PhD Programme

Our PhD programmes provide the opportunity to learn whilst working alongside some of the world’s leading scientists in their fields. The majority of your time will be spent conducting novel research either individually or in collaboration with other students or research fellows. In addition you will need to keep up to date with research literature in both optoelectronics in general and your specific area of interest.

All candidates are invited to meet with prospective project supervisors to ensure a ‘good match’ between students and supervisors.

We offer PhD projects in the areas of:

• Fundamental photonics
• Nanophotonics and meta-materials
• Optical fibres and materials
• Planar lightwave integration
• High-power, high energy lasers
• Ultrafast lasers and applications
• Optical networks and systems
• Biophotonic microsystems

For a full list of projects available for 2010 please take a look at the ‘Research Projects’ section.

 

Our success as a research centre is closely linked to the success of our PhD programme. Consequently we take the welfare of our students very seriously and are willing to put aside time for every student. Your supervisor will meet you on a regular basis to see how your research is going and our dedicated student mentor will help to ensure that you are settling in.

 

We offer our students an extensive training programme in their first year including lectures in various areas of photonics, research skills and safety training.

Download a copy of this years lecture series.

 

All research students enrol initially for an MPhil, with conditional transfer to PhD on the successful completion of their transfer report and viva 16 months after the start of their studies.

Duration of MPhil/PhD studies:

Full time: 2.5-4 Years

Part time: 3-8 Years

 

Internal 8-month and 16-month reports and oral examinations will determine progression and transfer to PhD.

 

Students are required to have either a first or upper second class degree or equivalent in a relevant subject area from a recognised University - and a basic background in Mathematics.

Our work crosses the normal boundaries of different subjects, so we are keen to get a diverse spread of students with science and engineering backgrounds. This includes the obvious subjects like Physics, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Chemistry, with the less obvious such as Biology. The requirements may vary depending on your background and the projects that you may be working on.

Students whose first language is not English will need to complete either an IELTS or TOEFL test, we require a minimum IELTS score of 6.0, or TOEFL score of 560 (computer-based TOEFL 220) for our research courses.

 

We have a number of fully funded places available for UK, EU and international students.

All our fully funded places include paid tuition fees and a tax-free bursary to cover living expenses.

We offer an increased stipend (relative to the EPSRC recommendation) to all our UK students. For 2009 the tax-free bursary for UK students was £15,000, with one special award of £18,000 awarded to our top UK candidate.

The bursary for EU and international students starting in 2009 was £13,290, this is expected to rise for 2010 entry but the official amount has not yet been confirmed.

For full details please visit the Funding your PhD section.

 

Applications for 2010 entry open in October 2009; we do advise students to apply early to avoid disappointment. The deadline for 2010 applications is 31^st March 2010.

Please apply online via: www.soton.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgstudy/howdoiapplypg.html ensuring that you fill in Optoelectronics Research Centre under the School/Department section.

Alternatively you can download an application pack or contact us for a printed copy.

 

If you would like to recieve a course information pack or if you have any questions that you would like to ask us, please complete our information request form.

 

Our open afternoons provide the opportunity to find out more about the PhD programme and funding, tour our facilities and meet some of our vibrant team of research staff and students.

Our next open afternoon will take place on: Wednesday 10th March 2010.

If you would like to attend our March Open Afternoon please fill out our online registration form or alternatively you can email the admissions team.