Join over 500 PhD students in one of the largest and most diverse engineering, environmental science and audiology faculties in the UK. We develop solutions in areas including sustainable energy, green transport, resource efficiency and resilient infrastructure.
Engineering at the University of Southampton has subjects ranked within the global top 100 and the UK’s top ten in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022.
You'll be supported by a team of academic supervisors who'll be on hand to guide your research and provide advice. Working alongside our world-class team of researchers means you'll be working on cutting-edge research and pioneering solutions.
We'll provide you with the grounding you need to become a successful researcher. You'll benefit from both technical and personal training. You'll also be able to develop your skills further through placements in industry, mentoring, attending conferences and presenting your work.
Most of our research projects have strong links with industry so you'll be able to conduct experiments at a variety of facilities to ensure your research has real world impact.
We offer 3 PhD routes. Choosing the one that is right for you often depends on your background and previous study.
If you've completed your undergraduate and masters degrees and want to continue in the same field, then the standard research PhD is probably the right option.
This PhD has an integrated training year delivered through one of our Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT). If you're coming straight from an undergraduate degree or changing your field of study, then this is a good choice. Our CDTs offer funded projects in the following areas:
This programme has a specific industrial focus. It combines technical and management training with research in collaboration with an industry partner or sponsor. This means you'll have an industrial supervisor in addition to your university supervisors. The projects offered each year depend on the interests of the sponsoring companies. Like our iPhDs, they usually align with our CDT research areas. However, we sometimes recruit through our research groups if there is an interested industry sponsor.
Our research areas include:
You can either apply for a structured studentship or propose your own PhD idea.
Taking a structured studentship will give you access to additional training, conferences and secondments. Full studentships typically cover tuition fees (at EU/UK level) and provide a tax-free bursary which varies depending on the programme.
We offer our structured studentships in partnership with our Centres of Doctoral Training (CDT).
This project will develop the capability to design and 3D print packaging from so-called metamaterials that derive their mechanical properties in-part from the intricate geometry of their porous architecture.
This project focuses on the cutting edge of sound reproduction technology. It is relevant to broadcasting, music production and human computer interaction.
Active noise control (ANC) has been developed over many years to mitigate unwanted noise in various environments. It finds applications in areas such as noise-cancelling headphones, car cabins, aircraft interiors, and even in windows for creating quieter spaces. However, the performance of an ANC system remains limited by its acoustic design, which necessitates customising the placement of electroacoustic components for each specific ANC application.
This project aims to investigate the rotational effects on an oscillating aerodynamic structure, using both experimental and numerical methods.
This project will focus on an approach for aerostructural analysis and optimisation of Ultra-High Aspect Ratio Wings (UHARW). You'll develop and apply active flow control to the design of next generation low emission transport aircraft. Advanced optimisation approaches, such as coupled-adjoint sensitivity analysis will be integrated with medium to high fidelity aerodynamic and structural analysis tools to achieve this goal.
This project will build on work conducted in the Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics (AFM) Group to develop the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to short-distance dispersion problems. This has demonstrated how to set up city-scale dispersion simulations and that results can be generated in real-time based on UK LIDAR Composite Digital Surface Model (DSM) data and the open-source PALM-4U code.
As a researcher on this project you will work at the forefront of Artificial intelligence (AI) methods to develop and test a purely AI-driven model used to simulate the propagation of flood inundation at high-performance.
This project will use computational modelling in combination with 3D multiscale multimodal imaging to improve our understanding of placental evolution, in close collaboration between engineering and medicine.
Membrane filtration is an essential component of industrial processes that involve separation or purification of substances. This project will assess the possibility for using vibrations for an active control of the fluid flow in a filtration cell.
The electrification of aircraft as an enabler for achieving our Net-Zero ambitions has been increasingly studied in recent years. The addition of new electrical components as part of the power train in electric (hybrid) aircraft increases the overall propulsion efficiency, but the heat generated by these additional systems must be removed. In fact, designing an efficient thermal management system poses one of the major challenges for (hybrid)electric aircraft.
This project will focus on studying the design of novel metamaterials for the reduction of aerodynamically induced large shallow cavity self-noise for next generation military aircraft.
This project aims to develop magnesium (Mg) alloys as the lightest structural material for automotive industries. This will promote the reduction of carbon emissions towards net zero by addressing one main challenge in industrial applications: poor formability.
Despite an increase in the use of CFD for predicting the forces acting on a vessel, or maritime structure, experiments still play an essential role in improving our predictions and assessing complex hydrodynamic phenomena.
In this exciting experimental project, we aim to explore the feasibility of model-based prediction and control of coordinated swimming of multiple flapping foils in a water facility. We aim to use simple predictive models coupled with sensors to provide robust predictions of the performance envelope for downstream foils. Then, these predictions should be integrated into the flapping foil setup where the goal is to optimise the performance of the flapping foils under extreme variations of the oncoming flow.
Explore the effects of pressure gradient histories on turbulent boundary layer flow at high Reynolds numbers. We have developed a new optical diagnostic that enables us to capture 3D data over large volumes. The goal is to deploy this technique in wind tunnel experiments and capture the 3D flow information over the entire length of pressure-gradient history.
Aircraft engines are the primary source of noise during take-off and landing. To mitigate this noise, modern engines are built with porous liners that consist of a honeycomb core sandwiched between a solid plate at the bottom and a perforated sheet at the top that is exposed to the flow.
This project aims to identify, detect, understand, and suggest mitigations for the effects of deviations in porous architecture on the properties and performance of porous metamaterials.
The aim of this project is to develop and verify, against available experimental data, a mathematical model capable of predicting the typical behaviour and time scales of separating water and oil emulsions.
This PhD project, in association with BAE Systems, seeks to reveal and investigate novel solutions to deliver significant improvements in overall energy efficiency in maritime transport.
This PhD project will explore various configurations and applications of interferometry in the context of experimental fluid mechanics.
Investigate the lifetime limiting effects occurring in electrospray thrusters, how they occur, and methods to alleviate them. This project will build upon the successful electrospray thruster development completed at the University of Southampton, developing one of the highest thrust electrospray thrusters in the world.
This PhD project will aim to investigate the potential of using magnetic reconnection within a plasma propulsion thruster for spacecraft, and exciting and novel topic within the field.
This project aims to find the best method to harness the biomechanical potential of plants to develop farming in hostile ground conditions.
This project will focus on developing new, grid independent, 100% renewable energy supplied electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
We offer a wide range of fully funded studentships. We run several of our PhD studentships in partnership with doctoral training centres, meaning you'll benefit from enhanced training and guaranteed funding.
These studentships:
Doctoral training centres offer fully funded studentships which include:
We offer funded iPhD through our CDTs in:
We offer scholarships and teaching bursaries ourselves. Your potential supervisor can guide you on what is available.
If you’re an international student you may be able to apply for a scholarship from your country.
Find out more about scholarships
Once you've found a supervisor, they can help you with potential funding sources. We offer match funding in some cases.
You'll need to state how you intend to pay for your tuition fees when you submit your application.
Find out more about funding your PhD
You may be able to fund your postgraduate research with funding from your current employer or from industry.
You can borrow up to £26,445 for a PhD starting in 2022. Doctoral loans are not means tested and you can decide how much you want to borrow.
Find out about PhD loans on GOV.UK
You may be able to win funding from one or more charities to help fund your PhD.
We charge tuition fees for every year of study. If you're applying for a fully funded project, your fees will be paid for you.
2022 to 2023 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | £2,298 | £12,300 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | tbc | £12,750 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment part time | tbc | £13,050 |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £26,100 |
2022 to 2023 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | £2,298 | £12,300 |
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | tbc | £12,750 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Energy storage applications full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Next generation computational modelling full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Defence and security mobility full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Defence and security mobility part time | tbc | £13,050 |
Precise topics each year are determined by the research interests of the sponsoring companies, and may be aligned with our current CDTs in
2022 to 2023 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
| Transport and the environment full time | £4,596 | £24,600 |
2023 to 2024 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £25,500 |
| Transport and the environment full time | tbc | £25,500 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
| Subject | UK fees | International fees |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering and the environment full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) full time | tbc | £26,100 |
| Transport and the environment full time | tbc | £26,100 |
You're eligible for a 10% alumni discount on a self-funded PhD if you're a current student or graduate from the University of Southampton.
Several national centres, industrial units, interdisciplinary research centres and spin-off companies operate under the umbrella of the School of Engineering.
Our research groups are aligned with recent UK Government priority areas, as set out in the UK Industrial Strategy.
We offer 3 programmes:
If you decide to apply for an iPhD or an EngD make sure you refer to the individual requirements and application deadlines for the relevant CDT:
If you choose a standard research PhD, decide whether to apply to an advertised research project or create your own proposal.
Whichever programme you choose, you'll need to identify potential supervisors. Therefore, it's a good idea to email potential supervisors working within your field of interest to discuss potential PhD projects. It's best to do this well ahead of the application deadline.
You’ll find supervisors’ contact details listed with the advertised project, or you can search for supervisors in the staff directory.
As part of your online application, you’ll need to send us:
The application process is the same whether you're applying for a funded project, or have created a research proposal.
You should have a 2:1 honours undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification.
If English is not your first language, you'll need an IELTS minimum level of 6.5 with a 6.0 in writing, reading, speaking and listening.
Your awarded certificate needs to be dated within the last 2 years.
If you need further English language tuition before starting your degree, you can apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses.
Check the specific entry requirements listed on the project you’re interested in before you apply.
Research degrees have a minimum and maximum duration, known as the candidature. Your candidature ends when you submit your thesis.
Most candidatures are longer than the minimum period.
| Programme | Full time | Part time |
| Engineering and the environment | 2 to 4 years | 3 to 7 years |
| Engineering and the environment (energy storage and applications) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Engineering and the environment (next generation computational modelling) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) | 2 to 4 years | Not available |
| Programme | Full time | Part time |
| Energy storage applications | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Next generation computational modelling | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Sustainable infrastructure systems | 3 to 5 years | Not available |
| Defence and security mobility | 3 to 5 years | 4 to 8 years |
Our engineering doctorates are only available to study full time.
| Programme | Full time |
| Engineering and the environment | 3 to 5 years |
| Engineering and the environment (sustainable infrastructure systems) | 3 to 5 years |
| Transport and the environment | 3 to 5 years |
