PhD Graphene NOWNANO CDT

Programme description

Established in 2013 with EPSRC funding and now supported by the University of Manchester and industry, Graphene NOWNANO CDT is working closely with the National Graphene Institute, Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre and Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials. The team of potential PhD supervisors across 8 departments at Manchester and Lancaster includes two Nobel laureates and 11 highly cited researchers (ranked within 1% of their disciplines) who are responsible for a number of breakthroughs in graphene/2D materials research and continue to lead the world in this area.

In preparation for challenging interdisciplinary research projects the students initially complete a 6 month taught programme of units and projects in fundamentals of 2D materials and core research techniques. In later years of PhD this is followed by further training in innovation and commercialisation of research, transferrable skills, secondments either in academia or industry and an active outreach programme introducing graphene and 2D materials to the general public.

Career opportunities

As part of the programme you will follow a prescribed set of career enhancing workshops, designed to develop your skills and readiness for entering the world of work. These include:

• It's never too early to start thinking about your career
• Setting yourself up for success
• Developing a research profile
• Commercialisation of Research
• Excursions to industry
• Career Pathways event
• Bespoke 1-2-1 careers advice
• Engagement with an active alumni

Our PhD students have gone on to develop careers as; university research associates, biomedical scientists, entrepreneurs, software developers, engineers, materials scientists and computational mathematicians.