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University of Southampton - Bioengineering and Human factors, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment. Qualification type: PhD Location: Southampton Funding for: UK Students, EU Students Funding amount: The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend in line with EPSRC rates Hours: Full Time Placed on: 11th February 2015 Expires: 11th May 2015 Reference: EngSci-BIO-127 Deadline: Applications will be accepted at any time until the position is filled. Microfluidic Single-Cell Arrays for Stem Cell Heterogeneity Studies In recent years an unexpected degree of variation in the response of genetically identical cells to biochemical signals has been discovered, which is highly relevant for stem cell research in general and regenerative medicine in particular. Traditional bulk assays do not give useful information because they present a read-out that is the average of many different cells. Heterogeneous cell populations should hence be studied at the single-cell level, preferably in a high-througput format that can address many individual cells simultaneously. This PhD project concerns the development of microfluidic cell arrays, where hundreds of cells are individually positioned by hydrodynamic forces, for the characterization of signalling heterogeneity in populations of mesenchymal stem cells. The project will seek to determine heterogeneity in the response to agents, delivered to the stem cells by nanoparticles, that can guide stem cell differentiation for regenerative medicine strategies. The PhD student will fabricate the cell traps with established soft lithography methods, will manipulate the cell samples and optimize their on-chip arraying, and will analyze the optical microscopy data with semi-automated image processing methods. We are thus looking for an engineer with a strong interest in biomedical applications or for a biochemist/biomedical scientist with an affinity for bioengineering approaches. You will work on the microfluidic cell arrays in a large interdisciplinary research group - Hybrid Biodevices (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ifls/research/ifls/hybridbiodevices.page) - that operates at the interface between the Life Sciences and Electronic Engineering, and you will work on the stem cell cultures in the Centre for Human Development, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/chdscr/), under the supervision of Dr Maurits de Planque (Electronics and Computer Science - http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/people/mdp) and Dr Nick Evans (Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering -http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/about/staff/ndevans.page). Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science is one of the foremost Electronics and Electrical Engineering departments in the UK (see http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about) with a strong commitment to research at the Life Sciences Interface through the Institute for Life Sciences (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ifls/) , which also encapsulates the Bioengineering research of the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering. If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Maurits de Planque, ECS, Email: mdp@ecs.soton.ac.uk Tel +44 (0)23 8059 9307 or Nick Evans, Bioengineering Sciences research group, Email: n.d.evans@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 23 8120 3293

University of Southampton Qualification type: PhD Location: Southampton Funding for: UK Students, EU Students Funding amount: The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend in line with EPSRC rates Hours: Full Time Placed on: 11th February 2015 Expires: 11th May 2015 Reference: NGCM-32 Deadline: Applications will be accepted at any time until the position is filled. Recent government investment in driver-less car trials (http://www.trl.co.uk/news-hub/transport-news/latest-transport-news/?id=801764918) is accelerating us towards a future of greater automation in the transport network. As a direct result of this investment, the Transportation Research Laboratory (TRL) (http://www.trl.co.uk/) and the Transportation Research Group (TRG) at the University of Southampton are offering this research project investigating how transportation infrastructure can sustainably support high numbers of automated vehicles in the network. Existing transportation infrastructure is designed around non-automated vehicles. This includes not just the road-space but also the many thousands of traffic sensors, the control infrastructure (traffic lights, variable speed limits), the refuelling infrastructure and the integration between modes of transport (airports, train stations etc). This project will investigate strategies to redesign this infrastructure to support automated vehicles and deliver improvements in sustainability. The candidate in this project will have access to facilities and training to enable them to explore the scenario of high numbers of vehicles in the transportation network using techniques including: computational modelling, experiments using the TRL’s vehicle simulator and experiments using TRG’s instrumented vehicle. The candidate will be able to benefit from extended placements at the Transportation Research Laboratory as well as access to GATEway research partners for case studies (http://www.trl.co.uk/news-hub/trl-press-releases/2014/december/greenwichs-digital-credentials-driven-home-after-trl-led-consortium-wins-%C2%A38m-trial-to-pilot-futuristic-automated-vehicles/). The candidate will develop a broad understanding of both transportation infrastructure design/operation and vehicle automation. Ultimately the outcome of this research will be innovative new designs to transportation infrastructure – with a strong evidence base – that will support automated vehicles to maximize sustainability in the transport network. If you would like to discuss this project further please contact Dr Simon Box, Transportation Research Group Email: s.box@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)2380 59 2175 Funding information: This project is in competition with others for the associated funding. The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend. This project is run through participation in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling (http://ngcm.soton.ac.uk). For details of our 4 Year PhD programme, please see http://www.findaphd.com/search/PhDDetails.aspx?CAID=331&LID=2652.

University of Southampton - Structures and solid mechanics, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment Qualification type: PhD Location: Southampton Funding for: UK Students, EU Students Funding amount: The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend in line with EPSRC rates Hours: Full Time Placed on: 11th February 2015 Expires: 11th May 2015 Reference: CMEES-FSI-123 Deadline: Applications will be accepted at any time until the position is filled. The use of lightweight composite materials has been rapidly increasing within aircraft. In military application the survivability of the aircraft is of utmost importance. This project aims to investigate the effect of fire on the structural integrity of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) airframes. The project will combine experimental and numerical modelling of the structural performance of carbon fibre airframes subjected to fire and provide an assessment of their survivability in this harsh environment. This project is designed as an EngD programme, within which it is expected that at least 2 years of the research activities will take place at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratories (DSTL) at Portsdown West. This position is only available to resident UK nationals and is subject to security clearance. If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Dr Stephen Boyd, Fluid Structure Interaction research group, Email: s.w.boyd@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 2375. The funding associated with this project covers EU/UK fees and stipend. Overseas students may have to cover the difference between EU/UK fees and international fees.

University of Southampton Qualification type: PhD Location: Southampton Funding for: UK Students, EU Students Funding amount: The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend in line with EPSRC rates Hours: Full Time Placed on: 11th February 2015 Expires: 11th May 2015 Reference: NGCM-33 Deadline: Applications will be accepted at any time until the position is filled. Turbulent flows are ubiquitous in nature yet the practical models lack a firm theoretical basis. The field is currently being revolutionised by the application of large scale direct numerical simulations (DNS) in which no assumptions are made beyond those of a Newtonian fluid with Fourier heat conduction. However, such simulations are expensive and the high Reynolds number flows found in practice (such as in the atmosphere or on the wings of large aircraft) will remain beyond the capability of even the largest supercomputers for many decades to come. In this project, we will focus on a new class of algorithms based on a coupled multi-scale approach involving nested DNS. The methods are, in principle, capable of extension to high Reynolds numbers and parallelise very efficiently. We will test the methods on boundary-layer flows to demonstrate the capability and then take on the challenge of simulating high Reynolds number flow over an airfoil. If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Neil Sandham, Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics research group, Email: n.sandham@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 4872. Funding information: This project is in competition with others for the associated funding. The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend. This project is run through participation in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling (http://ngcm.soton.ac.uk). For details of our 4 Year PhD programme, please see http://www.findaphd.com/search/PhDDetails.aspx?CAID=331&LID=2652.