We welcome applications from students wishing to undertake a PhD in the Astrophysics Research Centre starting in September/October 2019. We expect to have up to eight fully funded PhD studentships, details below. These funded positions are only available for students fulfilling UK national requirements (either UK nationals, or have been in the UK for the last 3 years for a purpose which is not full-time education). Self-funding students or students with their own international funding grants are also very welcome to apply :

• Information and application forms to study for a PhD at Queen's University are available at this website.
• It is essential that you read and follow the application instructions to fill in the University form for applications to ARC.
• For PhDs, we will normally consider applicants holding, or expecting to obtain in 2019, a UK MSci (or equivalent) degree in physics, astronomy or a related discipline with 2.1 or higher classification (or international equivalent).
• If you are unsure about any part of the process, contact the prospective supervisors of the project areas you are applying for, or s.sim@qub.ac.uk for advice on the application procedure.
• We offer a limited number of MPhil degree opportunities.

Please note that Queen's University will not accept applications that do not follow the required procedures.

Contact details for all staff are available here.

We have a number of fully funded PhD studentships available for UK residents for projects in the research areas indicated in the links below (for eligibility criteria, note that for EU residents these awards cover FEES ONLY and no maintenance award). We recommend browsing the staff research pages to get a general overview of our work.

The following links provide information on a sample of our projects on offer:

• Supernovae: theoretical modelling of light curves and spectra (Supervisor: Dr. Stuart Sim) Project Allocated
• Explosive transients with all-sky surveys (Supervisor: Prof Stephen Smartt/Transient group supervision)
• Machine learning and computational techniques in the era of massive data rich surveys (Supervisor: Prof Stephen Smartt) Project Allocated
• Energy Dissipation in Solar Physics: Non-linear shock development in the Sun’s most powerful magnetic fields (Supervisor: Dr. David Jess) Project Allocated
• Properties and compositions of Near-Earth Objects (Supervisor: Prof Alan Fitzsimmons) Project Allocated
• The magnetic properties of solar jets (Supervisor: Prof Mihalis Mathioudakis)
• Collisional R-matrix calculations in Support of Astrophysical Spectral Diagnostics (Supervisor: Dr. Connor Ballance and Dr. Cathy Ramsbottom) Project Allocated
• Photospheric Flare Diagnostics (Supervisor: Prof Mihalis Mathioudakis) Project Allocated
• Atmospheres of Exoplanets (Supervisor: Dr Ernst de Mooij) Project Allocated
• Exploring the Outer Solar System's Relics of Planet Formation (Supervisor: Dr Megan Schwamb) Project Allocated

Note that more projects may be being proposed over the coming few weeks: please check back often!

International self-funded students should consult these pages and links for tuition fees. If you are a non-EU student, with your own funding we require an annual fee of (currently) £20,300. This annual fee applies to both PhD and MPhil programs. Note that you will also need living expenses of around £15,000 per year.

Please check our International Scholarships page for opportunities.

• Applications for post-graduate studies must be made via the QUB portal.
• All applications received by Friday February 15th 2019 will receive full consideration for astrophysics PhD positions (interviews will commence shortly after that date). However, applications received later will continue to be considered where suitable projects are still available.
• You can apply for any number of the research themes advertised for 2019 within one application. Follow these guidelines:
  • The “Title” of the proposed research area should be “Astrophysics”
  • You have two possibilities to add information on what research project themes you wish to apply for. These are
    • the “Additional Information” box (500 character limit)
    • the one-page “Personal Statement” which can be found either on the portal web-page ¹⁾ or from this link.
• There are funding options listed on the application procedure:
  • Self Funding: This would mean you are willing to pay everything yourself and is not advisable unless you have very significant personal funds you are willing to use during a 3-year PhD.
  • Apply for funding via the portal: In this case you will be applying for funding from the Northern Ireland DfE. This is an option if you are from the UK (in which case the studentships pay full fees and living expenses), or if you are from the EU (our studentships have fees paid only, but no living expenses).

If you need further advice, either email the prospective supervisors or for general queries, email s.sim@qub.ac.uk.