a new era of star formation research was sparked when observations from the Herschel Space Observatory revealed that Galactic molecular clouds are universally permeated by elongated filamentary structures. These filaments act as rivers of material, funnelling gas down to sites where stars form. Recent observations over the last 5 years have revealed that filamentary molecular clouds are themselves composed of sub-filamentary structures, often termed fibres. Fibres have since been observed within a range of molecular clouds, from those of low-mass to those of high-mass. Whilst the formation of low-mass stars and high-mass stars are widely known to proceed via different mechanisms, the observation of fibres in both types of molecular cloud suggests they may be the missing ingredient that unifies star formation across the two extremes of mass. Debate is thus rife as to the role fibres play in the formation of stars across mass scales. This project will test this hypothesis by investigating the fibre content of filamentary molecular clouds using new state-of-the-art observations from the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, using both data that is already in-hand and data from the ALMA public archive. This work has the potential to bridge a long-standing divide in our understanding of how stars across different mass regimes form, and help inform future proposals for the observation of star-forming molecular clouds in our Galaxy.

Title: A Quantum Open Systems Approach to Black Hole Thermodynamics

Supervisor: Professor John Gough (jug@aber.ac.uk), Physics

Abstract: The study of quantum fields in curved spacetime has led to surprising and novel features such as the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect and Hawking’s black hole radiation laws. Here thermodynamic features arise due to acceleration or gravity. The analysis of quantum effects has tended to revolve around standard applications of quantum theory, however, there is also the open systems approach which has been used extensively to model and control irreversible quantum systems coupled to a heat bath and which have been finding application recently in the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics. This project will develop an open systems approach to quantum fields in curved spacetimes: new elements which we propose to look at in the PhD project will be the formulation of quantum Markovian models, irreversible models of Black hole thermodynamics, and the detection problem realized as a well-posed quantum filtering application to give a correct account of the “collapse of the wave-function”.

Title: Never Forgetting Evolutionary Algorithms

 Supervisor: Maxim Buzdalov (mab168@aber.ac.uk), Computer Science

Evolutionary algorithms are a class of optimisers that aim at solving difficult problems in black-box settings. Most of them are population-based, that is, they maintain more than one candidate solution. There are multiple reasons why this helps, including the ability to maintain diversity of solutions and tracking multiple promising regions simultaneously. But population sizes are limited in practice, and one needs to decide which solutions to retain, and which to expel. In particular, non-elitist evolutionary algorithms explicitly allow to remove the best individuals in exchange for better global search ability. But when a solution is gone, it is gone and forgotten. Is it actually necessary?

In this project, we are going to explore what becomes possible if we stop forgetting solutions. There are many facets to it, including developing practical methods to store so many solutions and to generate new ones, designing new algorithms that benefit from it, applying them to optimisation problems in various domains, understanding and proving the scale of improvements, and encompassing the existing approaches.  For some of these parts, promising preliminary results are available [1]. As the scope is wide and methods are diverse, we will be able to tailor your project to suit your background and desires. 

[1] M. Buzdalov (2023): Improving Time and Memory Efficiency of Genetic Algorithms by Storing Populations as Minimum Spanning Trees of Patches. In Proceedings of Genetic and Evolutionary Conference Companion (GECCO 2023), ACM, pages 1873-1881. https://doi.org/10.1145/3583133.3596388

Title: Nanodiamonds as Platforms for Improved Drug Delivery

Supervisors: Dr Rachel Cross (rac21@aber.ac.uk), Physics / Dr Amanda Gibson (amg39@aber.ac.uk), IBERS

Cancer is a serious public health problem and nanoparticle-based therapeutics are regarded as a major potential advancement in the future of tailored healthcare. Nanoparticle uptake is greatly influenced by cell type and the surface properties of the nanomaterial. The ability to exploit diamond’s unique properties at biologically relevant scales makes nanodiamonds promising candidates for nano-therapeutics. However, translating this technology to clinical trials is proving difficult, and understanding the fundamental interactions between the nanoparticles and a biological system is still a considerable challenge.

This interdisciplinary project seeks to characterise the toxicity effect of nanodiamond surface termination and size for the enhancement of one of the most frequently prescribed chemotherapy drugs, Fluorouracil (5-FU), on human cancer cell lines. Our investigations so far show nanodiamonds of 5 nm alone do not harm cell viability whilst increasing 5-FU efficacy. By exploring the effect of nanodiamond size on the interaction between cell and drug we hope to push the size limit upwards to allow dual use of nanodiamonds to achieve the benefits of reduced dose and sensing applications.

Our key objective is to uncover and understand improved clinical benefits by predicting and controlling the nanoparticles’ internalisation pathways, dependent on surface chemistry and size.

Project title: Anytime Analysis for Dynamic Optimisation Problems

Supervisor: Thomas Jansen (thj10@aber.ac.uk) and Christine Zarges (chz8@aber.ac.uk), Computer Science

Many optimisation problems are too difficult to be solved efficiently by standard algorithms. Heuristic optimisation methods like evolutionary algorithms are frequently applied in these situations. Theory still puts an emphasis on runtime analysis and is at odds with the way these heuristics are actually applied. This project addresses this gap by concentrating on anytime analysis targeting dynamic problems that change over time.

Building on existing anytime analysis results (sometimes also called fixed budget results [2]) as well as recent results from fixed target analysis [1], the project performs a systematic study of dynamic optimisation. The starting point are simple static unimodal and multimodal benchmarks [3] and simple different tools to construct dynamic optimisation problems from static ones. Starting from simple heuristics like random sampling and local search the tools and methods are developed to compare these baseline methods with more advanced methods, employing populations, crossover, and different approaches to deal with dynamic optimisation problems like hall of fame approaches or diploidy.

[1] M. Buzdalov, B. Doerr, C. Doerr, D. Vinokurov (2022): Fixed-Target Runtime Analysis. Algorithmica 84(6), pages 1762-1793. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-021-00881-0

[2] T. Jansen (2020): Analysing stochastic search heuristics operating on a fixed budget. In B. Doerr, F. Neumann (Eds.): Theory of Evolutionary Computation. Springer, pages 249-270. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29414-4_5

[3] T. Jansen, C. Zarges (2016): Example landscapes to support analysis of multimodal optimisation. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving From Nature (PPSN XIV). Springer, pages 792-802. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45823-6_74

Title: Lunar Impact Flash Studies and Fresh Crater Detection

Supervisor: Dr Tony Cook (atc@aber.ac.uk), Physics

Abstract: A brief flash of light is emitted whenever a meteoroid slams into the surface of the Moon. These have been videoed from the Earth-based telescopes, but from 2028 onwards will also be detected from the ESA LUMIO space mission, which the department is participating in. Software to detect telescopic lunar impact flashes on the lunar night side, works but is not very robust. Cosmic ray air showers, and the atmospheric scinticllation of sunlit peak, and stars on the limb, all create false detections. Another issue to resolve is that although there are probably rare, very bright impact flashes, against the day side of the Moon, no software is reliable enough to detect these due to false triggers from contrasty edges of craters. New algorithms are needed that are both fast and reliable, possibly utilizing AI, to discriminate true from false impact flashes. A more reliable means of detection will improve drastically our statistics on lunar impact flashes. A second task of the PhD is to modify, enhance and automate, existing software to identify newly formed craters on the Moon using temporal NASA LROC imagery. Telescope observing time, in the visible, short wave IR, and thermal IR, will be made available to the PhD student.

Mathematics

Mae Ysgoloriaeth PhD Ann Robertson ar gael i ariannu unrhyw brosiect a gynigir gan yr Adran Fathemateg. Ewch i dudalen Prosiectau PhD Mathemateg am ddisgrifiadau o brosiectau PhD nodweddiadol sydd ar gael a thudalennau Ymchwil Mathemateg i gael rhagor o wybodaeth am ymchwil yr Adran.

An Ann Robertson PhD Scholarship is available to fund any project offered by the Department of Mathematics. Visit the Mathematics PhD Projects page for descriptions of typical PhD projects on offer and the Mathematics Research pages for further information on the Department's research.

AberDoc Scholarships are part of a prestigious fund for Research Postgraduates.

These awards are tailored to enable students to develop the necessary skills required to meet their career choices and offer a breadth of development opportunities to enhance their research, teaching and transferable skills.

For more information, check out the dedicated page for AberDoc.

Aberystwyth University is one of a number of institutions in the South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) and has successfully secured funding for PhD scholarships in the arts and humanities. Successful students may benefit from potential supervision and training opportunities available at more than one university within the DTP.

Please note that these awards are only available to UK students and are for new PhD students rather than current PhD students.

Please visit the South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership website for further information.

Other funding opportunities are available. For more information check the dedicated Other Funding page.