PhD in Electrical Engineering: Advanced Electric Drives

Newcastle University

Award summary

100% fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £20,835 (2025/26 UKRI rate). Home Only Students.

Overview

Advanced Integrated Motor Drives – PhD Opportunity

Electric drives are essential to the UK's net-zero ambitions and will play a crucial role in powering the electric revolution. Future electric drives must be smarter, more power dense, and more efficient, delivering greater performance, functionality, and reliability. This demands the adoption of faster switching wide bandgap devices and greater system integration.

About This PhD

This PhD programme is part of a prestigious £8M EPSRC Programme Grant on Advanced Integrated Motor Drives (AIMD), a major research initiative launched in 2025. You will work on the development of wide bandgap device-based integrated motor drives, advanced control techniques for next-generation drives, and innovative approaches to reducing passive components in electric drive systems. Your research will contribute to cutting-edge technology that is central to transforming energy and transport globally.

About the Electrical Power Group

You will join the Electrical Power Group at Newcastle, one of the UK's premier academic research groups in power electronics and electrical drives. Our research spans an impressive range—from Nano Watts to Giga Watts—supported by state-of-the-art laboratory facilities. We are highly cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary, conducting innovative, internationally recognised research in power electronics systems. We specialise in the design and implementation of hardware and control algorithms for real-world applications.

The Electrical Power Group is expanding rapidly with ambitious plans. We work closely with leading industry partners across multiple sectors and are seeking ambitious, innovative individuals to join our dynamic team. To find out more about our group and research, visit: www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/research/electrical-electronic-engineering/electrical-power

Number of awards: 1

Start date: October 2026

Award duration: 4 Years

Sponsor: School of Engineering, Newcastle University

Supervisors: Dr Xu Deng

Eligibility criteria

The award is available to UK and international applicants. You should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or international equivalent, in Electrical Engineering or closely related discipline. If English is not your first language, you must have IELTS 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills)

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8060F
• Research Area: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Select ‘PhD Electrical and Electronic Engineering (full time)’ as the programme of study

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form
• The studentship code ENG160 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field.
• When prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.

Contact details:

Dr Xu Deng