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Applications are invited for a self-funded 3-year PhD. 

The PhD will be based in the Faculty of Technology, and will be supervised by Dr Melvin M. Vopson and Prof. Mark Gaterell.

One of the global scientific and technological challenges of today is the development of more efficient heating and cooling methods for domestic and industrial applications.

The successful candidate will aim to develop novel materials suitable for solid-state cooling and heating, offering an elegant and energy efficient technology that utilizes the entropy changes associated with an order parameter in solids (electric, magnetic or elastic) to produce a temperature change of the solid element. 

This is based on the Giant multicaloric effect in multiferroic materials, which is a major breakthrough in solid-state caloric technologies, because it offers a unique approach by combining the principles of electrocaloric, magnetocaloric and elastocaloric effects into a unified process with enhanced caloric properties. 

This project will focus on the design, synthesis and experimental evaluation of composite multiferroic thin films suitable for multicaloric effects. A key aspect of this research programme is the exploration of how this type of technology can be applied to domestic heating and cooling to provide efficient, low cost, low carbon cooling and /or heating, as part of a collaborative project with UCL.  

Fees and funding

Visit the research subject area page for fees and funding information for this project.

Funding availability: Self-funded PhD students only. 

PhD full-time and part-time courses are eligible for the UK  (UK and EU students only).

Bench fees

Some PhD projects may include additional fees – known as bench fees – for equipment and other consumables, and these will be added to your standard tuition fee. Speak to the supervisory team during your interview about any additional fees you may have to pay. Please note, bench fees are not eligible for discounts and are non-refundable.