Aerosol Science PhD

Programme overview

An aerosol consists of solid particles or liquid droplets dispersed in a gas phase, with sizes spanning from clusters of molecules (nanometres) to rain droplets (millimetres). Aerosols are found in a broad range of important contexts, from drug delivery to the lungs to disease transmission, combustion and energy generation, materials processing, environmental and atmospheric science, and the delivery of agricultural and consumer products.

Candidates who aspire to work in a truly multidisciplinary field and who have an undergraduate background in any of the following areas are encouraged to apply: chemistry, physics, biological sciences, life and medical sciences, chemical and mechanical engineering, pharmacy and environmental sciences.

You will be based at the University of Bristol for the first seven months of your first year of this Centre for Doctoral Training. During this time, you will receive training in the underlying physical science governing the properties and transformation of aerosols. Training will be provided by academics and industrial partners using a team-based learning approach.

You will then undertake a research project for five months that could be in one of the partnering universities (Bath, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Imperial, Leeds, Manchester), giving you an opportunity to gain an insight into aerosols in an area complementary to your eventual PhD research. During year two or year three, you will undertake a placement hosted by the industrial partner supporting your project, giving you a perspective on aerosols outside the academic environment.

It is our expectation that our graduates will be agile experts, able to work at the many boundaries between the conventional discipline where aerosols play a role.

Careers

Aerosol science is core to a broad range of disciplines - from drug delivery to the lungs, to disease transmission, aerosol routes to the manufacture of new materials, combustion, air quality and climate change, and the delivery of consumer and agricultural products. This programme equips students to enter careers in any of these areas in which a knowledge of aerosol science is important, spanning industry, government, the public sector and NGOs.