PhD Studentship - Understanding Irradiation and Fission Product Interaction in Nuclear Graphite using Advanced Microscopy

Research theme: Nuclear Engineering, Material Science

This 3.5-year PhD project is fully funded; students who are eligible to pay tuition fees at the Home rate are eligible to apply. The successful candidate will receive an annual tax-free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27) and tuition fees will be paid. We expect the stipend to increase each year. The start date is October 2026.

The University of Manchester invites applications for a fully funded PhD position focused on understanding the irradiation behaviour of nuclear graphite material under extreme conditions to ensure the safety of next-generation reactors.

Nuclear graphite is a critical material in advanced and next-generation reactor systems, yet its behaviour under irradiation, particularly at high fluxes and in the presence of fission products at high temperatures, remains poorly understood. This PhD project will explore how radiation damage evolves in graphite and how fission products interact with the microstructure of various proposed nuclear-grade graphite materials. The work combines cutting-edge microscopy, in-situ ion irradiation, in-situ annealing, and mechanical properties analysis to provide new insights into the fundamental mechanisms governing graphite behaviour in nuclear environments.

The successful candidate will design experiments using the ion irradiation technique at the DCF and MIAMI facility, develop new microstructure characterisation methods, and collaborate with the Nuclear Graphite Research Group.

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.