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School of Physical and Chemical Sciences

China Scholarship Council Project

Queen Mary University of London has partnered with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to offer a joint scholarship programme to enable Chinese students to study for a PhD programme at Queen Mary. Under the scheme, Queen Mary will provide scholarships to cover all tuition fees, whilst the CSC will provide living expenses for 4 years and one return flight ticket to successful applicants. 

The School of Physical and Chemical Sciences is pleased to offer up to 30 PhD projects under this scheme to start in September 2024. Please see below for the available projects.

Eligibility and applying

Applicants must be:

  • Chinese students with a strong academic background.
  • Students holding a PR Chinese passport.
  • Either a resident in China at the time of application or studying overseas. 
  • Students with prior experience of studying overseas (including in the UK) are eligible to apply. Chinese QMUL graduates/Masters’ students are therefore eligible for the scheme.

Please refer to the CSC website for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship.

The deadline for applications to Queen Mary is 31st January 2024. Applicants will need to complete an online application form by this date to be considered. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the project supervisor. Those who are successful in their application for our PhD programme will be issued with an offer letter which is conditional on securing a CSC scholarship (as well as any academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements).

Once applicants have obtained their offer letter from Queen Mary they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship by the advertised deadline with the support of the project supervisor.

For September 2024 entry, applicants must complete the CSC application on the CSC website by the advertised deadline.

Only applicants who are successful in their application to CSC can be issued an unconditional offer and enrol on our PhD programme.

Projects:

 

Project Title Supervisor
Chiral Spin Filtering through Helicenes (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Jochen Brandt
A World-leading Measurement of the Fundamental Parameter of the Standard Model – the Weak Mixing Angle (China Scholarship Council and CONACYT project) Professor Eram Rizvi
A World Leading Search for Higgs Boson decays to charm quarks at the ATLAS experiment at the LHC (China Scholarship Council project) Professor Eram Rizvi
Searching for new physics with the ATLAS experiment at CERN (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Marcella Bona
Molecular memristors for next-generation computing (China Scholarship Council project) Professor Jan Mol
Scattering amplitudes in field theory and string theory (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Ricardo Monteiro
Light-Driven Nanomachines for Cell Biology (China Scholarship Council project) Professor Matteo Palma
Nanotechnology for hybrid optoelectronic systems and devices (China Scholarship Council project) Professor Matteo Palma
Conversion of CO2 to Value-added Chemicals & Materials: from Fundamental Principles to Experimental Design (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Devis Di Tommaso
Photocatalysis with Soft Semiconductors (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Stoichko Dimitrov
From data to discovery: development of a comprehensive bioinformatic toolkit for myosin studies (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Arianna Fornili
Base Metals Catalysis for Sustainable Organic Synthesis (China Scholarship Council project) Dr Oriol Planas
Large scale structure in the Universe (China Scholarship Council project) Professor Chris Clarkson

Research Group: Particle Physics Research Centre
Number of Students: 1
Length of Study in Years: 4 Years
Full-time Project: yes

Funding

•    Available to Chinese applicants via the China Scholarship Council (CSC).
•    Applicant required to start in September 2024..
•    The minimum requirement for this studentship opportunity is a good Honours degree (minimum 2(i) honours or equivalent) or MSc/MRes in a relevant discipline.
•    If English is not your first language you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 6.5+ overall with a minimum score of 6.0 in Writing and 5.5 in all sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking).

Project Description

The Payload for Ultra High Energy Observation (PUEO) experiment is a project that aims to detect ultra-high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays that exceed E18 eV. The experiment involves a payload that is flown over Antarctica to collect data. PUEO detects neutrinos through the Askaryan effect, which is the production of radio waves by the propagation of particles in the Antarctic ice. The experiment also detects cosmic rays by observing the radio signals produced by the cosmic-ray showers in the atmosphere.

The next PUEO flight, which is scheduled for 2025, is an exciting opportunity for a student interested in astroparticle physics and data analysis. The student will work on the simulation to ensure that the detector design is optimised, they will test the hardware thoroughly, and (if possible) work on the commissioning and data taking. Once the flight is concluded, the student will be responsible for developing data selection and clustering algorithms to analyse ultra-high energy neutrinos that originate from outside our galaxy. This challenging task will require the student to use their analytical skills to sift through vast amounts of data to identify the unique signals of these elusive particles. Overall, this project provides an excellent opportunity for a student to develop their technical skills, gain valuable experience in data analysis, and make a real contribution to the field of astroparticle physics.

Supervisor Contact Details:

For informal enquiries about this position, please contact: Dr Linda Cremonesi

E-mail: l.cremonesi@qmul.ac.uk

Application Method:

To apply for this studentship and for entry on to the Particle Physics programme (Full Time) please follow the instructions detailed on the following webpage:

 https://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/subjects/physics.html

Further Guidance: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/

Requirements

The minimum requirement for this studentship opportunity is a good Honours degree (minimum 2(i) honours or equivalent) or MSc/MRes in a relevant discipline.

If English is not your first language you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 6.5+ overall with a minimum score of 6.0 in Writing and 5.5 in all sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking).

SPCS Academics: Dr. Linda Cremonesi